I got involved in making my own outfits. That is where I got involved with beadwork and various other means of producing items. A lot of my beadwork is like the designs on this vest. It is kind of really my first beaded outfit. It is based on a set of horse trackings that were in our family and so a lot of the designs are based on that traditional item that was used for another purpose. Again, I took that traditional item that was used for another purpose and I transformed it into something that was a little bit more contemporary and used for my purpose. I used the real modern cuts of beads, the trycuts. Unfortunately a lot of the early colors that were used by our people, the old Italian beads that were used and they were so, the depth of the beads were so great because of the natural pigments that they used in producing the beads that are unfortunately no longer. I had to substitute for modern colors and what not. That is where you get a lot and plus the sparkle it is kind of, when you are dancing in contest type of dancing it really makes you stand out.

I was also told by some of my people who I rely upon for advice and knowledge that sparkly things are always favored by Plateau people. It has the connection to traditional beliefs and religious beliefs as well. The sparkly things have, just the same as mirrors, they have a tendency to shine back anything that might be negative. Again that goes back to the dance and the strength that you have to have and that you have to exhibit when you dance because a lot of people are watching you and not all of them are thinking positive thoughts towards you for whatever reason. So it is important to have these things made in a certain way. This is done in, you can tell, geometric work. It is reminiscent of Nez Perce geometric designs. Often times it closely resembles the work that is done out in the Plains by the Crows. It often is confused but there are some subtle differences that our work has that theirs doesn’t, as well theirs does that ours doesn’t have.