Smoke signals., November 01, 2012, Page 13, Image 11

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NOVEMBER 1, 2012
Smoke Signals
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By Savannah Ingram
Smoke Signals contributor
Tribal members and their families
in both the Eugene and Portland
satellite offices recently partici
pated in a three-month cradleboard
class taught by Carol Haskins and
Colleen Payne.
During the classes, 24 students
created 15 cradleboards and six doll
cradleboards.
"This was a big class," Payne
said. "We wanted the students to
be able to learn how to make the
boards using Pendleton or fabric
of their choice to learn the process
of how one style of cradleboard can
be made."
Payne said that students worked
in pairs or as families to create the
finished projects.
The board bases were made by
Payne's husband, Jerry, from a pat
tern that was originally obtained
from the Warm Springs Tribe. The
bows were purchased from Warm
Springs, but learning how to finish
the bows was taught in a different
class.
Payne has created nine cradle
boards for her grandchildren over
the years, three of which were
entered into a Pendleton Woolen
Mills contest in 2011 that displayed
one of the many uses for Pendleton
fabric.
"You would typically see cradle
boards like these used by Plains
Tribes," Haskins said. "Tradition
ally, we would have carried infants
1
Photo by Savannah Ingram
Eric Bernando, lf t, and Thomas Thackar work on a
cradlaboard in tha Portland satellite office recently during
a class taught by Carol Haskins and Colleen Payne.
in cradleboard baskets."
Cradleboards have been used
by indigenous people around the
world. They served the purpose of
helping mothers care for their chil
dren while simultaneous working.
Babies would be placed into the cra
dleboard and could be carried on the
mother's back,
on a horse or
even hung from
a tree to sway in
the wind while
the mother was
working.
"Each cradle
board is so dif
ferent and so
beautiful in its
own way," said
Tribal Elder
Debi Anderson,
who participat
ed in the Port
land satellite
office on Barbur
Boulevard.
The first step
of creating the
cradleboards
is to cover the
board. Students
then made pads
to make the cra
dleboard com
fortable. Once
that was com
plete, Payne and
Haskins helped
each student
customize the sides and hood for
the board.
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Wei
(v Mr
x
v.
"Some of the boards were larger
than the others and depending on
the type of fabric used by the stu
dents, we helped them customize
the sides and hood that worked
with their fabric," Payne said.
Eric Bernando and Thomas
Thacker worked on a board to
gether. They said they wanted to
learn how to make a cradleboard
so they could give it away to a
family.
"We spent hours in the fabric
store looking for just the right fab
ric to go with our Pendleton fabric,"
Thacker said.
Bernando and Thacker cut, sewed
and bled creating the cradleboard.
Thacker twined the rope used to
tie the baby into the cradleboard
using stinging nettle that he had
collected. They also decorated the
hood with large shell buttons, den
talium and glass beads.
"It was a lot of work," Bernando
said, "but I really enjoyed putting
it together for someone."
"We know there are other ways
to create cradleboards," Payne said.
"We just taught one way to making
them."
"We can't wait to see them fully
completed with the bows," Haskins
said.
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