Mastering & Teaching the 3-Drop Gourd Stitch with Blue Dots

For over 16 years, Cynthia Masterson (Comanche Nation of Oklahoma) has beaded traditional objects for ceremonies and powwows. “Our Stories Are Mixed” was her first juried art show, held at the “In the Spirit” event at the Washington State History Museum.

Cynthia carries the name of her great-great-great-grandmother Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Quanah Parker, one of the last Comanche chiefs. She is an enrolled member of the Comanche tribe and a Titchywy descendant. Born and raised in Oklahoma, she lives with her husband Bret in Seattle, Washington.

Cynthia reached for a blue dot bead and added it to her design. A bead weaving technique that is done one bead at a time around cylindrical objects, the traditional 3-drop gourd stitch is difficult to master. When Cynthia feared making mistakes, she often did the only thing she knew — a row of blue dots, the only element that would fit her unplanned design.

“When I’m feeling lost and don’t know how to begin or end, a round of blue dots always comforts me,”

To learn the 3-drop gourd stitch while living in Seattle, Cynthia watched a series of VHS tapes produced by someone in her church back in Oklahoma. It was challenging, but through the years, Cynthia started mastering the form, and people asked her to teach it. This developed into presenting workshops and teaching at every opportunity.

Cynthia was on the cusp of launching her art as a business with help from a 2015 First Peoples Fund (FPF) Artist in Business Leadership fellowship. But a few days after the FPF fellows convening in Santa Fe, she was hospitalized and faced two surgeries and months of bed rest. Later, she suffered from shoulder issues and more surgeries. It was a long road to recovery, one that inhibited her ability to bead.

But she found her way back. In 2019, Cynthia participated in a catalyzing show at King Street Station in Seattle though yəhaw. Yəhaw is a project series of collective of Indigenous creatives providing interdisciplinary cultural, art, and design services. The show opened new doors and gave her beadwork the recognition it needed.

Cynthia was selected to receive a Cultural Capital Fellowship and made plans to fly home to Oklahoma to present workshops. Due to the national shutdown, she had to switch to online teaching, finding herself in the difficult position of once again dealing with video instead of hands-on mentorship. However, she’s found ways to explain and demonstrate when a student has done a stitch incorrectly, showing it to them by live video.

Today Cynthia runs her own website, Blue Dot Beadwork, where she sells her creations and offers workshops and video tutorials.

“There are so few people who do this unique style of beadwork,” she says. “I want to change that. I struggled to learn, and I want to ease the way for others.”