Identifying
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Making
2011
Identifying
Alvira Downey: Uvva-li ukuak uvaptikni-li qavakŋa Kotzebue area-mi piñġauraaŋnik piraġigivut ililgaaqtauraak.
(In the Kotzebue area we call them piñġauraak [a child’s water repellent boot].)
Ililgaam piñġauraak.
(These here are called piñġauraak.)
Aasiiñ natchiġñik upinġaami taatna natchiqmatigut kammiraġigaatigut aŋayuqaapta piñġauranik.
(In the springtime when seals are caught, our parents always made us boots that’s called piñġauraq.)
Aarigaa immayuitchut.
(They are good and water repellent.)
Making
Faye Ongtowasruk: Qatiqpakłutik ‘aa quġmik imaqaatuat [the ones soaked in urine become very white], and then quġmik kinisiġaaqłuit [soak in urine], plain water, and hang them out wintertime. That’s how they get real white.
Alvira Downey: Me and my husband make one, one time, snow white, snow white.
Faye Ongtowasruk: They are snow white.
Isriliqpaŋmauŋ qatiqpaktaqtut.
(When it is very cold out, they get very white.)
[…]
Alvira Downey: Sakivittaġigivut amiuvva natchiurat paniqtitqaaqługich aasiiñ kitiksraqhuta uyaġauraanik naaggaqaa ikniġvium iluaniñ kitksraġaqtugut aġramiglu kitiqaġaqtugut, ataŋ piiqsiġiaqtuq.
(We always scrape seal skins after drying them, then get white sand [crushed quartz] or ashes from the stove – the tissue is easy to come off with that. We put the seal skin on the wooden end of the shovel and scrape the tissue off.)
Tavraami sakivinniŋa uvva natchium amia sakivittaġigikput itna paulġitmun paulġiñ isiqługu aasii tia sakivinŋuraaqługu.
(We always put the wooden handle of a shovel underneath the skin and scrape the skin.)
Easy-ŋuruq sakivinŋuraaqtuni.
(It’s easy that way.)
[…]
Pauktuqługu aasiiñ pauktuutinik paniqsirriutikaptigu natchiq.
(Then we nail the skin to the ground using wooden pegs stretching it same time to dry.)
[…]
Ivaluksriuġaqtugut qipripluta- qipitlugu ivaluksraq tuttumiñ- tuttum tunuaniñ naaggaqaa sisuamiñ- sisuam tinuaniñ ivaluksraqhuta qipriplugich- qiprat nakuutluktut dental floss-miñ ataŋ.
(We make thread by twisting or braiding sinew from the spine of the caribou or the back spine of the beluga. This type of thread is better than dental floss.)
Taatma killaiyautiksriuġaqtugut piñġauranun-lu.
(That’s how we make thread for sewing to use also when making water boots.)
2002
Jane Brower: Piñiġaq.
(Short summer boot.)
Ron Brower, Sr.: These are called piñiġaq. They’re child’s mukluks. These [soles] have been shaped by chewing, not crimping.
Jane Brower: I use my teeth. How many times I’ve broken my teeth.
Kenneth Toovak: Good thing you weren’t chewing a lot more. [Laughter.]
Jane Brower: When you start the sewing, you have to chew the inside of the atuŋak [boot sole]. After you do that, you have to bite it with your teeth. While I sew it, I bite it with my teeth and make [creases along edge of sole] where I’m from. Taamnanaluaq [this is bleached sealskin].
Ron Brower, Sr.: This is bleached sealskin [trim at top], and then this is bleached and dyed seal skin [upper and vamp].
Taamna maptukitchuq, ugrugaq qanuq marra [this looks thin, probably a young bearded seal].
Jane Brower: Ugrugaq.
(Young bearded seal.)
Ron Brower, Sr.: And this is young bearded seal [sole].
When these were worn
Kenneth Toovak: For the whale festival, on Nalukataq [whaling festival].
Jane Brower: Yes, Nalukataq.
Kenneth Toovak: They use those for the festival, nalukataġmata [during the blanket toss].
Ron Brower, Sr.: In the old days, all the men, women and children dressed in their finest clothes after the feast, when they were beginning to do the celebrations and dances. Everybody, after they’d eaten, they put on their finest clothes, including the little children.
This is a child’s pair of short sealskin boots, with bearded seal soles. Winter-bleached seal skin was used around the tops and for the straps.
Iñupiaq women traditionally made a variety of boot styles, using materials and techniques that suited different seasons and conditions. Bearded seal was the most common material for soles, although walrus hide, beluga skin and (rarely) polar bear could also be employed.
Boot soles were tanned using two different processes. When only the hair was scraped off the sole was dark-colored, waterproof and durable, as on the pair pictured here. This type of sole, with some bristles left on the outside surface, was also excellent for use on sea ice because it prevented slipping. For some boot bottoms, the epidermis (outer layer of skin) was removed. The resulting white to yellowish-brown skin was preferred for dress boots and dry snow conditions.
Waterproof boots were designed for wet ground, rainy summer weather, and boating. Some were short, like this pair, while others reached the knee. Some were hip-length to wear in deeper water while hunting or fishing. “Black” seal skin, often used for the upper parts of waterproof boots (including this pair), was tanned so as not to remove the epidermis and natural oils, leaving the skin dark and water-repellant. Seal oil was applied to maintain its waterproof quality.
Boot makers used a small knife with a half moon-shaped blade—an ulu, also called a “woman’s knife,” or an uluraaq [woman’s small knife]—to cut skins. No pattern or measuring tools were needed, only hand measurements. Sinew thread was used, usually from caribou. Boot soles have pleated edges, often referred to as crimping. Women folded up the edges, crimped them with a special tool, and sewed through each crimp to attach the sole to the boot. Along the North Alaska coast, women used their teeth for crimping. Boot makers in the Barrow area added a round piece of sealskin (hair on) to the heel to prevent slipping.
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