Silver work began to be seen in Native American turquoise jewelry during the mid 1800’s. It was introduced by artists from Mexico, as well as neighboring tribes who had taught themselves and shared their skills. The tools used during this time were not capable of creating the finely intricate patterns seen in later years (such as the picture to the right). Therefore, much of the Native American jewelry in the 1800’s was polished stone with silver work being forced to accommodate the natural shape of the stone.
In the mid-1900s, the 1930’s and 1940’s, better hand tools, as well as electric tools began to be used by the Native American jewelers. These tools allowed for a much greater level of precision when working with stones and allowed the jewelers to make the stones fit into their designs, instead of the artists’ vision being forced to use the stones natural shape.
With the new skills and new tools, the petit point technique began to be seen in Zuni jewlry.
Next time, the petit point technique….