Handed Down - Nevada Arts Council

1989–1990
Saddlemaking:
Spider Teller and Ira Walker
Northern Nevada has a large contingent of Indian
buckaroos, and at least one Indian saddle maker.
Spider Teller has a saddle shop in Owyhee, on the
Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Reservation, and crafts
custom gear for working cowboys in the area. Now
in his mid-40’s, Spider was raised in Owyhee and has
worked on ranches around Tonopah and in Idaho.
He studied saddle making in 1971 and has been at it
ever since. Spider is fascinated by concepts of design in
stamping leather for saddles, and draws all his designs
freehand on the damp leather. “You know just about
where everything’s going to go, you already got it in
your mind, you know, where your flowers are going
to go, how your stems are going to go,” he says. He
begins by drawing in the main elements—the large
flowers and stems—with a swivel knife, then filling in
with buds, scrolls and leaves and adding details with
other stamping tools. Spider is critical of saddle designs
that “just go out to nowhere” and works hard to tie all
elements of his designs together.
Ira Walker was raised in Owyhee and has been
“hanging around” Spider’s shop since it opened, picking
up quite a bit of leatherworking skill. He has made
one saddle, and says a lot of his knowledge is coming
back as he works closely with Spider. He was raised
in the ranching life, and currently makes his living as
a roper on the rodeo circuit. Spider says Ira is “pretty
much along” in saddle making, and after helping him
with one saddle will make one on his own. Naturally,
Spider spent a lot of time teaching
him to use a swivel knife and perfecting
his stamping and designing.
According to Spider, “Like
on your stamping tools, lot of guys
think it’s easy. You’ve got to hold
it tight in your hand, otherwise
it’ll get to jumping on you. If you
don’t hit it hard, you’re not going
to get a dark…you’re not going to
get that color to it.” He dampens
the leather and wraps it in plastic for a few days to get
it really wet for the initial designing, but then lets it get
almost dry before stamping the details in order to get a
good dark color.
There are a lot of details to look for in a saddle—
quality of the leather, construction details, fit and comfort—but
Spider admits that he is always trying to improve
his work. “There’s always a mistake on a saddle,
always, you always make a mistake on a saddle, it just
can’t be perfect,” he says. But as long as there are cowboys,
saddle makers will keep trying to get it right.
Spider Teller
with one of his
saddles.
Spider Teller and Ira Walker
working in Spider’s shop
in Owyhee.
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