Cultural workshop offers porcupine quill techniques

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION—A group of 15 Fort William citizens enjoyed learning the porcupine quill zigzag technique during the Learn a Quillwork Technique workshop presented by Jean Marshall on Feb. 25. The participants also learned about the history, harvesting and processing of porcupine quills and how to use them safely.

“It went really well — we had a good instructor in Jean Marshall,” says Bernice Pelletier, during the evening workshop at the Fort William Community Centre Cultural Room. “I really enjoyed learning the technique for using this new stitch. It seems quite easy once you get going. There’s a technique how you get the quills soft and flatten them out and match them all up.”

Pelletier says she usually attends all of the sewing classes on Thursday nights at the Cultural Room.

“I’ve made gauntlets, I’ve made a purse, I’ve made different things, and I love it,” Pelletier says. “It’s great — it’s like a social sewing class on Thursday.”

Michelle Morriseau-Belanger says it was interesting to learn how to soak the quills in water to soften them for use with the zigzag technique.

“It went really well,” Morriseau-Belanger says. “I was actually surprised how easy it was, but it helps when you have a really good teacher.”

Brittany Stinson-McGee says she has been captivated by quillwork since watching it on the Internet.

“So being able to actually transfer it to my own hands and being able to utilize it in my own art will be amazing,” Stinson-McGee says. “I’ve actually been doing the sewing social with Jean out here on reserve for about seven or eight months now and it’s been amazing. It’s just a great atmosphere to learn.”

Marnie Greenwald says the workshop was a good learning experience, noting that she is a regular at the workshops.

“I love learning new things,” Greenwald says. “I purchased some of the coloured [quills] because I don’t have the resources. The way this woman cleaned her quills, tanned them and sized them was worth the money.”

Beau Boucher-McLaren says the quillwork was a new experience for him.

“But I do a lot of beading, so I got the hang of it pretty easy,” Boucher-McLaren says. “How to prep the quills was the big learning experience for me because I didn’t know you had to clip off the ends or flatten them.”

Marshall says the participants learned how to use the zigzag technique to sew quills onto home-tanned deer hide.

“It’s an introductory to sewing quills tonight and most of the people here have sewing experience,” Marshall says. “There’s lots of experienced beaders in the house, and this came naturally to all of them.”

Marshall says the turnout at the workshop was “awesome.”

“It makes me very excited about quilling,” Marshall says. “I’d like to see more quilling in the community.”

Gail Bannon, cultural coordinator for Fort William, says programs like the porcupine quill workshop get people out to work with their hands in a sewing circle setting.

“[When] you’re sitting around the table and you’re all doing the same thing at the social, it’s building community,” Bannon says. “There’s mothers and grandmothers here, husbands, friends. It just gets people out to do it.”

Bannon says a different type of program is usually held every month for the community.

“Last month it was edge beading, so people came in and learned how to do basic edge beading,” Bannon says. “We introduce community members to materials that they have never worked with before, planting seeds. And you see how much fun there is in the room.”