One of the crafts of many of the Native Americans, including the Navajos, is beading. This requires good eyes, patience and having a good pattern in mind. Beading is of course used to make jewelry; such as earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Other uses of beading is in Powwow regalia, cradleboards and moccasins.
One of our Residents, Wayne, has been beading for many years. He is often seen in the craft room hard at work. What amazes most of us who watch him beading is, first, the little beads he uses are all mixed up, not separated. The second thing is that he does not look to a pattern, for all his patterns are in his head.
Wayne does beading for cowboy hats, bracelets and many other things. We admire his skill in a craft which is so important for the Native Americans.
Wayne’s picture is also on our home page, it is a picture of “triumph.” Now we understand why he has so much joy when he completes a project!