A Mile in my Moccasins - A PEX Presentation
Significance of Moccasins
For my PEX artifact, I have created a pair of low top, beaded moccasins. These moccasins symbolize an important milestone in my life. I am a first descendant Southern Ute and was gifted the skill of beading by my mother, Maria. I have always enjoyed beading and sewing since I was younger. Moccasins are a traditional footwear of my ancestors, the Ute people. I am a First Descendant Southern Ute.
Purpose:
Colors - Blue, Yellow, and White are my school colors. Pink, Purple, Turquoise, and Red are some of my favorite colors.
Symbol - Blue Lotus Flower: A symbol of the Buddhism religion. These flowers are rooted in the mud and bloom above water. The color blue is a representation of knowledge and wisdom.
Low Top Moccasins - Growth and maturity into womanhood.
Process of Making Moccasins
1. Decide your style, create your design, get the supplies.
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2. You have to measure, draw, and cut out your moccasins.
3. Start your beading first. There are going to be many bumps in the road and you are going to make mistakes. Some you can undo, some are just a part of the process.
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Spirit Bead - A bead placed into your beadwork from your ancestors to signify that your work is never going to be perfect and that's okay because that is how the creator meant it to be.
4. Move on to beading the other side of the moccasins. This really relates to the idea of Immersion II. You have another try to fix any mistakes you made or can try a new technique for your beading. This one often looks better than the first one.
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5. Then, you attach the tongue and move on to sewing the top part of the moccasin to the sole. It is important to add an extra layer of buckskin between these two layers. This process is long and tedious but is the most important structure of the moccasins.
6. Attaching the ties to the Moccasin.
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7. Final Product - Admiration of all the work that was put in. This is my favorite part. After many hours, days, weeks, maybe even months, you are able to stand back and look at everything you have created with your own two hands. Looking at my moccasins, I can almost remember every tangle I had to untangle, knots I had to undo, and rows of beads I had restart to get me to this final product.
How does this relate to Who I am as a teacher?
Beading is a work of art that takes patience, perseverance, and grit. It is a gift to share with the world. You have to go into the classroom ready to go, with a good mind. Think positive. Think about growth. I love to bead around others and to talk about topics while I am beading. I feel like a social butterfly sometimes. Each row with beading is a new start, just like each day with teaching is a new start. A chance to start over and to shake the previous day off. The best part about beading is the unexpected problems you may experience and have to solve before you can reach the final product. This is a lot like teaching. The absolute best, overwhelming feeling is the feeling of a sense of pride when you look back at your work and only you can see everything you went through to make that pair of moccasins. You are the only one who can live this experience and be proud of your work.
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Now, I would like to ask you to think about something you have created with your own two hands? How does that make you feel?