What a talented maker who fashioned the closed coiling so effectively for the doll's hair and upper body, utilizing split stitches to suggest the wind's power to make a woman's skirts sway. Her impish smile is conveyed with just a well-positioned overstitch of martynia.

Terry DeWald's book The Papago Indians and Their Basketry is the definitive book on this tribe's basketry, although an older volume is Basketry of the Papago and Pima Indians.  About ten years ago the preference changed from referencing Papago to Tohono O'odham, hence the titling of the above books, each preceding the change in nomenclature.

Tohono O'odham basket makers are among the finest in Native America. All materials are natural, as are all the colors - no dyes are ever used.  Preparing the materials and forming the baskets is a very labor-intensive process.

The basketry created by this tribe is best described by Terry De Wald in his book The Papago Indians and Their Basketry. Mr. De Wald has been a trader specializing in their basketry for more than 25 years.

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