Connecticut. Girls, boys and infant dresses. Pretty young things.

1. Girl’s dress.
2. Girls’ dress owned by Mary Caroline Ogden Pierson.
3. Boy’s dress probably owned by a member of the Filley family.
4. Boy’s suit owned by Oliver Ormerod Jensen.
5. Infant’s dress owned by a member of the Brainard family.

via University of Connecticut

Arkansas was a tough dig image-wise. The shiniest gem I found was a folksy collection of alphabetical MP3s recordings. Subjects reflecting on life in the Ozarks ranging from Anglo Saxon Seed Bed to Zinc. I liked the Superstitions broadcast. According to the Ozark omens I should expect an unwanted visitor tonight as I happened to drop my towel this morning. Yikes.

1. Quilt titled Blue Medallion, by Rosie Lee Tompkins.
2. Quilt titled Three Sixes, by Rosie Lee Tompkins.
3. Examples of Dryden Pottery in Hot Springs (Garland County); circa 1960.
4. Kathryne Bess Hail Travis at the easel; circa 1930.
5. Violet Brumley Hensley, with Mr. Green Jeans, on The Captain Kangaroo Show; circa 1970s

Listen to Ozark archives via Ozark Folk Encyclopedia
images via Encyclopedia of Arkansas Arts & Culture

Swimsuits. Out of water.
via Monroe County Library

Learn from the Universal School of Weaving Draft sample cards. It’s not just the beautiful colors and textures of the samples but it’s the so seventies hand lettering and woodcut Universal School of Handicraft seal that makes me love these oak tag sample cards.

Weavers in the Appalachian area worked on their own and often made the tools that they needed from regional materials. During the Craft Revival years, teachers like Clementine Douglas put them in touch with companies and outside resources to encourage weavers to try new methods. These cards published by the Universal School of Handicrafts, Inc in New York City promoted new patterns and weaving information.

via Hunter Library

Thanks to Walter for sharing his find with me!

O weave! My newest completed project are circular weavings. They’re inspired by the book Weaving without a Loom, which I discovered earlier this year. I cut a piece of circular cardboard and voila — a LOOM! Pictured above is my first box loom with a weaving for my friend Carl (who unfortunately has yet to receive his gift, sorry Carl!!) We traded a weave for a credenza. I first used yarn (top) and switched to climbing ropes (bottom two), and so continues my obsession with rope…
(thx! for photography by BS)

Boy baby (eselu naña) complete

Clear Sky, 5th stage

Girl baby (eselu osa), complete.

Gopher, just before releasing the string

Cat’s cradle, New South Wales, 1968.

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A couple days ago I was riding the subway along with a bunch of well dressed teens. Two of the teens were using a shoelace to play cat’s cradle. It was fascinating. I think they made it to level six, which became a star-like shape, then abandoned the game. The best part : a friend helping with cradle moves wore tights collaged with cats. (kinda like this with the coolness of this – i digress)

Here are wobbly photographs from the early 1900s of a woman from South Central California Sierra Miwok tribe exhibiting various cat’s cradle and rope drawing games. The last image is of an Aboriginal girl who broke tribal law, refusing to marry an elder chosen for her. She found refuge with anthropologists in New South Wales, and shows off her cat’s cradles.

via Online Archive of California – Guide to the California Ethnographic Field Photographs, 1900-1960
last image via National Library of Australia

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UPDATE : commenter/friend Jeff H shares this incredible string figure home video.

In this video clip, my grandma tells the Navajo story of how coyote had placed the stars in the sky and shows how to make two constellations using string, Dilyéhé (the Pleiades) and So’ Bidee’í (Star With Horns). She continues by showing other string games, like Many Stars (So’ Łání), Two Coyotes Running Apart (Ma’ii Ałts’áá’ Yilwołí), Open the Gate, Lightening (Atsinitl’ish), the Arrowhead (Béésh Sist’ógii), Unraveling (Wóltáád), and Wood Carrier (Chizh Yooyéłí). – daybreakwarrior