Native American Shop

Archive for the ‘Native American Jewelry’ Category

Jewelry styles were different in every American Indian tribe, but the differences were less marked than with other arts and crafts, because jewelry and the materials used for making it (beads, shells, copper and silver, ivory, amber, turquoise and other stones) were major trade items long before European arrival in America. After colonization, Native American jewelry-making traditions remained strong, incorporating, rather than being replaced by, new materials and techniques such as glass beads and more advanced metalworking techniques. There are two very general categories of Native American jewelry: metalwork, and beadwork. Before Europeans came native metalwork was fairly simple, consisting primarily of hammering and etching copper into pendants or earrings and fashioning copper and silver into beads. After Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo artists learned silversmithing from the Spanish in the 1800's, metal jewelry arts blossomed in the Southwest, and distinctive native jewelry like the squash blossom necklace, Hopi silver overlay bracelets, and Navajo turquoise inlay rings developed from the fusion of the new techniques with traditional designs. Native beadwork, on the other hand, was already extremely advanced in pre-Columbian times, including the fine grinding of turquoise, coral, and shell beads into smooth heishi necklaces, the delicate carving of individual wood and bone beads, the soaking and piecing of porcupine quills, and the intricate stitching of thousands of beads together. Porcupine quillwork has nearly died out (though some young artists are taking a renewed interest in it) but all of these other forms of beadwork are still going strong, though imported Czech seed beads have been the favored medium among many Indian artists for centuries now.

Click on the picture below for more information:

	Spirits Of Love Native American Style Dreamcatcher Music Box by Ardleigh Elliott
	Collectible Native American Inspired Dreamcatcher Porcelain Music Box Features Romantic Lee Bogle Art, Limited-edition! - When two people are in love, their happiness colors the world around them with shared joy...

	Large Native American Indian 5 in 1 Dream Catcher ~ Dreamcatcher
	The legend of the Native American dreamcatcher varies somewhat from tribe to tribe, but the basic theme or intention was to allow good dreams to slip through the web and into the sleeper during the night while the bad dreams were caught in the web and would be perished at morning ligh

Native American Style Dreamcatcher Themed Music Box: Unique Music Box Gift by Ardleigh Elliott

Exclusive Collectible Native American Style Dreamcatcher Themed Limited-Edition Porcelain Music Box Sends Your Spirit Soaring - Journey with this young woman and her wolf guardian as she calls upon the spirits to guide her dreams! This expressive Native American style dreamcatcher themed music box is a unique treasure that holds at its heart a winged spirit maiden raising a Native American style dreamcatcher to the sky...

	Inspirations of the Great Spirit: Native American Lyric Tales
	INSPIRATIONS OF THE GREAT SPIRIT...Is a CD collection of 20 narrated lyric stories penned by Native American Lyricist Richard Bell. He is of Tahue (Taway) heritage which is a subgroup of the Apache people of the Southwestern US...

	Native American Culture and History: Amateur Old West DVD (1920s)
	This film reel contains rare amateur footage of Southwest American life in the early twentieth century. Despite the fact that the exact date and location of the film is unknown, it is likely that most of the scenes are from New Mexico, with some ending shots of the Grand Canyon and California...

	Southwest Native Americans: The Pueblo Heritage (1950)
	Learn about Native American history in The Pueblo Heritage. The pueblo people lived in the American southwest for centuries before the country was even discovered by Columbus. Even though they were resourceful, the Indian tribes had to leave their homeland because of a twenty-year drought...

	Classic Taos & Laguna Pueblo Films DVD: 1941 Native American Indian Culture, Crafts and Education History Film
	Take a look at the recent history of an ancient culture in this DVDfeaturing incredible footage of the Taos Pueblo during the 1940's. Over 1000 years old, this area is one of the oldest areas in the U...

	Native American Indian Breastplate
	Simulated bone breastplate. A great addition to an Indian costume.

	Ujesh - One Who Gives Light - Dark Bone Choker with Brown Beading
	This Bone Choker was made with the highest quality bone hair pipe available. It is 11 inches long,strung using artificial sinew which is the strongest method used. Chokers Like These Are Elegant And Hard To Find At Such A Great Price.

	Hand Crafted Native American Bear Claw Sterling Silver Earrings
	Stuuning earrings are made in NM by Navajo Silversmiths and consists of Sterling silver Bear Claw with two feathers. Legend says that by wearing bear claw brings you good luck and prosperity. Turquoise stones are believed to keep you in good health.

Alex Native America Bead Loom Reviews I copy portions of works of art from the Great Masters and turn them into Jewelry or amulet bags. All I needed was the loom. I bought suitable thread and size 15/0 beads for my work separately. I can imagine it being super easy with larger beads. Being portable, this loom is perfect for me. Bought my girls two over the summer for something different to do and they made nice bracelets. They really enjoyed using these. I had to help my daughter make native american jewerly for school so we bought this. It served its purpose but I won't use it again. The string for the bracelets is very flimsy and fell apart. The beads are very small and the product overall is cheaply made. You need to use a sewing needle to thread the beads so this is not something for young kids. This was exactly what I was looking for. I haven't had one since I was a kid and I wanted to get back into loom beading. Very simple design, great for beginners. A 10 yr. old boy is working his third bracelet and is doing a necklace on this easy to use and very sturdy. I would buy again is the need arises. A good value for the money spent. Average Rating:

Learn the art of Native American beading! High quality bead loom comes with over 2,000 beads for creating dozens of beaded projects. The included instruction booklet makes it easy!

Barbie 1997 Collector Edition Dolls of the World 12 Inch Doll - Fourth Edition Native American Barbie with Poncho, Skirt, Headband, Moccasins, Jewelry, Hairbrush and Doll Stand Reviews This doll is a favorite with collectors as she uses the Midge Diva face mold. this gives her a serene and lovely look that most of the other Native American dolls in the series lack. she is also much more to adult tastes as she wears faux suede and beaded clothing instead of pink satin like one other doll in this series, She makes a lovely gift for someone who wants to celebrate their native American heritage or to remember an important part of American History. Average Rating:

Barbie 1997 Collector Edition Dolls of the World 12 Inch Doll - Fourth Edition Native American Barbie with Poncho, Skirt, Headband, Moccasins, Jewelry, Hairbrush and Doll Stand

Check out these other great items Native American Flute.

The most impressive tradition of jewelry-making in North America belongs to the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo artisans who worked silver and semiprecious stones into distinctive inlay and overlay designs. Southwestern Indian jewelry art remains a strong and vibrant tradition today, and their artwork is prized both tribally and internationally. There is also a thriving trade among collectors for something called "old pawn" or "dead pawn" Indian jewelry. Basically this is antique jewelry which was pawned by Navajo and other Southwest Indians in such desperate financial straits that they were never able to reclaim them, or else taken away from Indian families by debt collectors, or, as is sometimes the case with pawned goods, dumped off there by thieves. Frankly, I'm very uncomfortable with dead pawn jewelry; though modern dealers haven't done anything wrong, most of the pawn jewelry was originally acquired through trickery, usury, thievery, extortion, or, in the very best scenario, acquired honestly from Indians suffering from such extreme poverty or alcohol addiction that they sold the only thing they had left of value, their mother's jewelry. Well, this is not jewelry in a positive spiritual state, and buying it will not honor or pass even one dollar along to the artist's descendants or any other native person.

Though silversmithing was an art most North American tribes imported in recent times from the Southwest Indian artists or from European-Americans, smiths from different tribes enriched the craft by combining it with their own people's symbols, designs, and jewelry traditions.

Plains Indian beadwork is most famous, with its intricate peyote jewelry and bone hairpipe chokers, but there are beadwork traditions throughout North America, from the wampum jewelry of the eastern Indians to the shell and turquoise heishi necklaces of the southwestern Indians, from the floral beadwork of the northern Indians to the dentalium strands of the west coast Indians, and everything in between. Beads were a common trade item since ancient times, so it wasn't surprising to see quahog wampum from the east coast in Great Lakes beadwork or abalone shells from the west coast in Cherokee jewelry, even before the Europeans arrived and forced everyone onto reservations near each other