I was recently contacted by Harry Wilkinson of Virtually Forever/Cat Paw Moccasins. He has been making Plains Style Native American Elk Moccasins for over 30 years!.

Here’s what he has to say about his moccasins and their life in buckskinning:

My wife and I traveled the country from 1993 to 1998 making and selling Native American style items out of our Sioux tipi. During that time, we made many hundreds of Elk  moccasins along with fringed bags and some clothing. We started the Cat Paw brand in 1994. Prior to that I was a machinist and Hadassah was a nurse. We walked away from the “good life” in 1993 and started traveling and selling crafts. Hadassah did Native American bead work and both of us worked on making leather items, mostly out of elk, moose, and deer. In 1996 we did a 1500 mile cross country walk from Dixon, IL to Alamogordo, NM. Our travels ended in 1998 and I went back to work in the “real world”, once again, as a   machinist. I wanted something to do when I retired and in 2005 decided to buy a laser. I began laser work by doing portraits on marble and granite. I eventually started with wood, acrylic, and metal. Now we are again making Cat Paw Moccasins and Hadassah is doing crocheting. Crocheting is her lifelong craft.   Hadassah has also studied to be an herbalist. 

I have contacted Harry about getting a pair for my daughter and look forward to writing an upcoming post about how well she likes them!

You can learn more about their moccasins and laser engraving products at https://virtually-forever.com/moccasins