Click on the image below to enlarge. When most people think of American Indian handmade jewelry,
the image they recall is usually Navajo made. The most populus Indian Nation
in the Southwestern USA, Navajo silversmiths as a whole, produce more work
in more different styles than any other silversmiths, Indian or non-indian,
in the USA.
Theirs is a rich, enduring heritage which has resulted in strong, colorful
design styles and a huge range of techniques and quality. This is American
Style at its most elemental.
Navajo silversmiths have created popular jewelry since the late
1800's. When the A. T. & Santa Fe railroads began running regular passenger
service through the Southwestern states back in the 1920's, however, the
artform really got it's first major exposure. Thousands of tourists from
all over the world brought home souvenirs of their trip out West. Most of
those souvenir collections contained at least one piece of simple tooled
Navajo trade jewelry. Most of this jewelry was handcrafted by Navajo smiths
in the employ of the Fred Harvey Company, a chain of travel stops and hotels,
for sale in their locations and on the railroad.
Another common traditional style we refer to by the Spanish word,
"Platero" for silversmith. It consists of many separate silver design
elementsd, usually involving flower, leaf, feather or vine forms which
are soldered together. This type of work requires great skill to create
cleanly. The "squash blossom" style of necklace, for example, often contains
individual elements of Platero style as well as handmade or bench made beads
"and tooled silver surfaces. Some also contain "sandcast" elements.
"Sandcast" Navajo jewelry is the name given to all forms of traditional,
low yield casting techniques. The most common, and one of the oldest involves
cutting a negative image of a jewlery design into a flat block of tufa
stone, which is compressed pumice ash. It is easily carved with woodworking
gouges or a pocket knife. Another flat layer is bound to the first with
bailing wire, and molten silver is poured into the resulting space between
them, resulting in a rough, but usable duplicate of the design. The work
is then cleaned up with filing and sanding, then finishing. In the case of
a bracelet, cast flat; it is then bent to shape around a steel form, or mandrel.
Navajo silversmiths often set Platero work with multiple stones,
in rows or large single specimen stones surrounded by smaller stones, coral
or even animal claws to set off the entire design. In this way, it is often
said of Navajo-made stone settings, that they build up their silver design
around the stone, rather than working the stones into a silver setting
design the way the Zuni silversmiths do. While other Indian Nations throughout
the USA have their own metalworking and jewelry design traditions, it is
most often the Navajo traditional styles which are considered generically
as Indian Jewelry. Kiva's selection of these basic styles change regularly.
We are picturing some very typical work, but for more details, or individual
specific work, visit one of our shopping sites, listed below....