Na Halupa: Pointy Things
Flintknapping - chipping stone from brittle, glass-like rocks - is possibly the oldest human art form. Flintknapping has been a gateway for me. My uncle started me chipping when I was 7 years old. When I eventually learned how to make something that looked like an arrow point, then I wanted to learn how to make an arrow, then a bow, then how to tan the hides for a quiver. I spent thousands of hours practicing these traditional arts as a teenager and finding people who could teach me new things. Flintknapping was also my gateway into working for the Tribe. The first jobs I did were teaching flintknapping at Choctaw Nation Culture Camp and the Labor Day Festival.
Pecking and grinding is a second stone-working technique. It's used for shaping coarser-grained rocks to make durable tools, like axe heads. The first formaclass that I ever taught was a pecking and grinding session at a traditional skills event when I was 17.
Use the right arrow on the image below to peruse some of my stone work through the years. Double click if you're browsing on a cell phone.