MEET THE ARTIST:

Tawney was blessed to born into a large family of well known & highly reputable Navajo silversmiths, who have all seemed to have made a name in the jewelry industry..And she's double blessed to have "Lonnie Willie" for a father.(Who is now retired) Lonnie happens to be the brother to Ronnie, Juan & Rudy Willie and for those that know & follow the industry, Ronnie is probably one of the most well known out of the brothers. It was Lonnie however that taught Ronnie all he knows, including everybody in his immediate family,like Tawney's brother Cooper Willie AND he also taught his own mother & father what there is to know in regards to making jewelry!! You might say Lonnie is the "Maestro" of the family & what a blessing it is for Tawney to have someone that's so highly skilled as Lonnie,to have mentored her!

Lonnie gave Tawney her start by having Tawney work with copper since it's a less expensive metal,so if there were mistakes(Which there always is!) it wouldn't be so costly, as well as having her work with nickel silver so she could learn the art of stamp work.

It's her leaning on Lonnie's wealth of knowledge & her repetitious work that has helped her to become the artist she is today & continually gets artistically inspired from her surroundings, where she'll then turn those ideas into pieces of art.Her work will always be traditional Navajo, but with a really artsy type vibe that leans toward being on the contemporary side of Navajo jewelry.I hope you find her workmanship & her art to be as impressive & as beautiful as I do!!

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THE EARRINGS:

The phrase "Artisan Made" jewelry is when the artist makes the piece totally by hand without relying on commercial manufactures in order to get the piece made quick. Artisan jewelry takes more time since there are more steps from beginning to end & the time spent, is much more rewarding to not only the artist, but to the buyer. Which brings me to say that these were "Freehand" cut,where the leaf started as one solid sheet of sterling & was literally cut out by hand! The leaf is made of a light gauge sterling,so even though these may be 4" long, they are actually pretty comfortable on the ears! See weights below)

They are anchored from a fabulous cut of green FOX Turquoise which came from her father Lonnie's stash during his time as a jeweler. It comes natural since it was mined years before they started treating turquoise!

Price is not based on the amount of materials,but the time it took to make these-Any odd color in the sterling,is from color in the room while they were being photographed