This is a special piece for a very special young lady who is my best friend's oldest daughter - I was asked (by her Mom) to make a "medicine" bag for her 20th birthday. The bag is meant for keeping an assortment of very personal keepsakes/heirlooms given to her by family and friends at the same time (called "medicine" in the parlance of the Plains Indians and mountain men) and so I came up with this piece which is based on an original Cheyenne pipe bag, but I decided to add to it some things I've been wanting to do and kind of took it over the top, but it was worth it..
The leather is braintan and the beadwork is 1840-50's style Cheyenne using 8/0 pound beads. Once constructed it was given an aged look The bag proper is about 14" x 7".
I'm often asked how long such a piece takes and normally I don't add up the hours, but on this one I did - total actual construction and aging time (not including breaks ) was 130 hours...but none of that mattered and it was well worth it when I got to see the smile on that young lady's face when it was presented to her... (I got a big hug too )
