Shelby’s Beadwork Process

Shelby Shares the Story of Ihoo Hatulpushik

Beads, at their essence, are essentially just pieces of glass that have been precisely shaped, measured, and deliberately broken. However, these tiny, fragile broken pieces of glass become nearly indestructible when they have been lovingly woven together. For me, each piece of beadwork I create becomes a story of the power that exists in deliberate and gentle love, patience, persistence, and focus. That power transforms what was broken into luminous symbols of strength and healing.

Step 1: The Inspiration

My inspirations can come from an image that I see, or from my own imagination. When I read the book The Last Pow Wow, I fell in love with the character Polacca, a young Native woman who was mute. When she tried to speak, butterflies flew out of her mouth. I knew I wanted to bring Polacca to life as a piece of bead art. I consulted with fluent Chickasaw speakers, and learned that butterfly woman in the Chickasaw Language is Ihoo Hatulpushik, and that would be the title of this creation.

Step 2: Getting a picture

As I read the book, I imagined Polacca looking a lot like Bella Cornell, daughter of my Matriarch sis Sarah Adams-Cornell. A few months earlier, Bella had modeled Oka for me, and her quiet strength and beauty stayed in my mind. Fortunately for me, she graciously agreed to serve as the model for my Ihoo Hatulpushik.  Sarah volunteered to be my photographer, and we took dozens of pictures that day. This one stole my heart!

Step 3: Editing the Picture and Making a Pattern

To get a good pattern, I need the image to be enhanced to bring out as much contrast as possible. I’m not that great at photoshop, but fortunately I’ve got a few friends who are talented graphic artists, and my buddy Cody Bailey worked some serious magic on this image. I then ran the image through software and kept editing until I had a perfect pattern.

Step 4: The Beading Begins

The two techniques I use the most in my work are brick stitch (which was used for this piece) and beading on the loom. Because of their uniformity in size, Japanese Myuki Delica beads are my favorite. After completing Ihoo Hatulpushik, she of course needed butterflies! I had originally planned to make brightly colored butterflies, but I fell in love with the color palette. All the butterflies are made from colors found in creating the woman. It took me approximately 100 hours of beading to complete this labor of love.

Step 5: Finishing the Piece

I wanted Ihoo Hatulpushik to have a three-dimensional effect, so I appliquéd the woman and butterflies onto the suede side of black buckskin. That way, the different bead finishes and textures could shimmer and shine against the muted matte background. Then the friendly team of professionals at Pirate’s Alley helped me find the perfect frame.

Ihoo Hatulpushik sold at the 2019 Santa Fe Indian Art Market.

Loom Beadwork

One of the primary techniques Shelby uses to create her work is loom beadwork. With this, each bead is strung and woven, one at a time, until a large, flat, pictorial piece takes form.
Each piece takes several hours to complete.