Tafloos 
(Braided Neckpieces)
 
 

Tafloos


 A good number of years ago I was working for one of the outfitters close by the town of Silverton in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. The summer wrangling season was at an end and I was starting to pack supplies into the back country to set up hunting camps. The days were busy, but I usually found a little time to braid.  I always kept a few cut strings in my saddlebags. When I finished a hat band or stampede string I'd have no trouble selling or trading it to one of the hunters.  It was during that hunting season that I began to braid over irregular shapes.  A few hunters asked me to braid over their elk ivories.


When the season ended I drifted to Arizona to find ranch work to get past the winter months.  The work was part time, which left time for braiding. I had a few elk ivories left over from the hunting camps, and I got better at braiding over them.  I also got a good string cutter/beveller that winter, and it made all the difference over the old one I was struggling with.  My time on that ranch passed easily.

 

My next ranch job back in Colorado was for one of the Indian tribes.  I fit in as ranch hand/caretaker on one of their spreads in the four corners area. The workload wasn't very demanding: feed, irrigate, roll up old fence and fix the newer fence.  Again, I didn't have to look hard to find time to braid. Until then I was braiding over elk ivories in a random and experimental sort of way.  I was getting good results, but with no real direction.  Before leaving that ranch things would change.


 One of the fellows in the tribe got to asking me about braid work.  He showed an interest in learning and I got him started.  He absorbed it quicker than most, and before long he was finishing his first projects.  One day I showed him the braided over elk ivories.  He told me the significance elk ivories had for his tribe long ago.  At the higher elevations of his tribes ancestral territory lightning was a real concern. Elk ivories were believed to offer protection from being struck.  The flow of information between us was starting to reach a balance.  I was gaining a perspective, and my braiding over irregular shapes was finding a direction.


 

There came a time when bear claws entered the picture.  On the farthest reaches of the ranch lived some black bear.  I'd come across them sometimes while out working, and I enjoyed the experience.  It got to where I looked forward  to seeing them.   Eventually, one of those bears was implicated in predation, and a professional hunter was called in to shoot him.  In time, someone brought me some of the claws from that bear.  I felt badly at the loss of the bear, and decided to do something right with those claws.  I braided over the largest one first and turned it into a neckpiece. That neckpiece now belongs to a tribal member who wears it at sweat lodge and other tribal ceremonies.  It is looked upon with the thoughtfulness and respect it deserves, and I feel as though I have given that bear some small measure of immortality.  It is with this same attitude that I braid over tooth and claw as I receive them.  At times a piece from an animal not native to the southwest will find it's way to me to be braided over, and I can usually work it out.  The fact that no two pieces are ever identical sort of prepares me for the next.  I've also learned that in the belief system of the elders of that particular tribe, the bear embodies the spirit of the forest.  Historically, it was not hunted for food, being considered too close to human.


Towards the end of my stay on that ranch I was given a Mountain Lion claw to braid over.  It is said to represent the qualities of the feminine.  I braided that claw into a neckpiece, and though it was slightly different in size and shape than the previous pieces, it came out very well.  It also belongs to someone who attaches spiritual significance to it.


It's been years now since I left that ranch, yet I am still in close contact with some of the people I worked with there.   Of course I still braid the neckpiece, which I sometimes call a Tafloos.  I do bolo ties as well, but there are differences between the two.  The main difference, as far as braiding goes, is that the bolo requires much effort to have the two claws or ivories come out identical, in a left/right sort of way. The Tafloos has only a single piece braided over, and only the symmetry and balance of that one piece is of concern. Also, the bolo is worn outside the shirt, as an article of dress, an ornament.  The Tafloos can be worn outside or inside the shirt, and will not get in the way while working.  It can be worn all the time.  I'm fairly active, and much prefer the Tafloos.  To each his own. 

    

By request I am braiding over something else that has meaning beyond the work itself: horsehair.  It began when a fellow I know was telling me about his two old draft horses, and how he knew they wouldn't be around forever.  At his wife's request I braided him a hat band, and used s small snip of tail hair from each of the draft horses as tassels.  Balance, coverage, and blend worked out excellent.  Nowadays, as hair is sent to me from someone who has snipped it from a horse that has meant a lot to them, I work it into a braided piece of their choice.  My only requirements are that it be twice the length the finished piece is to be, and that it be neat, not in a tangle when I receive it.

    

Most recently I have worked a braid over a tip of deer antler.  I sometimes find a shed rack in good condition, and it will provide many tips to work with.  Another shape to work with, and another piece of tribal lore to consider:  deer antler is a symbol of strength.

    

All told, braiding has been good to me over the years. It has been a constant companion through some interesting times.  If you are ever in the back country, and see a fellow sitting back against a tree, passing the day quietly braiding, go over and introduce yourself.  There might be a lot we can learn from each other.  

                                                                                      

                                                                                 Blue Skies

                                                                                                           Hooey

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