Tipatshimuna 
Description:
Fork-shaped curved stencil carved from wood with three edges. Base ornamented with red and blue lines; handle red crossed lines.
References:
Dorothy Burnham. 1992. To Please the Caribou. Seattle: University of Washington Press. James W. VanStone. 1985. Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: the William Duncan Strong Collection. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.7. Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX. Lynn Drapeau. 1999. Dictionnaire Montagnais-français. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Innu Narrative:
“Yes, they used these colours to paint their clothing. Our grandma, Mary Jane [Pasteen], was very good at this sort of thing. That’s unime. And they had these paint sticks; they used them to paint.” Pinashue Benuen
“Those are used for painting or colouring different things like leggings, all kinds of clothing. They’re called paint sticks – peshanakueashkua.” Pinashue Benuen
“For an uname container. This is used for uname (paint), for painting. It can be used both at the same time, and whichever paint that is put in it. The paint stick can only be dipped in the container when it’s ready to use.” Uniam Katshinak
“A bone (ushkan). I heard it was a caribou bone. And maybe antlers were used too. They probably boiled the antler before they could make stencils. Unaman (paint) was used for paintings. No wonder they could make these very neatly, the stencils must help a lot. I heard these were all handmade, but I never saw these made. I only heard. Yes. It is easier to carve, and also to carve these [stencils]. The bone has to be boiled.” Matinen (Rich) Katshinak
“These are used for painting. It can be stenciled on. This one can make three lines, and this one can make two lines, and the other one had three too. You can make three straight lines if you dip the stick in unaman.” Uniam Katshinak
Other Info:
MacKenzie lists peshaikanashkᵘ and peshanikeashkᵘ as “paintbrush.”
“The paints used for decorating the buckskin garments are applied by means of bits of bone or horn of a peculiar shape…Those with two, three or four lines are used for making the complicated patterns of parallel lines, and are always made of antler, while the simple form is sometimes of wood.” Turner (1979[1894]:132)
“The prepared paints are put in the vessels…and when ready for use a quantity is taken with the finger and placed in the palm of the hand while the other fingers hold the instrument by which it is to be applied. The paint stick is carefully drawn through the thin layer of paint spread on the other palm and a quantity, depending on the thickness of the layer, adheres to the edges of the appliance and by a carefully guided motion of the hand the lines desired are produced. The eye alone guides the drawing, however intricate it may be. The artist frequently attempts to imitate some of the delicate designs on a gaudy bandana handkerchief or some similar fabric.” Turner (1979[1894:133-134)
“Parallel lines of paint were applied with stencils of which there are six in the collection, five of birch-wood and one of antler. The handles of these stencils are either square or notched and widen to an open, rectangular shape at the distal end. Four are capable of producing two parallel lines, while the other two can produce three such lines.” VanStone (1985:38)
“The native people of Quebec-Labrador did not use soft brushes when doing their painting but stiff, hard tools made of antler or bone.” Burnham (1992:39)
“Painting tools exist in a number of museum collections, the curved ones made of antler, the small straight ones usually of bone. Only those made very recently are of wood.” Burnham (1992:39)
“2-prong and 3-prong tools were used “to make the multiple lines that delineate the pattern areas on most of the coats.” Burnham (1992:40)
“When a curved tool moistened with the painting medium is placed on the skin, the movement of the curve as the tool is drawn across the skin lengthens the line that it is possible to draw with one sweep.” Burnham (1992: 40)
“Each woman probably owned a number of painting tools, and because they were important possessions they would have been buried with her.” Burnham (1992:40)
Does the word peshaikanashku applies to paintbrushes, stencils, and paint sticks alike?