Materials

red wool yarn warp, weft is green commercial thread, black and white opaque glass beads

Techniques or Format

Loom woven

Motifs and Patterns

Design consists of five interlocking diamonds with 4x repeated pairs of small diamonds worked between each larger motif. Ten equilateral triangles of opaque white beads are woven down each side. Two clusters of eight opaque black beads are woven at each end between two oblique opaque black lines three beads wide. Weft is threaded through single opaque white bead along sides to form a beaded edging.

Other Notes

Loom woven heddle beadwork. warp of double strand of red wool yarn is twined around a weft of vegetable fibre (?) On 'a', a row of vegetable fibre(?) in S-twist twining technique is worked at one end of panel. on 'b', vegetable fibre(?) is twined at both ends. Each garter is 32 beads wide worked in opaque black and opaque white beads in square weave technique. Red wool yarn warp strands are braided together to form six fringes at each end. Strands of vegetable fibre(?) are braided into one fringe on 'a', and two fringes on 'b'. Each fringe is braided for 2/3 of its length, knotted with the remaining yarn strands hanging freely. (CMC record)

Dimensions: 90 × 8.7 × 34.3 cm

Condition: <br/> A: few breaks in warp, free hanging fringe missing from end of one tassel, braid frayed centre of one tassel
<br/> B: damage to warps, end of one tassel missing, end of finges dirty, few beads missing (Feb 1984)

Current Location: Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Canada

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: III-G-1442 a, b

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 9 Novemeber 1981

Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: prior to 1920

Collection Narratives and Histories

John Reynolds (1865-1924) lived and was a prominent merchant in Manitowaning, Manitoulin Island. He ceased collecting in 1920. After his death in 1924, the collection went to his daughter.
<br/> (Reynolds collectors list, No. 85) "A pair of beaded garters (leg bands)"

Sources to Learn More

<br/>Beads: Their Use by Upper Great Lakes Indians. Grand Rapids Public Museum/Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, 1977, Figure 10 "Square weave with single weft and double warp threads, produced by using a heddle with the loom."

GKS Reference Number: 24945