Dentalium artisan Russell McCloud revitalizes Native tradition and trade

McCloud, citizen of Yakama Nation, is a self-taught dentalium artisan of Yakama and Puyallup descent. Since around 2010, McCloud has made about 900 dentalium necklaces, which he sells under the brand Russwear along with dentalium breastplates, earrings and bracelets.

“I started making it for my family, and then other people wanted it,” he said, still stringing dentalium shells. “And then it just never stopped.”

Now, Russwear is worn by champion powwow dancers, like Saddle Lake Cree Nation singer Tia Wood. The Sony Music-signed artist wore a Russwear necklace in her “Dirt Roads” music video, which brought McCloud lots of customers, he said.

“Everything I make, I make it if I was going to make it for my family,” he said, emphasizing that he puts love and positive energy into every piece he creates, which is important because dentalium is given as gifts and worn for events, such as ceremonies, weddings, powwows and graduations.

For centuries, Indigenous people have valued dentalium shells as a status symbol to adorn clothing, capes, hairpieces and accessories. The shells were once used as currency, and they still hold deep cultural value and significance.

Pacific Northwest tribes would harvest dentalium from the Pacific Ocean, and, through trade routes, the shells eventually made their way to the Northern Great Plains during the 16th century, becoming a staple of those tribes’ embellishments and adornments.

Dentalium nowadays is generally purchased online, and many sellers are from India and Southeast Asia. McCloud buys dentalium wherever he can find it, whether that’s at Shipwreck Beads, a store just outside Olympia, Washington, or online, but most of the product is from India.

Even though his trade starts abroad, those historic Indigenous trade routes live on with McCloud. Traveling east for powwows from the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington, he brings his dentalium business to the Northern Great Plains, where he said there’s always demand.

“Certain tribes don’t really use shells, so it’s hard to sell there,” he said, referring to tribes further south. “But like here, being in the Plains, they all wear it.”

The Yakama Nation and other Pacific Northwest tribes also commonly use dentalium.

“At home, it’s like a normal thing,” he said. “It’s something that’s always been there. It’s more like sweet grass from here, sweet grass and sage,” both of which are native to the Northern Plains and rooted in Indigenous culture.

For centuries, dentalium has connected Native people living on the west coast to those on the Great Plains. McCloud said his jewelry represents connection — to other people and to Mother Earth.

“Everything’s connected,” he said, as drummers at the powwow beat out a fast, unrelenting song, “The leather, that’s cow hide. The shells come from the sea … The outfits that you wear, the animals that you’re wearing, those spirits, there’s something that brought everybody here.”

McCloud and his family have come to the UTTC International Powwow for the last three years. They travel northeast to powwows in the summer and down to southern California during the winter, competing in powwows year-round. It’s expensive, he said, but profits from Russwear cover most of their travel.

“This gets us to the powwow. Like those earrings that were right there,” he said gesturing to an empty space on the table in front of him. The International Powwow women’s head judge, Amanda Goodwill (Nakota, Dakota and Oglala), bought the earrings that day. “That 150 bucks pays for two, three tanks of gas, maybe a dinner.”

When McCloud isn’t traveling to powwows or crafting dentalium accessories, he works for the Yakama Nation’s Forest Development Program, overseeing logging operations.

“My office is the forest. It’s the trees, the birds, the bees, the animals,” he said, but when he comes home, his dentalium craft keeps him busy, helps with stress relief and keeps his mind sharp.

He could make a living off selling Russwear, even with dentalium prices rising due to a growing demand. In 2016, the #NoDAPL movement ignited a Native culture revival, and with social media fanning the flames, dentalium jewelry grew in popularity. McCloud pointed to a gallon-size bag of dentalium shells. He used to pay $50 for that many, but now he pays around $400. On eBay, a 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pound, bag of smooth white 1.25- to 1.5-inch dentalium shells sells for $100.

So if McCloud did take up dentalium jewelry making for living, “that’s all I’d be doing, nonstop.” But McCloud likes his job, and he likes traveling and dancing in powwows.

“I’ll be dancing later,” he said, threading his needle and sinew through another dentalium shell. “We’ll go back, you know, wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. Oh yeah, it’s tiring but it keeps my family together.”

When asked how long he’ll be making dentalium jewelry and attending powwows, McCloud said, “Probably till I can’t walk no more.”

That weekend, McCloud’s son Rusty won a horse in the Thomas Redbird memorial special, and his daughter Tosha placed first in the teen girls traditional dance. Both were wearing Russwear.