Silver Wire Bracelets
The round wire bracelet Is made by cutting two lengths of 8 gauge round sliver wire and a length of twlaled wire J be about the ,' same diameter yjV of the solid A' wire, A A bezel is made lor the slone and soldered onlo the plate. This is in turn soldered onto the wire bracelet shank, and pickled after each soldering operation. The stone Is set and the bracelet buffed and polished. The side pieces of wire are bent out to fit the size of the stone and the three are soldered together using a...
The Navajo Concha Belt Buckle
A piece of 18 gauge silver sheet is cut 2 inches by 2V .The center is marked and the belt opening marked 1 Inch by inches. Female bicurvate leal-like embossing dies. A hole KS is drilled lo accommodate a jewelers saw blade and a jewelers saw is used to il out the opening for thebal The female is struck first on Ihe face of the buckle and then the - g. male die is punched trom Ihe back forming Ihe embossed design. The buckles on the very y 1 early concha belts were quite small and rather...
The Bellows And Charcoal Soldering Peafod
At this time the only known method or soldering V v jewelry was to heat the abject over burning charcoal J, J and intensifying the heat wtth air from the hand Jfl bellows. This was the period when tools end silver v were scarce. Many of the tool were hand made from pieces of scrap iron recovered from old wagon or harness fittings. Flies were almost a luxury, V The only source of silver was Mexican or American coins and , ' the solder was home made by melting together coins and about 20 o...
The Navajo Concha
This Is the circular or ovate stiver metal plate that gives the belt lis name. The Spanish word concha means shell. A piece of 18 gauge silver sheet is cut to 2' x 2Vj Inches. The center is marked and the rosette Ib stamped In the center ol the rectangular piece ol silver by using a male and female punch and die and a very heavy hammer. An oval outline is drawn around the rosette by measuring equally from the ends ol each segment. The oval is cut along the outline by using either a jewelers saw...
The Gasoline Blowtorch Soldering Period
During this period the soldering ol Jewelry on the reservation was done by using the gasoline blowtorch. Carved tufa mold ' for casting a buckle Along with this came a variety f - - y. of imported tools to make silversmithtng a lot easier but still a lot of hard work. Ingot molds were available lor casting ' '. bars of silver and hand powered -' j fli mills to roll it into sheet and ' fiLli dies to pull it into wire. There were ffjfC'y also now available many new tools, some of which were...