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INUVIK
The first of three traditional toy workshops were held at the Inuvik Youth Centre Oct. 19.

Shirley Elias cuts out pattern pieces with an ulu as Dwayne Raddi looks on. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo

Shirley Elias is teaching interested participants how to make juggling balls and yo-yos, all while explaining some of the tradition behind them.

For a few hours after school, instead of heading right to the computers or video gaming system, youth carefully pushed needles through seal skin, making evenly-spaced stitches in one of the first steps toward their finished products.

"We used to make them from scratch when our parents were out hunting on the land," said Elias.

The participants at the youth centre didn't have to scrounge for materials, they had an abundance of both natural and dyed sealskin heaped in the middle of the worktable.

Alexa Kuptana was one of the youth who decided to make a yo-yo after seeing Elias demonstrate how to use it.

"Making the pattern is easy but sometimes it's hard just to get the needle through," said Kuptana.

The yo-yos, two cylinders – stuffed with fabric scraps or Poly-fil – are attached by a leather thong. Using them is a way to practise hand-eye co-ordination and control over your body, said Elias.

It wasn't only yo-yos that grabbed some attention. The juggling balls also drew some interest and soon there were a couple of youth carefully tracing the pattern and switching between an ulu and a pair of scissors to carefully cut the curved edges before tacking them together with artificial sinew.

Every step has reasoning behind it. Youth are asked to put the pattern pieces as close to the edge of the seal skin as possible, to cut down on wasted material.

"You have to be resourceful and use every bit," said Elias.

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