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Manufacturing Technique

Date Made

Place Made

Date Collected

Date Owned

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Owner

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Cultural Context

footwear

Narrative

Collected somewhere in the area of Great Slave Lake.

Description

Pair of boots made of brown and white caribou skin with the fur on, with soles made of dehaired seal skin. The soles are boat-like with vertical crimps. Between the sole and upper section of the foot a red-brown dyed narrow strip of dehaired skin is inserted all around. The leg section consists of white caribou fur with vertical brown caribou panels on either side of the leg. The front of the leg section and the vamp are made out of a single piece of fur. The top of the boots are lined with horizontal bands of white caribou fur and brown dyed dehaired skin. The band of brown skin is decorated with circular and semi-circular motifs of yellow-white cotton thread. The tops of the boots have a casing of brown dehaired skin through which a cotton cord is strung. On either side of the boots a long strip of dehaired caribou skin is attached into the seam of the sole.

Specific Techniques

Before crimping, the soles are moisturized. To begin crimping the seamstress folds the sole in half longitudinally. The crimps are made by hand and pinched between index finger and thumb and between the teeth. Crimps are about 3 to 4 cm. long and 0.1 cm. apart throughout the toe and heel area. The soles are sewn to a narrow side strip of depilated skin with a running stitch incorporating a thread that is placed on top of the side strip to reinforce the stitches. The other pieces of the boots are sewn together with an overcast stitch.

History Of Use

Boots were worn over skin stockings.
These types of stockings were usually worn inside outer stockings and/or boots.
The insulating capability of animal skins is enhanced by the practice of wearing two layers of skin clothing, especially in winter. One layer of clothing is worn with the fur on the inside and a second layer is worn with the fur on the outside. The clothing also is designed so as to minimize ingress of wind and cold. During winter men and women wear two hooded waist-length coats, two pairs of trousers, two pairs of stockings and boots, and mittens. Men often wear a longer, heavier outer coat when outdoors in winter. While mass-produced clothing from the south is now commonly worn, the making of skin clothing is being revived in the Arctic.
In the Arctic, the making of clothing is considered as important as the creation of sacred objects. Aside from its important function as protection against the cold, clothing is imbued with power and spirituality. Women as seamstresses play an extremely important role in the expression of cultural value and meaning. The clothing of each group is cut and decorated according to distinctive cultural aesthetics. In addition to expressing the group’s identity, seamstresses express the beliefs and values of the group through clothing, which marks social identities like gender, age, childbearing status, and geographical origin. Clothing also expresses the special relationship of people in the Arctic with the animal world. People, animals, and spirits are subject to metamorphosis. Clothing often refers to this ability to transform, and could effect such a metamorphosis