Detail from a belt in 1985.
13/0 Czech 3-cuts: black, purple iris, dark blue iris.
Vintage French faceted brass seed beads.

Celestial Hatband - 1983
Blue iris bugles separating 9 loomwork sections..  Size 13/0 beads.  Blue iris Czech 3-cuts, gold younie (metallic) 3-cuts, French antique brass cut beads, black curs, orange and red carnival (aurora borealis) seeds.  Black leather tie ends.

Work in Progress, 1983
Because of the large quantity of beads needed to complete this belt, I used contemporary 13/0 Czech 3-cut beads in blue iris, green luster, amber luster, and bronze iris, with white satin cuts to define the pattern.  The vintage beads in this piece were some red younie seed beads and red whitehearts, which gave the piece some depth.  Too bad I didn't have today's huge range of colors available to me then!  Note the homemade loom-- I used men's hair combs to separate the threads.
Click here for this pattern

Deco Motif Belt - 1983
Size 10/0 beads, green iris Czech vintage 3-cuts, coral and red seed beads.  Red pigskin leather with brass buckle. 

Loomwork - Heart Motif Belt - 1983
Hand-stamped buckle by Preston Bellringer of Santa Fe.  Belt: 9 sections of loomwork separated by red rocaille bugles.  Size 10/0 beads: gold younie (metallic) 3-cuts, vintage Czech crystal aurora borealis 3-cuts, and red rocaille 3-cuts.

Snake Belt - 1983
This is one of several snake belts I made with buckles created by Taos silversmith Will Powers.  This buckle was sterling silver with sapphire eyes.  The beadwork was of size 11/0 2-cut transparent luster beads in lavender, brown, burgundy and crystal.  Unfortunately the colors have faded badly in this photo.  The leather ends were of mauve pigskin. Free snake belt patterns!

Loomwork - Barnyard Belt - 1984
Size 15/0 hex cut beads, black leather, chrome buckle set

Copyright 1999-2002
Carrie E. Bodensteiner
bodenst@kichline.com