Informative Speech On Native American Jewelry

Taylor Gurney p.2
History of Native American Jewelry

I would like to talk about the history of Native Americans jewelry between the years 1870-1930. I’m going to talk about when certain tribes started some of the technique and the use of different supplies and materials that were used to make jewelry. One of the first major tribes to start in the making of jewelry was the Navajos. In the 1870 the Navajos where shown how to smelt silver by Mexican silversmiths. They would use silver coins given to them by the Mexicans or the U.S. government. They also used tea pot candle holders and whatever they could find. They wanted the Mexican silver coins because they were easier to work with then the American coin. The American government then out lawed the
melting or deface by soldering on hooks, eyes, jump rings or by doming coins, but that did not stop the native Americans from doing it.
The Mexican silversmiths would trade silver like coins to the Navajos for other goods. At this time the Mexicans had shown the Navajos how to also smelt the silver into useable material. They also taught them how to stamp the metal in the same way as they did with leather. The Navajos soon added their own style to their jewelry. They started adding the beautiful stone turquoise to their jewelry. It is believed that a Silversmith by the name Atsis Chon was the first Navajo to set turquoise into silver. Atsis taught his sons how to smith silver as well. When they learned this task they went and showed others. Navajos also found a technique called Sandcasting using the sandstone or also called tufas. Sandcasting is simply the idea to have a mold or shape that is hallow in a box of sand, fill the shape or mold with molten metal, and shake the
sand away from the metal to see the finished piece of jewelry. The Navajos where known for their dye stamps which were used for more of a decretive effect on the piece. The use of dyes was thought to come from the Mexican leather workers, because they would stamp their leather and also some pieces of tin with their dyes. As the Navajo started to work with silver it is believed that Atsidi Chon taught his Zuni friend, Lanyade, the skills of smithing silver. The Zuni had already known about metalworking. They had been making items in copper, brass, and iron. It is believed that the Zuni tribe started smelting silver around 1872. The Zuni tribe had a very strong talent in their lapidary work. They were able to figure out how to cut and grind stones with different tools. In the jewelry of the Zuni tribe you can see a heavy Navajo influence. This was because the Navajo would sandcast rings and other pieces of jewelry, they would trade it to the Zuni so they could cut and grind stones to fit and work with the piece. Because of their great skill in lapidary work this made their pieces very sought after. Also during these early years, the use of solder was invented and developed. Soldering is a process of making a permanent joining of two or more metal pieces, which makes a multitude of design possibilities. The Zuni Tribe was known for their inlay pieces. Inlaying a stones into a ring or other jewelry item is the process of placing the stone inside the setting and securing it with a very strong epoxy. As time went on, Lanyade started to travel and trade his jewelry. While on Hopi First Mesa at a trading post, he taught the first Hopi silversmith, Sikyatala, the same silversmith skill that he learned from Atsidi. Because Lanyade was taught by Atsidi a Navajo and the Hopi were taught by Lanyade, all of this jewelry of the period was made in a Navajo style. The Hopi Indians were more involved in the latter years of this Native American jewelry movement. They are very known for their style that they made called Overlay. Overlay is a technique they created were the cutting of designs is in a heavy gauge silver sheet and then soldering this to a solid silver sheet. This was invented by Paul Saufkie and Fred Kabote in 1938, at Flagstaff Arizona museum. They got a lot of their designs from old broken pieces of pottery found in old ruins. With the movement out west and the Railroad system, it made the Native American jewelry very sought after. This made it grow in demand. This allowed the Native Americans to have more access to better and newer tools and equipment. Today’s Indian silversmiths are mostly goldsmiths and lapidaries. The Artist crosses tribal design and different tribe meanings. You can no longer look at a piece of jewelry and say, it looks like Zuni style so it must be from the Zuni tribe. The artist of today may add or incorporate into a single piece many of the styles of the Native Americans, plus his or her own feeling and ideas. Indian jewelry today is much different than it was, but still beautiful.
WORKSITED
www.prweb.com www.americanindianoriginals.com www.indians.org
www.americana.net