Design This – Native American Hair Tides

This design project got its start when a prospective customer saw something in another one of my “Design This” blog posts that she liked. She sent me a screen shot with the item that she hoped to be able to purchase. I had recently sold that exact pair of Native American style feather and leather hair clips but had a similar pair that was not currently listed anywhere, so I sent off a picture of them. She liked them and was interested in some earrings in a similar style and wondered, “Also, do you make Native American hair tides, they are also called hair leather straps?”. The earrings were the easy part of this custom request but I would have to do some research into these “hair tides” to see if they were something I felt confident creating.

I was having some difficulty locating examples, so my customer found a couple of links for me. After seeing the product that I was being asked about, I discovered that they could also be found by searching for Native American leather hair ties or wraps. This gave me an idea of the product that my customer was after. These hair accessories are meant to wrap around your hair braids and the solid leather part at the top is tied securely around the braids with the leather fringe hanging below. I asked for some specifics as to the preferred length of the solid and fringed portions as well as color preferences and then I was off to search for supplies and to investigate fringing methods.

I found a nice red suede piece of leather that looked like it would make what my customer had asked for. After researching fringing, I decided to use a multibladed tool to fringe the lower portion of the hair tides. I practiced on some scrap leather to get a feel for the tool. I had to be careful how I pulled the leather or the fringes would not come out right. After a bit of practice, it was time to create my customer’s custom hair tides. After fringing the pieces, I attached laces to each one for securing the hair wraps to her braids.

Since my hair is not long enough to braid, I needed a way to model the product for my client. I used the tail of my stuffed white tiger to simulate a hair braid. I have doubled up this image so that you can get a feel for what these Native American style leather hair wraps would look like when in use.

Feel free to contact me if you find something on my blog, in my Facebook photo albums or EDCCollective's sold listings that you like. If I don’t have the item but can recreate it or something similar, I’d love to make a custom piece for you.

Item availability update: I have begun listing my Native American Inspired Hair Wraps in my EDCCollective Etsy shop section Feathers, Leather n Wood as of 2/14/12. These wraps can be worn in a variety of ways. One example can be seen in this photo sent by one of my customers.

Design This – Native American Hair Accessories

I described in an earlier post how an Etsy alchemy listing led me to include feather wrap pendants to my offerings at EDCCollective. A recent alchemy listing inspired me to add feather hair accessories as well. The title of the alchemy listing was “Native American Necklace and Hair Accessories”. That peaked my interest and I clicked on the request to read the description. I responded with one of my feather wrap pendants and was told that a different style necklace was being looked for, but was asked if I could make something similar in a hair thong?

Hair thong, now that was a new term to me, so I did some research on the web and came back to my prospective customer with some ideas and questions. After getting some feedback, I sent a photo of mock ups of three different types of feathers that I had on hand that I thought would lend themselves to this project. My customer liked the design and feathers of the middle one the best, so I proceeded to complete a pair of Native American inspired hair thongs based on it.

I liked the way the gray and white feather mock up looked, so I made a couple of pair of hair thongs based on that design for my shop. The third photo in this post shows the completed custom hair thongs as well as the ones for my new shop listing. While looking for hair clips for this project, I found some that would compliment other feathers that I had in stock. I used these colorful new clips to create some peacock feather hair accessories.

I have really enjoyed working with the feathers and creating these wonderful hair accessories. The natural beauty of feathers allows them to be used for a variety of projects. Stay tuned to see what new creation I’m inspired to come up with next.

Sparks of Inspiration

You never know where your next spark will come from. My most recent one came from an alchemy listing on Etsy. Could I make a “feather wrap” pendant? My first thought was, “What is a feather wrap?” After doing some research and conversing with my prospective customer, I was excited. I love working with nature’s materials and the challenge of custom work. I use a lot of shell, wood, gemstone and freshwater pearls in my jewelry. So, it was an exciting prospect to learn how to work with feathers, leather and horse hair to complete this request.

I experimented with different ways to secure the materials for durability and with an eye toward the desired finished aesthetic. I designed and assembled a couple of samples without horse hair for my customer to give me feedback on. I was pleased to find out that I was achieving the right look. One of my samples was even a perfect match. Now the challenge was to incorporate the horse hair into the next round of feather wraps. To braid or not to braid? I made one with a spray of horse hair (that one is now part of my jewelry collection), but the braid had the right look for my customer. (Photos of the two custom pieces are included in this article.)

I enjoyed working with these new materials so much that I decided to add a couple of designs inspired by the spark of the alchemy listing to our shop. You will find them listed in the Feathers n Wood section.

What spark will come my way next? Will it be related to jewelry, gardening, photography, graphic design or something else? I don’t know, but I do know that it will present a challenge, and I love a good challenge.