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Beading on rock

Alutiiq people have been making and using pinguat–beads for thousands of years. Some of the most interesting evidence of beads comes from ancient drawings on small stones. These 700-year-old artifacts show faces surrounded by clothing and jewelry. They illustrate that Alutiiq ancestors used beads to make headdresses, earrings, and necklaces and to decorate labrets and clothing. These beads were handmade from shell, bone, ivory, amber, coal, shale, slate, and even fish vertebrae.

In the late 18th century, glass beads manufactured in Europe arrived with Russian traders in large quantities. Alutiiq people used them to adorn clothing and to make dazzling headdresses and jewelry.


Beading Activities

Learn traditional beading techniques and make your own regalia pieces by following skilled Alutiiq beaders. Each activity features a demonstration video and a set of written instructions with a supply list.


How to Make a Headdress

Follow Alutiiq artist Kayla McDermott as she demonstrates the steps in making a beaded headdress. Watch the video tutorials below and download the instruction booklet for more details. Produced with support from the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak and the US Bureau of Indian Affairs.


Assemble your materials and prepare leather pieces (13:22 minutes).

Start your headdress by beading a fitted cap (5:45 minutes).

To your beaded cap, add fringe over the eyes and ears (7:23 minutes).

Finish your headdress with a train of beads (6:00 minutes).

Woman holding two dolls, each with beaded headdress.

Beaded Headdress for a Doll

Outfit your child’s doll with a headdress. This activity uses felt, thread, and plastic beads to create a miniature headdress that fits a Glitter Girls doll.  It can be adapted for other dolls. Developed by Kayla McDermott with support from the Munartet project and the Alaska State Council on the Arts.


Other Beading Projects

Learn some basic beading techniques with Kayla Christiansen and use them to create a three-strand tayarnerutaq–bracelet. This is a project for beginners. Beading kits with supplies for this activity are available from the Alutiiq Museum Store.

Kayla Christiansen demonstrates how to make a pair of beaded cuffs based on examples collected on Kodiak in 1872.

Candace Branson demonstrates how to make an uyamillquaq–beaded necklace inspired by one collected in Ugashik about 1880.

Natalia Schneider demonstrates how to make kulunguat–beaded earrings inspired by a pair collected in Ugashik about 1880.

Hanna Sholl demonstrates how to sew a headband and decorate it with beads. The headband can be sized for a child or an adult. 

Download Headband Instructions

Pinquat Pattern Book Cover

Alutiiq artist June Pardue documented the materials and techniques used to create a set of beaded regalia collected on Kodiak in 1872. The set includes a headdress, a stole, and a pair of cuffs. Learn about the construction of each piece in our pattern book. This resource is for experienced beaders.

Pinquat – Beads Film

In 1872, French anthropologist Alphonse Pinart visited Kodiak Island. He returned with a set of women’s beaded regalia—a headdress, a stole, and a pair of cuffs. The items remained in France until 2018, when the Alutiiq Museum borrowed them from the Musée Boulogne-sur-Mer, France for study. Pinguat, a documentary film by Josh Albeza Branstetter, follows the journey of 13 artists to recreate the 148-year-old set.

Nominee for best documentary short, American Indian Film Institute, 2020. An official selection of the NatiVisions Film Festival, 2020. Created by the Pinguat Project, a partnership with the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak, supported by the Musée Boulogne-sur-Mer, and funded by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs Alaska Region and Koniag.