Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Arviat (Aug 29/01) - It seems as if perseverance as much as anything else pays the bills for Melanie Tabvahtah.

The Arviat resident spoke out last week about just how difficult it is to make a living as an artisan in Nunavut.

Commenting during the Nunavut Arts Festival in Cambridge Bay, Tabvahtah said it was a tough go.

But she said the dollars she earns through selling her hand-sewn items help keep the proverbial wolves from her door.

"I make my money from sewing," said Tabvahtah. "Welfare is just not enough," she said.

With a determined look in her eye and animal skins spread out on the table in front of her, Tabvahtah seems pleased she learned her craft from her mother decades ago.

Ready to admit that as a teenager she preferred to have fun over sewing, Tabvahtah said her mother taught her that the skill of stitchery would come in handy in the future.

"My mother, she told me someday somebody would ask me to do Inuktitut sewing for them, that a Qallunaaq would ask for clothing to travel on the land," said Tabvahtah.

A small community with just six Southerners at the time, Tabvahtah joked and said it was hard to imagine a town with more non-Inuit.

But, sure enough, the day came when a teacher at the school asked Tabvahtah to embroider her a tablecloth.

"After that, I tried to make kamiks from sealskin and the next thing was to learn tanning of a (caribou)," she said.

In the early 1970s, after the death of her mother, Tabvahtah was approached by a Southerner who wanted to be dressed from head to toe in caribou clothing.

Even though she only earned $200 for a parka, pants, duffels, kamiks and a sleeping bag, the lesson was a valuable one. It taught Tabvahtah it was possible to make money sewing.

She began to earn a somewhat steady wage stitching and years later, Tabvahtah dreams of opening her own business.

However, she realizes the lack of funding keeps her from setting up shop. Overhead costs -- including rent, the price of skins and other necessary materials -- make the venture difficult and risky.

Until such time that Tabvahtah secures the assistance she needs, she'll continue to do her sewing from her home in Arviat.

"It's too much money," she said.