sioux

[katiemayx]

What was the sioux tipi make up from?

[chinadog]

Buffalo or Bison hide.

[daffy654]

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/PicturePages/n a-sioux5-teepees.html
Says here Buffalo hides

[Clanad]

Not just the Siouk (Lakota or Dakota) of which there are many sub-divisions, but all Plains Native Americans. I do a lot of work, here in the western U.S., with the Northern Cheyenne (Tsi-Tsi-Tas in thier own language) and they tell me that they began seeing (according to tribal history) canvas coverings for thie lodges as early as just a few years after the Lewis and Clark Expidition of 1804. The canvas was easier and lighter to transport.
Incidentally, while it's true that the commonly known American Buffalo is a true Bison, they've been known as buffalo for at least three hundred years. Among the Plains Tribes the name buffalo was unknown and the animal was more properly called by it's spiritual name Tatanka for a bull or Pte' for a cow...

[2centsworth]

It was buffalo hide, and they tanned it by scraping it with sharpened boned or antlers to get the extra flesh off, then soaked it in ashes, water, and it's own brain. They then strung it to stretch it and dry it. To hold the hides together they used the sinew (tough tendons, almost impossible to rip). My husband has tanned buffalo hides himself, and even with chemicals instead, it was a hard process and time consuming. But it goes to show you there was no waste. Also, almost every animal, has enough brains in it's skull to tan it's own hide. One example is the human male(ha ha jk). I forgot the few animals though, but none were used by Native Americans for hides. Almost forgot, the sinew was dipped in bees wax for added strength.