How to Make an Indian Prayer Feather

Native Americans use Indian prayer feathers in cleansing ceremonies. They use the feather to direct cleansing smoke to purify and protect physical objects and spirits, according to The Cowboy Psychic. The feather must come from a bird that carries significance to its user. For example, Indians highly respect birds of prey, so their feathers work well. Then, the decorations on the feather usually hold personal meaning. If you need help coming up with ideas for your Indian prayer feather, certain common decorations work well.

Lay out enough deer skin to cover the quill's length. This doesn’t take much deer skin. Place the quill on top of the leather. Take the three leather laces and wrap them around the quill a few times. Let the ends hang below the bottom edge of the deer skin.

Wrap the deer skin around the feather quill and the wrapped leather laces. Wrap them together snugly. Then, take your leather needle and your remaining leather lace and sew the seam tightly together. Make sure to tie a knot on each end of the remaining leather lace to secure the sewing. Now your project should look like a feather with a deer skin-covered quill and four hanging leather laces below.

Thread your beads on the hanging laces in any design and color scheme you want. This Indian prayer feather should be special and significant to you, so design it to your own taste. Once you finish threading the laces, leave enough length at the bottom of each to tie a knot. Now the snugness of the deer skin and the grip of your hand holds the beaded laces in place.