This QTVR to the right has 2 hot spots.

I selected a quill box that had a beaver design on it. I selected this item because I thought it was pretty and it looked old and interesting. The owner said that this piece of quill work could have been made in the mid-1900's. It was made in St. Ignace, Michigan, or around the local area.

The purpose of quill work is to express oneself by decoration on clothing, bowls, dishes, boxes, canoes, etc. This particular piece was made by punching holes into the outer layer of the birch bark and then pushing the ends of porcupine quills through the holes. The quills are then lined up with similar shaped pieces and are put together in sections.

The quills must be dried out and dyed with vegetable dyes to be a specific color. The quills are inserted into a straight or geometrical design. If the quills were formed in a circle, they would break.