2009 November | Native Jewelry

A Practical Memento from the Old West

While relations between white Americans and American Indians haven’t always been peaceful and pleasant, the two cultures have undoubtedly influenced each other in a number of ways. Settlers learned much of what they knew about skilled horsemanship and crafts from the Native Americans who came before. In turn, some Indians were moved to renounce their faith in pagan deities and embrace the Christian monotheism.

Nowhere is the link between the two cultures more apparent than the world of jewelry, where silver and turquoise pieces bear the stamp of time-honored tradition. Native American watches feature the proud faces of cowboys, Indians and other iconic figures of the fabled Old West. They should be appreciated by historians, collectors and watch enthusiasts alike.

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Posted by JewelryHoarder (November 19, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY

All peoples of the world hold an intriguing history of their own, and the American Indian is certainly no exception. For many years, since the majority of the Indian side of “history” is oral and pictorial, history books written primarily by European whites provided our only glimpse into the world of Native Americans. Other media too, before the notion of “political correctness,” portrayed the American Indian in a variety of stereotypical and slanted ways. While, the reverse and perhaps “romanticization” of American Indian life of recent years hasn’t always produced a complete or unbiased look either. It has, however, opened the door to a greater interest in notable and intriguing Native American individuals. These little biographies offer a glimpse of some of those who lived among the drums and fires and experienced a world few have seen and fewer still remember.
Because the “history” of Native Americans was oral and pictorial, expertise and manufacture of Native Crafts have been handed down by word of mouth also.

: Tennis Bracelet

Such Native Crafts as Sterling Silver Belt Buckles, Sterling Silver Rings with a variety of gems, Sterling Silver Bracelets and also Native American Tapestries and Rugs and Pottery, to name just a few.

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Posted by Silversmith (November 10, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

Charming Bracelets — or Charm Bracelets ?

For those of you who prefer a more sentimental value to their jewelry, a charm bracelet carries personal charms, which are decorative pendants or trinkets that can remind the wearer of important things and events in the wearer’s life. Italian charm bracelets have become the “in” thing in recent years. While traditional charms dangle, Italian charms feature individual pieces soldered flat onto the surface of the link.

Bracelets that are in solid form, usually some form of metal such as Gold or Sterling Silver, are referred to as bangles or bangle bracelets. They can be smooth, textured, or set with stones and are often worn several at a time. In India, glass bangle bracelets are common. Made from ordinary glass that is about 1/4 to 1/8 inch in width, they are worn in groups so that arm movement causes them to make a pleasant sound rather like the clinking of wind chimes.
Today, women’s fashion statements are about them! A woman’s bracelet wardrobe can be what ever she wants. One day may be a dainty Turquoise Sterling Silver Tennis bracelet, and the next day may be a Chunky Turquoise Nugget bracelet.

Native American Bracelets are a charming addition to bracelets for anyone.

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Posted by Silversmith (November 7, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

Simple Elegance of a Turquoise Timepiece

While wristwatches could still be deemed practical, they are becoming an overwhelmingly aesthetics-driven accessory. These days people are engaged in texting or surfing the Internet on their iPhones and BlackBerries; with a digital clock sitting right in front of one’s face, who needs a real timepiece? Of course there’s a charm about analog clocks that a sterile set of digital numbers just can’t match.

It’s also nice to have a fashion accessory to highlight one’s wrist. Turquoise watches are especially tasteful – the subtle stones complement a sterling silver band with natural elegance. Wristwatches serve as a conversation piece. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask a stranger for the time, and from there you might strike up a conversation about the style of watch he or she is wearing.

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Posted by JewelryHoarder (November 4, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

Kokopelli - Hopi tradition

The Kokopelli was a flute playing trickster of Southwest legend. The famous hunchbacked flute player, is a symbol of joy and fertility It is said that he was so charming that he could charm an eagle or the wind itself. He is one of the most intriguing and widespread images surviving from ancient Anasazi Indian mythology, and is a prominent figure in Hopi legends. The figure represents a mischievous trickster or the Minstrel, spirit of music. Kokopelli is considered a symbol of fertility who brought well-being to the people, assuring success in hunting, planting and growing crops, and human conception. This mythological creature is thousands of years old but oh so much in the present also. Wearing a piece of Native American Jewelry with a Kokopelli featured surely could be called a good luck charm

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Posted by Silversmith (November 3, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

Beware of the Evil Eye

Bracelets aren’t only used for fashion. In Latin America, traditional Azabache bracelets are worn to protect against the Mal de Ojo, or evil eye. The people of that culture believe the evil eye is the result of excessive admiration or envious looks, and often gold bracelets are used to deflect the bad mojo. Parents of newborn infants often clasp an infant-sized azabache, which is a gold bracelet or necklace with a black or red coral charm in the form of a fist, around their newborn to protect them from the evil eye. In Bulgaria there is a tradition called Martenitsa. This ancient tradition involves wrapping or tying a red and white string around the wrist. By wearing the traditional Martenitsa bracelet in this manner, the wearer hopes to please Baba Marta to make spring come sooner. Bracelets are not always used for a superstitious act. In various parts of India, the type and number of bangles worn by a woman denotes her marital status. Around the world, bracelets are used for medical and identification purposes, such as a hospital patient-identification tag or allergy bracelet.

Typically, contemporary bracelets are found in three or four styles. The status symbol of the tennis bracelet signifies wealth and affluence more clearly than any Egyptian bracelet ever could. The in-line thin diamond bracelet that features a symmetrical pattern of diamonds is the traditional form of a tennis bracelet. This particular bracelet came into recent fashion, when Chris Evert, the former Number One World Woman tennis player and the winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, was playing in the 1976 U.S. Open. Chris wore an elegant, light in-line diamond bracelet. During the match, the bracelet broke and the match was interrupted to allow Chris to recover her expensive diamonds. The ‘tennis bracelet’ incident sparked a new name for the item and grew to encompass a massive jewelry trend and status symbol.

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Posted by Silversmith (November 2, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

The Birth of a Legend

The cowboy was born in 1866 with the first herd of Texas longhorns. They trailed across hundreds of miles of wild and dangerous country, filled with predators and hostile Indians, to the wide open town of Abilene, which was created by the Kansas Pacific Railroad as the western frontier railhead for shipping cattle East.

From then on the big Texas cattle drives fed the market for a beef-hungry America. Six hundred thousand cattle came up the Texas trail in 1871 in herds of about 2,000, each led by a wild, reckless and tough bunch of young men with great courage and fortitude. Huge numbers of longhorn cattle had multiplied in Texas after the Civil War as the result of few predators, few fences and plenty of grass and water. They ran wild while Texas men went off to fight for the Confederacy.

Cow-gathering was a challenge, but getting a herd all the way to the Kansas railroad paid big. Early cowboys had very little food (mostly corn meal and salted bacon), used homemade saddles and chaps, no tents or tarps, braided their own rope from horsehair, and bragged they could go any place a cow could and stand anything a horse could. A saddle blanket and a coat made up the Texas trail bed. The twelve-inch-barrel Colt was necessary equipment. Another necessary piece of equipment was a belt buckle for holding up their pants or jeans worn so well in their occupation. Strong, lightweight and wiry men who persevered and were loyal defined a new American spirit of freedom and independence. Mothers shared great pride in seeing their sons grow up to be cowboys.

Mothers still show pride when their cowboys come home sporting a Native American Belt Buckle fashioned by very loving hands

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Posted by Silversmith (November 1, 2009) | add comment | Comments (0)

Native Jewelry

Archive for November, 2009

A Practical Memento from the Old West

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY

Charming Bracelets — or Charm Bracelets ?

Simple Elegance of a Turquoise Timepiece

Kokopelli - Hopi tradition

Beware of the Evil Eye

The Birth of a Legend

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