Native American artists made the original Southwestern Native Earrings with turquoise and shell beads that were often two or three inches long or more. The beads were strung on a cotton string put through a hole in the ear lobe. Both men and women wore these earrings, which are very similar to the works of current Santo Domingo artist Ray Lovato, except they hang by silver wires!

Back in December, we featured a Navajo artist named Fritson Toledo who was making some incredible jewelry that looked like it could have come out of the early 1900s.

That is not easy to do.

There is something about the look of old Navajo Jewelry. It just has a classic feel, made at a time when the style of the jewelry was not influenced by current fashion and artists didn’t have access to modern tools and materials.