red tiger’s eye, onyx and bear claw ritual necklace.

onyx, rhyolite, and bear claw woven hemp choker. 

commission for linda.

bear claw, bear tooth and smokey quartz crystal pendant.

seemed only fitting to use a crystal from a bear for a bear themed pendant.  i love you cole.

this past weekend, dredlocks and myself hit up an antique and collectables show, and we had some luck finding random little things, and i figured i’d post this fun and strange story. now let me preface.. i come from an aboriginal/native background, though it is not so obvious from my blue eyes and sandy hair. as a kid i went to a regular school, but i also attended “native” school and meetings, which was basically there to keep the old ways alive in native children of the community. i spent much of my childhood bringing home woven baskets, and little leather bags, or beaded bracelets.. so i know a touch about native crafting and craft work, and because of this nothing irks me more than when i see really half assed pseudo native crafts.

and anyone who has ever been in a metaphysical/magick shop probably knows what i’m talking about.. you know the fake ass leather stuff with a thunderbird plastered on it, that looks really.. inauthentic and somewhat offensive? or like those artsy fartsy 90s shirts with pictures of pochahontas esque maidens wearing full headgear (which does NOT happen).. just cheesy pseudo native stuff basically. so a lady at the craft fair (who was not native) had a table full of vintage toys, horrible ugly old bakelite jewelry and these 2 monstrosities. i originally picked up the small basket to show to dredlocks so we could have a giggle about it later.. i mean look at that thing.. LOOK AT IT. its so terrible and wrong and stupid looking. and like 6 friggin animals died so that thing could be made, i’m serious.

there’s 2 different kinds of fur, porcupine quills, an antler chunk with a shitty piece of fake turquoise SUPER GLUED onto it, and then like a little paw print that looks like it came from 101 dalmations.. and in amongst the rubble of this ruin of crafting sits.. a massively huge REAL bear claw. a REAL bear claw. it’s like finding a massive gold ring in a box of plastic jewelry.

i noticed the lady had $15 price stickers on both of those horrible monstrosities of crafting, but since it was close to the end of the day when most vendors would rather go home with some money and less stuff than everything they came with..  i figured i could get the one for a good price.

she saw me looking and promised me a good deal.  i told her i has $7 (which was all the cash i had left on me after buying the windstone dragon and some treats for my partner), and she said yep right away and bagged up that horrible bowl/basket and i figured $7 was a good price for the claw since i intend on dismantling that bowl for supplies…

and somehow she ended up giving me the other horrible birch bark box with some feathers jammed inside.  upon emptying the box at home i discovered some wooden beads, a horribly racist joke about mexicans printed off the internet, several feathers, a worry doll, and some fortunes from fortune cookies…  making that box slightly more horrible than the other, in that it’s like a 1990s tie dyed fortune telller magick shop puked into a box and sold it.

i can’t really complain however, since i ended up getting the bear claw for $3.50, and some lovely feathers and little bits for my future crafting..  but still there’s something about those two bowls/baskets that is very suspect and i will be so happy when i never have to look at them again.

just goes to show you can really find amazing stuff where you least expect it.

and my opinions regarding fake ass native crafts are entirely my own.  i dont expect anyone to understand or actually care.  but if you do *get* what i’m saying, you’re probably chuckling which is the best i can hope for.

edited to add - the first photo is of a piece of antler that has been made into a bead.  i found it in a pile of macrame supplies and i think it’ll make a cool necklace for sure.

also, in regards to my fake ass crafts comments, i feel the same way about how chinese and japanese characters are misrepresented in tattoos and western popular culture. 

(Source: elfmagick.net)