Medicine Birds

Each is made of deerskin, has a rhinestone eye, a feather, and a horse hair tail, and perhaps some beads. The beak is made of thin cowhide, and sewn to the head piece. The medicine bird concept came to me when I was going through a health ordeal. I only had a box of scraps to work with, and had a great deal of time to deal with therapy. They only have one eye, as a reminder to me that when you lose some part of your self, or never had it to begin with, that you've got to get by the best that you can.

Four & Twenty Blackbirds

The collection is a take-off on the nursery rhyme ”Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, four and twenty blackbirds, baked up in a pie“. The top is two pieces of 3/4 oz. thin cowhide glued together to fit over the base. The outside of the top is brown like a pie crust, but the inside has a carved and dyed design. Each bird has a deer hide thong to hang by. When the wind spins them through the feathers, sun light catches the eye. The horse hair is for balance, and keeps the 'chin' up. Sold.