Legacy in leather

Buckskin tailor chosen for elite folk arts circle

Elaine Snyder of Kalispell has spent more than 30 years making a living as a tailor and a name for herself as a pre-eminent buckskin clothier in Montana.

A few customers have paid her the ultimate compliment for their custom vest, jackets, skirts or dresses.

"I've had clients who wear theirs every day and some even got buried in them," she said with a laugh.

On Thursday, Snyder reaps the reward of three decades of hard work as one of the first 11 artists inducted into Montana's Circle of American Masters. The Montana Arts Council program recognizes folk and traditional artists for their body of work preserving Montana's cultural heritage.

Snyder said she was gratified to make it through the council's arduous selection process. But she said she wasn't totally surprised given the effort she has put into researching her craft's history through photos and books.

Interested in Calamity Jane's or Buffalo Bill Cody's buckskin duds? Snyder has the photos and knows the fine details of the construction of their garments. It's how she puts the authentic details into her finished pieces.

"In the world of leather clothing art, I'm one of the few in the whole country doing this," she said.

Snyder creates the garments in her home studio, which is pervaded by the aroma of fine leather from one-of-a-kind fringed and beaded jackets, coats, vests and dresses. Bulging books of photos document her body of wearable buckskin art, including her own dress from her 1989 marriage to fisheries biologist Bruce May.

"Every garment I make is totally unique," she said. "Something might be in the spirit of what I made before but each one is different."

Snyder draws on a lifetime of sewing that began with making doll clothes as a child growing up in Somerset, Ohio. She sharpened her skill with a needle in 4-H with her mother serving as a leader.

"Mom and I took a home-extension class in which we learned to tailor," Snyder recalled.

After high school, Snyder continued her education at Ohio State University, earning a degree in clothing design and textiles. In 1972, she began her career as an assistant buyer for Lord & Taylor in New York City, where she learned invaluable lessons working one on one with customers.

"Every woman at Easter or Passover would go out and buy a new dress," she recalled. "I helped them sort out what really looked good on them -color-wise and style-wise."

After two years in the big city, Snyder had a yen to head West so she bought a Volkswagen bus and stopped in the Flathead Valley in the fall of 1974. Not long after, she had a serendipitous request from a musician friend for a buckskin shirt.

"He laid out a whole bunch of hides," she said. "He also had a picture of another musician in a pullover shirt."

Snyder jumped into researching leather, learning that she needed to stretch it first. A book, "Leather by Hand," provided basics in hand-stitching leather, which she compares to embroidery stitching.

To get a feel for leather, she made some small things, then sewed a cowboy shirt out of cotton for a fit pattern for her friend. With her confidence bolstered, Snyder cut into the buckskin and sewed up the pullover shirt.

Little did she know that she had launched a life's passion with a shirt for which she received the perfect payment.

"He paid me in hides," Snyder said.

Her learning curve was long as she taught herself by working with hides tanned commercially as well as some "brain-tanned the old Indian way."

Snyder sewed and tailored clothing from a large assortment of buckskin, defined as a wild, tanned skin such as deer, elk, moose, bison and antelope. She remembered some unique experiences working with an Eland, an African antelope, and an ostrich.

"The ostrich was the most interesting because it's a bird," she said. "I had to figure out how to turn an ostrich into clothing."

In recent years, her business has evolved from making many vests and purses, along with a few jackets, dresses and skirts, to an emphasis on tailored coats and jackets.

"I made 12 to 13 jackets last year," Snyder said. "Over 10 years, I averaged 15 to 18 jackets a year."

Her client base includes tourists as well as locals who may bring their own hides or have Snyder purchase buckskin to fit their coloring and style choices. Visitors find her work at Montana House in Glacier Park, Kindred Spirits Gift Gallery at the airport or Latigo and Lace in Augusta.

Her vests start at $300 and her custom jackets and coats cost $1,000 or more, depending on the work and detailing, number and quality of hides required. Cost hasn't proved a barrier to sales at events like the Jay Contway and Friends Art Show held in Great Falls during the C.M. Russell art auction week.

"I'm the only leather clothier in the show," Snyder said. "I've actually dressed a lot of people out of that show."

She said she had her best year ever at the show in 2008. But the state of the economy places a question mark over the event this spring and other sales for Snyder and fellow artists.

She agrees that joining Montana's Circle of American Masters may provide a needed boost in a difficult year. She said the selection process, which required her to describe and define her work, was valuable in and of itself.

"It really helped me clarify what I'm doing," she said.

People interested in Snyder's work may contact her at Buckskin Clothier at 755-0767.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.

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