Customer Reviews

Finger Weaving: Indian Braiding

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Finger weaving (also called Indian braiding) dates back centuries. All that is needed to weave these intricate, beautiful designs is a short dowel, some vividly colored yearn, and your fingers. Alta Turner draws upon her years of experience as a teacher of finger weaving to introduce the reader to the basic techniques and patterns of the North American Plains and Woodlands Indians, including the diagonal, chevron, double chevron, diamond, double diamond, lightning, double lightning and arrow-head designs. Following these, she demonstrates several striking Peruvian designs (including the Peruvian rep braids and Peruvian cross rep braids). The informative text is enhanced with diagrams and illustrated directions enabling the reader to create woven sashes, belts, collars, neck-ties, headbands, and bands for trimming or lengthening clothes. Finger Weaving: Indian Braiding is an inexpensive but invaluable 48 page booklet that will prove of high interest to students of Native American culture, costumers, and needlecrafters.

The book is highly in-depth and covers a wide range of cultures and techniques.

Due to the nature of the subject matter, I doubt that many people would be interested in this book. However, this book hold great historic value as since the art of finger weaving is dying out in cultures all across America.

As a Cherokee, I want to have authentic regalia for pow wows and when I go into schools. My own people have forgotten much of how to do this sort of weaving. But, thanks to the book, I can re-create items like my ancestors once did.

My only bit of advice is that I would like the author/publisher to do an expanded version of the book for more examples...or maybe a DVD or online accompanyment to the book so that you can actually see people weaving. Sometimes, no matter how great the book is, nothing beats seeing it done.

I purchased this book back in the summer when I wanted to get the basics of fingerweaving. The author explained the steps in great detail that even I could follow them and was successful at making my first handwoven sash. It does, however, require a lot of patience (and peace and quiet) to work on such an intricate project. Start off slowly with the diagonal and chevron patterns (the easiest) before tackling the others. All in all, I recommend this book.

This book provides easy to follow written and photographic instructions. Provides instructions for a variety of finger weaving designs. Also provides tips for color arrangement and others to help your project look the way it's supposed to.

Excellent book and kit, easy to read and follow for beginners. Offers various techniques for Cherokee finger weaving. Will teach you to make many brightly colored and beautifully patterned belts in traditional designs. Very concise.

This book demonstated very well how to weave the cheveron pattern, but failed in the instruction of any of the more complicated patterns. The instructions are poorly illustrated and difficult to follow. I'm giving up on this one and will order a different book. Any one want to buy a used copy?

When I decided to try my hand at learning how to finger weave; this was the only book I could find on the subject. Using this book I became fairly proficient at this skill. It has numerous illustrations of various finger weaving patterns and pictures of museum quality examples done by others. The book is in-expensive and I have used it successfully as a text for finger weaving classes that I have taught. Besides making headbands for my boonie-hats my intent was to teach this skill to other Boy Scouts so they could incorporate finger weaving products in their dance and ceremonial regalia. It's a great book for the beginning student. It also something that is easy to do on long airplane trips!

If you want to learn how to finger weave this is the book

I spent several days going over the book. I did one of the patterns and it looked awful. I tried to troubleshoot for the problems, no information. I wanted to work up to do the pattern on the book cover (when I was better at it) and come to find out, that pattern is NOT in the book! There is a single arrow, but this is a triple and it's not the single x 3, it's more complicated than that. I wasted a lot of time on this little book. I think there are better ones out there. So I'm going to order another title and see if I can't find better directions. If you are looking to do the pattern on the cover, it's not in the book. I really want to learn, and am willing to try easier projects to work my way up to a complicated one, but these directions are confusing to me.

Believe it or not what you see on the cover can be done with fingerweaving, excellent directions and lots of pictures.