Every morning I come out here.

I always start my day with a smile.

I always offer my tobacco, but I also smudge every day.

The SpongeBob projects are sponsored by my machines myself before I start.

Just to have those good vibes because I know that my feelings, they go into my work.

So if you're having those those, those bad feelings, those feelings are going to know what you're making.

And I don't want to pass those on to other people from having a bad day.

Or if I'm not, if I'm not feeling 100%, I'm not working today.

She mentioned Indigo.

Her finds get make one and do them.

I skip a them down on gum.

I said that my name is Chai Mangan, which is big wolf in Ojibwe.

In English.

My name is herb.

Fine.

There we are in, my studio, which is Round Lake traditions on my property for a lot of Ojibwe art right now.

My bread and butter, what I, what I specialize in is my apple designs.

I do a lot of vests.

The vest, like the one I'm wearing right now.

And I also do a lot of power dance regalia.

And, when I say power dance regalia, you can run the gamut on every kind of, dance category there is that I specialize in, I have customers in Canada.

I have customers all over the U.S.. You know, I got I've sent stuff to Washington, Maine, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and, I enjoy seeing that.

And actually, I went to a few powwows this summer, and when I was dancing at these powers and watching people dance and looking at their, some of their garments that they're wearing, I'm thinking there's a lot of my work out here seeing that is fulfilling, especially knowing that, you know, I made a I had a little piece of them getting back out into that dance arena, our dancing again.

So.

And that's a huge reason why I do dance.

In the power world, sometimes when we weren't able to purchase a, an actual embroidery machine.

So we taught ourselves how to use these regular home based sewing machines on the zigzag stitch of how to make these these intricate patterns.

So appliqué is a type of, we'll say mixed media art that is put on the clothing.

And through that process, we're just layering pieces of color on top of color, and we're making those fine lines with that zigzag applique process.

I guess if we go back and think about being Ojibwe and Anishinaabe, you know, we always made do with what we had.

When I'm sketching out and I'll actually draw out, what is called, heat and bond and I'll put it on that heat and bond paper.

And then I cut that heat and bond out, and I, ironed that on to fabric.

And then I'll cut those designs out by hand.

I have templates are, stuff to cut on my vest.

So I'll cut out the vest and I'll heat and bond everything on to that vest.

And then I had hand sewed after that.

You.

When I was growing up, working with, my grandmother and my grandmother was, she was a first language speaker, and so's my grandfather.

So in their household, daily, all you heard was a way.

And what was important to them was, is it passing on the knowledge that they carried on to their young ones?

And what they would say is that, hey, this knowledge that I hold, it's not my.

So it's the same with you.

When you learn how to do something, it's not yours.

So make sure that you pass it on so that it lives on throughout those times.

You know, it's something that's I don't want to say.

It was all self-taught, but I learned a lot from my teachers who are my mother, father and my grandparents.

And getting to that point now to where I pass a lot of that knowledge.

So, I enjoyed doing it here at Brown, like traditions.

I don't, pin nothing down, and I don't use no heating bond or spray or nothing.

So we just hold my hand.

Growing up and with my mother, she did a lot of sewing, and she sold for our family out of necessity.

You know, she helped make a lot of our clothing, helped make our even our backpacks for going to school when I was growing up.

We didn't we didn't come from a lot of money, but we made do with what we had ready.

There was always a sewing machine around.

I was one of those people who I could pick up what you're doing by just watching you, you know?

Same with watching my grandparents with their beadwork and their their leather work.

I was a law enforcement officer.

I was actually the chief of police of the final act reservation, before I started my own, like, traditions at a certain mindset all the time.

While I was wearing that uniform, I, while I was in my law enforcement mode, and I would come home and, I actually needed, you know, probably 20 to 30 minutes to just decompress and get back to my role as an additional being male or a father figure.

Once I made that transition and then I was able to relax and then, my creative stuff would start flowing again and, kind of going back and forth and talking with my wife of of what I wanted to do with, with my work as an artist, I would hesitate and I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it, you know, and I would just wait and I would put it off.

And then finally one morning, I woke up and I just said, you know, I'm going to do this 100% full time.

And this was in May of 2019.

I'd made that decision.

I retired in July of 2019, and I haven't looked back since that day.

Almost 100% of the people that come here want this legacy piece that they've been looking for for a long time, and they approached me with that.

And, I finally make something for them.

And, I've had people come into my studio and I've showed it to them, or they've, once I mailed it to them and I say, hey, can you see that?

Can you take a video and send it?

Send me that video?

Seeing their elation on their face when they actually taken that garment out of the box and looking at it.

It's actually brought tears to people's eyes when they get that piece.

That's why I do what I do.

That's the easiest part.

That's what brings me joy of doing this.