PLAINS INDIAN SHIELDS & SOFT COVERS
The American Indian Shield | War Shield | Medicine Shield | Dance Shield
Plains Indian | Native American shields used in battle were decorated with anything that would add power to the wearer. A war shield was very important in that it would sometimes be the first thing an enemy would see and it needed to be very powerful to frighten off anyone that would do harm. Also, a cover or multiple covers over the hard shield would stop the enemy seeing his power and medicine he didn’t want them to see.
PLAINS INDIAN SHIELDS
There were a few different types of shields used by the Plains Indian. Among them, there was the hard shield made from thick rawhide and then covered with a soft skin shield cover(s), or the other type of shield made of rawhide but supported with a handmade wooden hoop.
medicine shields | war shields | dance shields
Museum replica of a Crow war shield ca. 1860. Made for a client in Colorado.
Plains Indian thick rawhide shield featuring a bear - painted with clay paints, beads,
Eagle fluff, hide glue, buckskin straps, wool trade cloth, etc.
Based on Chief Little Rock’s shield (Cheyenne) ca. 1860
Made for Fort Sill Museum, Oklahoma
Soft shield cover over a hard shield, brass bells, various feathers, earth clay paints, corn husks. Little Rock in Cheyenne, recorded by the Smithsonian as Hō-hăn-ĭ-no-o′) (ca. 1805-1868)
Made for a client in France.
Based on a museum Blackfeet War Shield
Made for customers in New Zealand & Colorado
Soft cover and a hard rawhide shield
Hard shield based on an original Plains shield that can be seen at the Buffalo Bill - Center of the West Museum, Wyoming. Made for a client in Scotland.
Sioux War Shield with soft cover featuring either human | horse hair, otter.. Painted with earth pigment paints. Based on a museum example, but slightly changed for client by adding coyote and otter fur
Replica Apache Shield based on a shield at the Heard Museum. Made for a client in France.
Lakota Sioux Thunderbird war shield | dance shield (based on a museum example)
Soft shield cover and hard shield. Rain in the Face's shield, but we have changed the Thunderbird / Eagle as per the clients request & added a few items that the client wanted. Hard shield is based on a Hidatsa museum shield featuring a bear. Made for a client in California.
Museum replica Crow Indian War Shield made for a client in Utah
Inspired by Rain in the Face's (Lakota Sioux) shield cover
Rain in the Face (Ité Omáǧažu in Lakota Sioux) with his shield
c. 1835 – September 15, 1905
Four Directions shield on wooden hoop - ca. 1873
buffalo rump / hump shield
Inspired by a Crow shield - circa mid 19th century (with human hair locks) - New Orleans Museum, Louisiana. wooden hoop
Back of a shield with medicine bundle and deer skin straps
