I use many materials and bead working techniques. The materials include glass, precious stones, bone, wood, and metal beads. I work on various types of hides and materials including deer, calf, silk, and wools. When dying silks, I use natural plant dyes and mordants. I use "traditional" bead working techniques such as lane stitch, shaped lane stitch, 2-needle applique, various edge working, peyote stitch, and bead stringing. I started beading when I was about 8 years old. My grandmother was a beadworker. She made money doing menial jobs, but she was always a beadworker…and an artist. My mother owned a trading post on the Wind River Reservation and though never a beadworker herself, she spent a lifetime educating others about beadwork, with a depth of understanding that reached generations into the past. Through these women and others, I understood beadwork as valuable art form. And thus, it is through beadwork that I choose to express myself and my experience as a 21st Century Kiowa.
