A young weaver 3D-printed his own form to make a cedar bark hat

Jeremiah Johnson, a Bartlett High School graduate, wanted to weave himself a cedar bark hat — so he designed the tool to do it. He measured his own head, modeled a form in 3D, and printed it at Cook Inlet Tribal Council's Denełchin Lab in Muldoon, home to a fabrication shop stocked with 3D printers, robotic routers and laser cutters.

He'd only taken up cedar bark weaving this year, and started small. "He began by making a small basket before challenging himself to create his own woven hat," instructor Alla Johnson said — a leap from a beginner's basket to a custom-fitted hat of his own design.

The work led somewhere, too: a summer internship at the lab, and later a paid placement at the Alaska Dinner Factory through CITC's youth program, which offers paid internships to Alaska Native and American Indian young people.