Much of the Navajo jewelry metal working techniques have been said to be the product of visiting Spanish people who taught them their crafts and did trade with them. The excellently detailed bracelets and necklaces were then formed by hammering and by using a filing technique to make it unique to them.
The women and even some males would collect items they could form these trinkets from before metal was used. Things like the skins from animals, their fur, bird feathers, nuts. Berries as well as wood which was carved into forms or beads were used for not only designs for jewelry but clothing and hair accessories as well.
The 1860 era showed even more Indians learning harder working skills with metals from various visitors through their territory. These came to be fashioned and used for the Navajo to have a unique style of necklace, bracelet and other trinkets design that was connected with them through history and into today. Pioneer's and other people were coming through Indian land and finding the trinkets they were wearing very intriguing then made purchase of them for money or trade.
The style then changed to be more fashionable to the people buying or trading for their unique handcrafted items. Many stones were used within these fine works but favored above all were coral, turquoise and agate. In today's market all types of stones are used in the crafting of necklaces and bracelets but the turquoise is the most extravagantly detailed and coveted.
Bracelets and pendants were not the only things made but belts, pouches, arrow holders and boots with the addition of feathers and other items they had found. Even sea shells were used as bowls if they were very large and as jewelry additions. Tribal leaders wore massive amounts of these items as it distinguished them from the other tribal members in the village.
The most famous of all these design styles is a pattern known as Squash Blossom. This design shows up again and again throughout history until this very day. Even some pieces of Navajo jewelry contain meanings on more deeper and spiritual levels regarding their history and way of life. Read more about: navajo jewelry
The women and even some males would collect items they could form these trinkets from before metal was used. Things like the skins from animals, their fur, bird feathers, nuts. Berries as well as wood which was carved into forms or beads were used for not only designs for jewelry but clothing and hair accessories as well.
The 1860 era showed even more Indians learning harder working skills with metals from various visitors through their territory. These came to be fashioned and used for the Navajo to have a unique style of necklace, bracelet and other trinkets design that was connected with them through history and into today. Pioneer's and other people were coming through Indian land and finding the trinkets they were wearing very intriguing then made purchase of them for money or trade.
The style then changed to be more fashionable to the people buying or trading for their unique handcrafted items. Many stones were used within these fine works but favored above all were coral, turquoise and agate. In today's market all types of stones are used in the crafting of necklaces and bracelets but the turquoise is the most extravagantly detailed and coveted.
Bracelets and pendants were not the only things made but belts, pouches, arrow holders and boots with the addition of feathers and other items they had found. Even sea shells were used as bowls if they were very large and as jewelry additions. Tribal leaders wore massive amounts of these items as it distinguished them from the other tribal members in the village.
The most famous of all these design styles is a pattern known as Squash Blossom. This design shows up again and again throughout history until this very day. Even some pieces of Navajo jewelry contain meanings on more deeper and spiritual levels regarding their history and way of life. Read more about: navajo jewelry