Bead loom

Name (French):	chose servant à enfiler des perles
Name (Innu):	tapikuan-mitishan / tapaikan-mitishan
Date Collected:	unknown
Institutions:	The Rooms, Provincial Museum Division
Catalog Number:	III-B-12
Place Made:	came with a card stating it was "probably obtained by the nascapi from the moravian mission"
Maker:	unknown
Collector:	Richard White

Description:

Wooden loom with a carved heart-shaped top and rounded corners. Top part of loom (approximately 5.75″ ) solid except for curved design which is cut through the wood. Remainder of the loom except for 1″ border at bottom is cut into twenty-four bars (approximately 0.5″ wide). All except one end of bar have a small hole drilled through their middle.

Innu Narrative:

“This is for making beaded things. It’s a beading loom. It’s called tapukuan mitshan (bead loom). I only saw Matinen (Rich) Katshinak making designs with unamen and embroidery work. But I never saw her use a bead loom.” Pinamen (Rich) Katshinak

Other Info:

Innu name put in standard spelling by J. Mailhot and J. Bacon (9 February 2005).