NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art.
Making a Miniature Birchpaper Canoe Edged with Sweetgrass

See how to make a miniature birchbark canoe model.

1. Cut out pattern along the fold of a soaked piece of thin but stiff birch paper.

2. Fold up a blade of sweetgrass into two segments [about 1 1/2 " long & 4-5 blades thick].

3. Knot a thread on a needle and at the bottom of the canoe next to the seams.

Stitch from the inside out (so the knot is hidden inside the canoe.)

4. Hold folded sweetgrass along the seam at each end of the canoe.

Whip-stitch from the bottom of the canoe to the rim (knot at top on back of canoe.)

5. Trim off excess sweetgrass flush with bottom and top edges of the canoe.6.Paint or use markers to decorate the canoe.


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© 1994 - Tara Prindle
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