Buttery-soft small deerskin pouch, hand burned and painted with an ancient Salado design drawn from a southwestern pictograph site. Stitched with replica sinew; turquoise-dyed howlite and white amazonite accents. Standard with short hand-cut thong, or optional 32" thong for wearing. This is signed by me; I'd be happy to personalize it with a burned name or message (message me for details). About 2.5" x 3.25".

How is this made? With a lot of love and skill! Each bag is laid out on deerskin after first checking for leather thickness, flaws, color, direction of stretch, and natural markings (scars, insect bites, wrinkles). Then each piece is cut out by hand, and the design is burned into the leather. This is a pain-staking process that has taken many years to perfect; a burner that is too cool won't leave a good design, whereas one that is too hot will scorch the leather, damaging the hide. It's very much like sketching, but with your fingers 3 inches away from an extremely hot pencil tip.

My artwork has many sources of inspiration; some of my designs are taken from old Native American artifacts. Some of my favorite designs come from drawings done while exploring ancient petroglyph sites, and some art is taken from nature itself (sketches of leaves and animals). 

After the design is burned and shaded with the burning tool, each one is painted by hand with specialized leather dyes. Again, this is a very pain-staking process, since buckskin absorbs anything very rapidly; it's way too easy to ruin a piece in a split second. Once the art work is done to my satisfaction, I cement the back of the bag in place, then hand punch around the edges.

I love using replica sinew to stitch my bags; it has that authentic look, but it's much more durable than natural sinew. Holes are punched for closing thongs; I usually like to put a bead / stone accent that complements my design as well. For this, I use anything and everything that appeals to me! I have an extensive collection of natural stone beads (agate, jade, amazonite, etc), colored howlite "turquoise," metal rondelles, pieces of shell... if I like the look, that's what I use.

I have discovered that many people don't use my pouches to wear, and so I provide them with a short thong (around 12") as standard, and offer a 32" (or so; it's hand cut!) thong so they can be worn as a necklace. What do people use these for? LOTS. Little treasures, jewelry, crystals, marbles, challenge coins, elk teeth, pretty pebbles, precious coins, you name it.

Since every one of my bags is custom made, I am happy to personalize them with names or messages, usually burned on the back side of the pouch. Just message me and I'll see what I can do.