Waaban Aki Crafting ~ Wampum Beads, Wampum Jewelry and Hand Woven Wampum
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| W0 | We manufacture our own affordable individually-made simulated wampum beads that actually -look- like the Native-made wampum beads of the 1600's. Other types of imitation glass or shell wampum beads available today can lead to frustrating attempts to reproduce durable realistic looking wampum belts. We've found the translucent white and blue glass beads are too skinny - their sharp edges cut even the strongest of threads; the iridescent soft-shell beads dyed to a purple far too light for quahog, fade after exposure to sun or water to their original white.
Our beads (1cm long x .5 cm diameter), made from hand-mixed acrylic, are sturdy and have the same color, stripes and variation as real quahog and whelk beads - perfect for custom work and museum quality repairs.
In northeastern North America, woven belts of tubular shell beads were made by Native Americans from the 16th through the 18th century. Wampum beads were made in two colors, white from the whelk shell and purple from the growth rings of the quahog shell. Prehistoric shell beads were large and barrel shaped, usually made from the whelk's spiraling inner columnela. Prehistoric shell beads were scarce because drilling the material was difficult with wide stone drill bits. This proto-wampum was traded only in ceremonial contexts because of the connections of shell with water and life giving properties. European traders and politicians, using beads and trinkets, often exploited gift exchange to gain Native American favor or territory. Wampum, though made into a longer and more slender bead, was even being made by the Dutch Europeans, and it continued in use until the American Revolution.
Learn more about wampum beads and pendants at
NativeTech: Beads and Beadwork. | $ 0.06ea.
(6 cents each bead)
($0.04ea. if you order 1000 beads or more.)
Please specify amout of White & Purple beads in lots of 100. |
AND JEWELRY | (Click on thumbnails to view a larger image) | ||
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| W1
| Woven simulated Wampum Belt Or Bandolier We Encourage Custom Designs Try your hand at designing your own belt design at
These realistic wampum belts and bandoliers (shoulder sashes) can measure from 3 to over 10 beads wide made to custom lengths from a few feet to several yards. Belts and sashes are common elements among clothing of Native men and women in the 17th century. Breech clouts, mantles, shirts, skirts and coats all used various kinds of belts. In the 17th century Native belts and girdles were worn about the waist and were made of string or cord, or made of leather, belts with beaded designs woven-in or sewn-on, even belts of snake skin for the breech clout. Native women's belts of the Northeast are often longer and wider than the men's equivalent -- worn by a women around her skirt and reaching below her knees. Women's belts may also have been more elaborately decorated with beads or embroidery, owing to European remarks on how beautiful these girdles were, "ornamented with their favourite wampum." Traditionally, wampum belts consist of rows of beads woven together on a simple loom made from a curved stick, which resembles an archer's bow. Weaving would involve stringing the beads onto twisted plant fibers, and securing them to animal sinew or leather thong warp. In the 17th century, inner fibers stripped from milkweed, dogbane, toad flax, velvet leaf, and nettle plants were twisted into fine threads, though imitation sinew is used today. A multitude of Native weaving techniques developed for wampum belts, bracelets, necklaces and collars. Long, wide belts of wampum like these were not produced by Natives until after European contact, but the methods used in making large wampum belts developed from traditional Native techniques of finger-weaving. Some of these belts or bandoliers were extremely wide and long, King Philip's belt or bandolier was nine inches wide "wrought with black and white wampum in various figures and flowers, and pictures of many birds and beasts" which reached to the ground hanging from a man's shoulder. Belt designs might show family relationships or connections among groups. Belts and beads validated treaties and were also used to remember oral tradition. Many Native American headbands and bracelet designs in the 1600's used squares, triangles, diagonal lines, crosses, people, animals and other geometric shapes - [contact us about custom designs and pricing] All our belts are custom made to order using our own hand made beads woven onto heavy elkhide thong using imitation sinew. | Approx. $90.00 to $700.00 depending on width and length of belt
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| W2 | Woven simulated Wampum Leg Garters - 4 Rows Wide - approx. 14-18 in. long
[Contact us for custom designs -- Include measurement around calf below the knee with order.] | $ 90.00 for pair |
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| W3 | Woven simulated Wampum Arm Bands - 5 Rows Wide - approx. 10-14 in. long [Contact us for custom designs -- Include measurement around biceps with order.] | $ 90.00 for pair |
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| W4 | Finger Woven simulated Wampum Bias Weave Collar -- Approx. 40 inches in length.
Long, wide belts of wampum were not produced by Natives until after European contact, but the methods used in making large wampum belts developed from traditional Native techniques of finger-weaving, as with this bias weave collar. These collars lie flat against the chest due to their special diagonal weave. | $ 140.00 |
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| W5-head | Woven simulated Wampum Headband - approx. 18-24 in. long
Bands of beads woven into headbands, belts garters, sashes, Collars, and Bracelets were highly cherished by Native Americans in the 17th century in New England. Early engravings of Delaware show belts, bands, strings, and medallions made of purple and white wampum beads. Woven beadwork is distinguished from strung beads, as the individual beads are delineated into rows of beads placed side by side, rather than end to end as in necklaces, the result being a wide strip of beads usually creating a geometric design. Native Americans in the 1600's "count a rare kinde of decking" the wampum beads woven into bands. | One Row $ 25.00 Two Row Three Row (add $10.00 each additional row) |
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| W5-hat | Woven simulated Wampum Hatband - approx. 18-24 in. long | Same Pricing as Headband above |
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| W6 | Woven simulated Wampum Choker - approx. 12-16 in. long
Woven bands to be worn around the neck | One Row $ 20.00 Two Row Three Row (add $9.00 each additional row) |
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| W7 | Woven simulated Wampum Bracelet - 1 Rows Wide - approx. 6 in. long | $ 8.00 (add $8.00 each additional row) |
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| W8 | Threaded simulated Wampum Necklace
The Iroquois and other Native groups of the Woodlands are known for wampum necklaces like these reproductions. The beads and pendants were hand carved from the marine shells quahog and whelk. Smaller beads were tubes, ovals, barrels, circles, cones, diamonds, triangles, squares, and wavy-edge shaped beads. Larger tube beads and pendants were 2 and 8 centimeters long of animals, turtles, birds, claws, talons, and crescent shapes. Mohawk and Mahican tribes, who obtained shell beads from the coastal New England wampum makers, were major wampum suppliers to the Seneca. Although beads were probably traded as finished products, their arrangement on necklaces varied in different regions. | $ 10.00 |
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| W9 | Threaded simulated Wampum Choker - approx. 13 in. long | $ 30.00 |
| W10 | simulated Wampum Earring - 2 Bead Strands
These earrings use traditional Northeastern bead and pendant forms. Shell, metal, glass, and other natural materials are traditionally utilized for earrings. In New England as early as 1524, ornaments were traded to the Native Americans: "The things we gave them that they prized the most were little bells, blue crystals, and other trinkets to put in the ear or around the neck". In 1634, Native Americans in New England had ear ornaments of all kinds "wearing pendants in their eares, as formes of birds, beasts, and fishes, carve out of bone, Shells, and Stone." | $ 5.00 |
| W11 | simulated Wampum Earring - 3 Bead Strands | $ 6.00 | |
| W12 | simulated Wampum Earring - with Pendant | $ 7.00 | |
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