My best bud, John "Cool Johnny" Norris, asked me a while back to make him a medicine bag necklace. Due to the bag's small size, it was hard for me to come up with a design that would be functional, would look good, and would be something that I could actually sew by hand. After a few starts and stops, I settled on the bag you see here. It is made from deer hide. I'm still not crazy about how it draws to close but it is what it is.
I had a better idea for what I wanted the lanyard to look like, but that also provided some challenges. First off, I had to learn how to do a 4-strand round braid. Braiding deer lace can be a challenge because of how stretchy it is so I used suede lace which is a little more stiff. Then I had to design a clasping mechanism that I could carve out of deer antler that wouldn't be too bulky. I had a vision in my head of a hook and loop kind of clasp with the hook having wings at the end to lock it in place. That proved to be tough to carve out and I lost a bit of skin in the process. Lastly, I needed to figure out a decent way to secure the deer antler beads and turkey spurs in place. I settled on putting a metal brad through each piece and then epoxying the brad in place.
I hope it brings Cool Johnny good luck in the woods. It already has a bunch of powerful mojo in it!
Darren
