Montana Woman Plucks Her Own Quills From Porcupines To Make Unique Jewelry

One spring day earlier this year, Brooke Foth got an unusual text from her father: “I got you a porcupine.”

When that text, along with a photo, came through, she had an equally short response: “Best day ever!”

It may strike some people as odd, a father-daughter gift of a porcupine (and a dead one, at that), but a prickle of porcupines had become quite the pests around his farm, damaging things and gnawing the bark off of many of the trees. 

So one man’s pest became another woman’s prized possession.

Months earlier, Foth had told her father she really wanted to get her hands on some Montana porcupine quills so she could make earrings from them for her jewelry line, 406Jewelry.

The problem is, porcupines are pretty tricky to track down, so after her father got his shot, so did his daughter.

“He had to do something about the porcupines to protect his place,” Foth said. “But he really helped me out, too.”

Have Porcupine, Will Travel

After a quick back-and-forth trip from Missoula to the farm near Helena, bringing home the 30-pound porcupine in a giant plastic tote, Foth had a new problem to solve: How to pluck a porcupine.

While Foth had previously made earrings with porcupine quills, she wasn’t doing the plucking because she bought quills online that were ethically sourced in Africa. 

But there’s a first time for everything, and with a pair of pliers and a pair of protective gloves, she got to work.

The rodent had been dead for some time, so Foth knew that the clock was ticking. “I figured, ‘This afternoon I’m going to get as many quills as I can,’” she said. “And I just started plucking.”

Plucking Process

What Foth soon realized was that the quills can and do vary widely in size and color depending on what part of the body they’re plucked from — some quills are all-white, while others are mostly white with a black tip. 

“They’re really kind of fragile, I had to be careful how I plucked them,” Foth said. “But they come off easier than you might think.”

Over the course of about four hours, Foth estimates she plucked well over 1,000 quills — more than enough to keep her busy making earrings for more than a year.

And with an average of about 30,000 quills, one adult porcupine can give up enough to create a huge cache of jewelry, traditional Native American clothing and other uses.

Even then, the porcupine still had more quills that went unplucked as many were hidden within the fur and Foth came to fully appreciate what curious critters they are. 

“You can’t pick them up,” she said. “No matter where you hold them, it would be pokey for you.”

Getting Poked

Speaking of pokes, handmaking jewelry with porcupine quills means that more than a few quills have been stuck in Foth’s fingers, though ideally not before she’s had a chance to shave off the little barbs that can be found on the tip. 

But getting poked regularly is something Foth had grown accustomed to after her teenage diagnosis with type 1 diabetes. She now works in a sales role, covering Montana and much of Wyoming, training people how to use an insulin pump.

At craft shows, sometimes Foth will be as likely to chat with people about their shared diagnosis when they spot each other’s insulin pump. “It’s a good way to meet people in the community.’

Endless Options

In the months since that porcupine plucking project, Foth has been busy matching quills and making the sets of earrings that she sells online and in craft fairs, including at the Little Red Truck Market that’s held each May in Cody.

Among her best sellers are pairs of earrings with a quill inside a hoop or a quill dangling from a turquoise stone. Now, with so many quills at her disposal, Foth can experiment with even more designs.

“There are endless things I could do with the quills,” she said.

While her jewelry business is still a part-time endeavor, it comes with a pretty nice benefit: It’s become a family affair of sorts. Foth’s father helps her cut the deer antlers that she has fashioned into earrings, and her brother runs a laser etching business and helps out with etching on the antlers and metal materials in her jewelry.

It also gives the siblings a nice excuse to travel together to craft shows around Montana and beyond. “It’s been really fun to have a little side gig with my brother.”