Hints and Tips on Weaving with Wampum Beads

Traditional bow loom and Contemporary adjustable loom showing double strand square weave technique.

Needle and Thread

Using a length of imitation sinew about two yards long, pull the sinew apart at the center to isolate the individual strands. There are usually four or five separate strands.

Starting somewhere near the center of the length of sinew, use your thumb to split off one strand while pulling the strands apart with the other hand. The split strand is the weft you will be weaving with.

The beauty of using imitation sinew (waxed nylon) is that you can melt it, thereby creating a 'knot' on one end of the sinew. Taking care not to burn yourself, slowly melt the end of the sinew so that it forms a small ball on the end of the weft.

Tap the still warm ball with your finger so that it forms a flat disk that will not slip through the hole in the beads you are using.

Thread the weft through your needle so that the knotted end hangs down further. You will be weaving with a single thickness of weft (not doubled).

Starting to Weave:

This shows an advanced way to hide your knot in the middle of your work, (between two beads), so that you will not have any knots showing on your end warps. Thread a single bead onto your needle and slide it down to the end of your knotted weft. Place the bead and weft over the first bead row of your warp as shown in #1 above.

Your needle and weft (as in #2 above) goes around the endwarp and back through the bead, leaving the weft under all the rest of the warps. Place the remaining beads for this column on your needle and slide them down the weft.

The first column of any belt is always the most awkward. Get your beads somewhat in place, under and between the warps -- try to hold them in place with the palm of your other hand. Your weft goes up and around the other end warp and will go back over the warps and through all the beads in the column. Now here's a big tip: Leave a little 'slack' (or a loop of loose weft) around the first end warp where the blue arrow is.

This close up shows how to gently separate the warps with one finger as you thread the needle back through the beads on the first column. Take care not to catch the bottom weft with your needle as you are going back through the beads.

Continue going back through the beads of the first column. If you have enough slack in the weft (and a long enough needle), you can probably go through several beads at a time. If at any time it feels like there is too much tension to go through several beads, just go through one bead at a time to avoid breaking any beads by putting too much stress on the inside of the bead's hole.

It's important to leave slack in the weft of the current column you are weaving in. The slack makes it easier to thread the needle back through the beads and your weaving will progress more quickly this way. With all your beads for one column in place, first take up the slack from the weft that goes under the warp by pulling the weft with your thumb and forefinger away from you -- pulling mostly on the lower left. You only need to take up the slack you left where the blue arrow was in the last photo.

Now take up the slack from the upper weft. Supporting your column of beads in the middle with one hand, pull on the weft with your other hand. It's important to pull straight towards you, keeping the weft directly in line with your column of beads (do not pull 'up', pull 'through'), so that no undue tension is put on the insides of the bead holes.

Congratulations, you've put in your first column of beads! For the second column (and all subsequent columns), place all your beads for the column onto your needle, place them under the warps, and get them lined up in their row spots. Pull the weft almost all the way through the second column. Remember to leave a small loop of slack where the weft exits the first column over the end warp and enters the second column underneath the end warp (where the red arrow is).

Continue to thread your weft back through the second column of beads making sure it stays over the warps.

This shows that with proper slack in the weft, you can weave back through an entire column at once. You'll probably notice the initial loop of slack that you left is gradually taken up as you weave back through the column. (Note: I found this awesome needle at Joann's Fabrics, although I'm not sure what this type of needle is called. It's the perfect width and a great length for my simulated wampum beads. It easily holds a column of beads for an eight row belt). You absolutely don't need a needle this long for weaving. A shorter tapestry or yarn darning needle will work just fine, you just need to thread through a few beads at a time.

As you did with your first column of beads, take the slack up from the lower warp. Always support the woven part of your belt by holding it firmly with one hand as you pull straight out on the weft with your other hand.

Now take up the slack from the upper weft. This photo demonstrates the tension and the care that needs to be taken when pulling on the wefts, especially with a wide belt.

Splicing in a New Weft:

Eventually, your weft will run short and you will need to splice in a new weft. To hide your 'knots' in the middle of your work you will not go back through all the beads in a column. I like to end around a purple bead so that the melted knots are nearly invisible against the dark bead.

Take up whatever slack remains in the lower weft. When your loop of slack is small, you can use the end of the needle to help pull on it. You just don't want to pull the end of the weft back out of the column of beads.

This shows the end of the weft poking up out the middle of the column of beads. Don't melt down this end into a 'knot' yet... just in case you have trouble putting through the new weft. I usually wait till the belt is finished and then I'll go back and melt all the ended wefts into knots.

Thread your needle with a new weft as you did the first time with a knot melted at the end of the *new* weft. Starting on the opposite side of the bead you ended your last weft, thread the weft through the beads and over the warps to complete that column of beads.

Finish going through the column of beads and over the warps with the new weft.

Pull the new weft through the beads so that the 'knot' is up against the edge of the first bead the weft went through.

Showing new weft with knot hidden in place.

Ending the Weaving:

With your belt pattern complete, your weaving is nearly finished. Loop back up, and thread the weft back over the end warp, through the very last bead.

Trim the end of the weft to within an inch of the bead that it protrudes from.

Gently 'pinch' the rows together where your weft protrudes from, so that you can melt the weft down to the bead. Take great care not to melt through the other wefts holding the column together.

Very quickly with your finger, tap and flatten the melted ball of sinew up against the edge of the bead. This is the method you also use to end all the other weft strings that you used in the belt.
Final Note: If you are uncomfortable with melting knots you can always tie traditional knots, I find they show more in the work and knots tend to slip out using the waxed nylon imitation sinew.

Finishing the ends for chokers:

Cut two identical ovals out of heavy weight leather, one oval for each end of the wampum belt. Measure the width of the oval to be 'a hair' wider than your woven bead work (by about 1/8 - 1/4 inch).

The length of the flat oval should be at least 3 - 4 inches. If necessary, adjust the length of the oval to be proportionate to the woven piece so that, when folded in half, the leather piece makes a full half circle or U-shape.

You can fold a paper pattern in half and in half again (quarters) to achieve a smooth symmetrical curve.

First gently mark in pencil the position of the slits down the exact middle of your oval, the same number and position of the warps on the woven piece. Place the end of the wampum belt against your markings to check for accuracy.

Cut the slits (**carefully**) using an exacto blade, or cut using the tip of scissors with the leather oval folded in half (making tiny cuts/slits right at the fold). A leather punch would also work to create holes.

Cut two more sets of two slits (four more slits in total) about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from either end of the leather oval. These slits need to line up when the leather oval is folded in half and will be used for the actual belt tie.

Thread your warps through the respective slits in the leather oval. Make sure the 'good side' (or if you have a suede side) of the leather oval is facing the bead work.

If you have trouble getting the warp through, make your slits slightly larger or use needle nose pliers to pull the warp end through the slit.

Pull the warps through so that the bead work is snug against the leather oval (but not too tight!)

Turn the oval over and tie adjacent warps together in a standard overhand knot.

This example has an even number of warps so it comes out nicely; four knots in this example. If there is an odd number of warps, still tie them in pairs and tie the last odd one to a warp from the last tied pair.

Tie the warps again: take one warp from each pair and tie it to one warp from the next pair; three additional knots in this example.

This amount of tying is usually more than adequate to hold in place without slipping, creates a fringed effect, and doesn't require any sewing.

If your warps are too short to be tied together as in the example above, you can trim the warps to just over a quarter of an inch after they are threaded through the slits. Using a (glovers) needle or awl and thread, sew adjacent pairs of the trimmed end warps together. Using sturdy thread or (imitation) sinew, two or three stitches around generally holds the warps.

If you have an odd number of short trimmed warps, sew the three center warps all together.

Fold the leather oval in half around the tied or sewn end warps. (Long end warp fringes should all face in the same direction within the folded ovals at either end of the belt). Use two long leather thongs, one for each end tie of the belt. Line up four the slits in either end of the folded leather oval. Thread a thong first through the top slits in both layers, pull the length of thong half way through, and then thread the thong back through the bottom slits in both layers. The two ends of the tie should be of equal length and going through the leather halves in the same direction at either end of the belt.