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Bead Making |
| Diane primarily uses the loom beading technique to decorate or "wrap" a flute. She first draws out the designs on special beading graph paper, and then uses tiny size 13 Czechoslovakian charlotte cut glass beads. Each "wrap" contains 71 beads in each row and can be from 28 to 55 rows long. Finished squares often contain over 3,500 beads, each picked up one at a time. The loom-beaded pieces are sewn onto strips of deer hide and then attached to the flute with larger glass beads. |
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second technique involves the gourd stitch, for which Diane uses size 12
Czechoslovakian glass beads. She covers a section of the flute with deer hide
and then begins with a circle of 64 beads in the first row. Subsequent beads are
sewn one at a time around in a circle until the desired length is reached. Some
flute players prefer this type of decoration, so as to avoid the fringes getting
in the way of their hands. A third but seldom-used technique for flute beadwork
is the appliqué method. On deer hide backed with stiff paper, lines of beads are
laid down with one needle and then tacked into place with a second needle. |
| She is self-taught, but her 17 years of living and working on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation gave her many opportunities to spend time with the women Elders of the tribe, almost all of whom were expert beaders. "When I sit down to bead, I still hear some of the things the Elders told me. Some things just stay with you, for instance that professional beaders never use beads above a size 12. But if you do a little bit of work on a project every day, it eventually gets finished. The Elders always encouraged my efforts and I would often make them little beaded gifts at Bear Dance time." |
| In addition to the work she creates for her husband's flutes and other traditional items, Diane has been commissioned to make beaded items for family, special friends and clients. |
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