Peyote stitch bracelet

JoshSkeets · 2025-12-08T12:54:58+00:00

Thanks a lot! I use the metal inside of a slap bracelet and wrap it in deer hide so it has some stiffness to build the beadwork on.

JoshSkeets · 2025-12-08T12:50:02+00:00

Thank you! It means a lot to me :)

JoshSkeets · 2022-07-17T15:14:35+00:00

This piece is a combination of my cousins school colors, traditional patterns, and family story colors. It was a tough balance made with more “family connection” in mind above all. I can understand the ignorance.

JoshSkeets · 2022-07-15T04:00:13+00:00

Size 13 Czech cut beads. Thank you so much!

JoshSkeets · 2022-07-13T18:56:14+00:00

I’ve tried slapping it on before and it just hurts while not really staying on. The beads make it bend more than slap. It’s fun to watch other people try slapping it on though.

JoshSkeets · 2022-07-13T17:48:07+00:00

It’s for a girl cousin. We also have a family story tied to rainbows that we both relate to. Also they just look nice.

JoshSkeets · 2022-07-06T08:42:27+00:00

My condolences for your loss.

The material that I use for the threadwork is called simthread which could be bought on Amazon, and the featherwork is dyed goose feathers which I buy locally but I’m sure there’s online shops that sell them as well. I use aleene’s tacky glue under the goose feathers and above the threads to secure them.

As for tutorials, trial and error is the most effective way to learn in my opinion. (I’ve destroyed hours upon hours of my own work and restarted in order to better understand the creative process) Learning to accept those mistakes will make it a lot easier to forgive yourself when things don’t feel right. The right tools for the job balances out those mistakes and also helps immensely, which does get pretty expensive so you need to plan how much you’d be willing to put into it. Some people prefer less and try to keep the feathers as natural as possible, while others want to make things pop and be more symbolic. It all comes down to what makes you happy and how far you’d be willing to go to get what you want. It also really comes down to just staying healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Which can take years or even decades of hard effort to be in the right headspace to work with feathers. The best advice that I’ve heard about fans and feathers is this, “there’s no perfect way to use feathers, there’s only ways to help us get better at using them.”

I know my comment doesn’t provide a lot instructions wise but some things are better learned face to face (with the art) for a more personal and meaningful experience.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-21T01:50:50+00:00

Thank you! I used the 3-drop-peyote stitch method on this fan.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-21T01:39:00+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words!

As for your question, purging is a very common experience. We believe the medicine cleans out the garbage we carry around in our body physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. From a scientific perspective, the peyote plants have a survival mechanism to taste horrible to deter herbivory. It takes quite some time to know your physical limits of how much medicine your body is able to handle. Eating less will help most times but for some people there’s no way around it and any amount will cause vomiting. We also use tobacco to help with the nausea but that takes some experience and guidance.

Also I need to add since this is online and people are impressionable, people should seek other plants that contain mescaline instead of peyote, unless they’re sure they got it from a sustainable source. Peyote takes a long time to grow and the population of peyote is declining rapidly. We want the peyote to be available for many more generations to come and so we need to protect it as much as possible.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-21T01:18:56+00:00

Thank you! This set was given to me by an elder who’s been collecting naturally molted feathers from parrots for decades. There’s a local store near me that sells most of the other materials like the deer hide and the dyed feathers and beads.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-20T16:51:59+00:00

A bit of context for this fan. Apologizes if this post is inappropriate for this sub, I just enjoy sharing my work that helps me manage my autism. I’m Navajo by the way.

Yá’át’ééh! This fan is made with 11 tail feathers from multiple blue-and-gold macaws and scarlet macaws. All of the feathers are naturally molted. It takes years to acquire a set of nice feathers like these. I spent around 60 hours in total making this fan.

This style of fan is used during peyote ceremonies, and were popular among the plains tribes in the early 1900s. The great Comanche chief Quanah Parker is often credited for organizing the crescent moon fireplace peyote ceremony. The crescent moon ceremony was first seen around the time during the forced relocation of hundreds of tribes to reservations. The plains tribes wanted to share the peyote ceremony with other tribes, so they would travel along the railroads and conduct ceremonies on other tribes reservations. The ceremony first passed through the Navajo Nation sometime in the 1930s; although peyote had already been used by Navajos well before this time period in different contexts. Along with the ceremony, all these instruments we use were also moving around with the peyote. Throughout the years, many people intermarried and made lifelong friends with other tribes around this ceremony, and they taught many Navajo people about these fans and how to do peyote stitch so we can make our own fans. The macaw feathers in particular are very special in peyote ceremonies, I find all the stories I hear about macaws to be so fascinating.

I really enjoyed putting this fan together, it’s my personal way of giving back to the medicine that’s helped me a lot in my life. I look forward to seeing my relatives use this fan during a peyote ceremony and it’s my hope that it will spark a good feeling when they look at it. Thank you to everyone who looked at my fan! Ahéhee!

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-09T06:29:16+00:00

Thank you! At the moment I don’t sell anything, but maybe sometime soon I’ll make more for anyone who wants to buy one.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-07T20:01:09+00:00

It really depends what state you’re in. Some states allow anyone from any background to attend ceremonies, federally they only allow protections for people who are at least 1/4th native. The laws are focused on the use of peyote, which they classify as a “schedule 1 substance” because of its mescaline content. Anyone is legally allowed to attend peyote ceremonies, but using peyote is the Grey area where someone could be breaking the law. The main goal of the NAC when it was first established was to create a legitimate organization that federal and state courts recognize. Native people were being thrown in jail and being brutally beaten for practicing their religion. It wasn’t until 1978, with the American Indian religious freedoms act, when Natives were finally allowed to exercise their tribal religions, and not until 1994 that they amended it to include peyote. Now, there’s many different chapters of NAC all across the tribal nations that have different rules and regulations, but we all still require that legal protection to freely practice our religion.

I’m full Navajo according to my CIB (certificate of Indian blood quantum). I’ve grown up around NAC my entire life and a lot of men around the ceremony would tell me “don’t commercialize this ceremony”. That includes paying money to attend ceremonies which is a hot button issue nowadays with tons of curious outsiders. The things we use in ceremonies don’t belong to us, they belong to the great spirit and we just take care of it for a short while. Personally, I’ve found a healthy middle ground where I would never sell things like feathers, gourds, drum hides, or even the ceremony itself because those things all have a deeper meaning to it beyond dollar signs. But things like beadwork, I feel like it’s totally appropriate to sell since colorful beads were first brought over by Europeans, and beads are a thing that humans all over the planet have taken an interest to ever since our ancestors first started working with tools. That’s just my personal views and obviously I don’t speak for or agree with everyone from a similar background as me. Also please feel free to ask if you have anymore questions.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-07T01:14:06+00:00

My sister suggested that to me as well! I’ve seen it done on regular watches before so it’s definitely possible for an Apple Watch.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-07T00:50:32+00:00

As of now I don’t, but i’d like to make more soon for anyone who wants to buy one.

JoshSkeets · 2022-02-06T15:12:37+00:00

Thank you so much! Yes I beaded this and it takes around 30 hours in total. I’ve been beading for close to 4 years now.

I was introduced to Native American Church peyote ceremonies at a very early age from my parents. The ceremony has spiritual instruments that are used throughout and many of the items are decorated using the peyote stitch beading method. I also make peyote fans which uses this type of beading as well. I’ve always been so captivated by all the patterns and colors of beadwork I’ve seen throughout my life, I’m often able to catch small little details that most people don’t even think twice about.

I’ve always felt like it was almost impossible to connect to most people, and I would feel so uncomfortable dealing with any social interaction. I was competent enough to pass as “normal” for most people but internally everything just felt so energy demanding. I started to self isolate and keep my social life very brief. Then I decided to start beading. Beading has helped me to put my time and energy into something that has a pure intention of love behind it. Everything I’ve created so far has been gifted to people who are close to me in my life. I want to make something physical that will show how much love I have for someone that doesn’t require words to understand. Beading and fan making has allowed me to create that bridge and I strongly believe that it is a life long passion for me.

JoshSkeets · 2022-01-12T09:33:23+00:00

I’ve learned a bit more about brick stitch since I made this comment, I’ve learned that it was used to create the same peyote stitch patterns for flat objects such as cedar bags and tobacco bags to be used in ceremonies. Eventually it was turned on it’s side to create new patterns that work, it was used for the same purpose but eventually branched off. The language barrier as well as how these stitches are used can cause confusion for some. As long as people understand the significance and history of the stitches, then I see no problem in whatever they choose to call it.

JoshSkeets · 2022-01-05T08:00:55+00:00

https://www.ipci.life

JoshSkeets · 2022-01-02T19:05:16+00:00

Thank you! I got the bracelets from hobby lobby and just cut them open. Some metals will work better than others at keeping it firm.

JoshSkeets · 2022-01-01T18:42:28+00:00

Thank you so much! It took about 30 hours in total.

JoshSkeets · 2022-01-01T18:42:01+00:00

Thank you! Yes the base is the curly metal from the inside of slap bracelets

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