Families have been known to bond in many ways. For Yellowhorse family members, fine jewelry design is their common thread. And with influences of the Navajo culture, blended with the bold fashion of the southwest, this is beatufully refined American art with a multi-generational evolution.

Across the nation, the work of Artie Yellowhorse is known not only for its ansestry, but also for its fresh and contemporary silver creations-skillfully paired with the finest quality stones from around the world-including American turquoise, lapis, lazuli, sugalite, charolite, amber, coral, simbircite, and more.

Proudly, Artie has develo.ped her designs with a collaborative work ethic-opening doors to the wonderous talents of other Navajo and Pueblo jewelers. An opportunity for them and an assurance that the legacy of Yellowhorse will carry on.

The artist lives in Corrales, New Mexico, has two daughters, and when time allows enjoys seven grandchildren. Daughters Desiree and LeiLani play an active role in the company. Desiree, an accomplished designer, is well known for her exquisite necklace collections. LeiLani specializes in bringing handmade silver beads to life, and also contributes when Argue can use a hand with marketing and public relations. Undenialy, Yellohorse jewelry is a family affair.

Atrie hopes that today’s Yellowhorse designs live on to inspire the young artist of tomorrow.

We have several Artie Yellowhorse creations to offer you. Visit our web site at littlefeathersjewelry.com to see Artie’s and other accomplished artist’s designs.

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Wichita jewelry designer Dina Huntinghorse incorporates a blend of traditional and contemporary jewelry techniques to create masterful works of wearable art. Although gold and silver work is rarely seen among the tribes of the Great Plains, Dina’s life experiences introduced her to the craft, and inspired her to develop her own unique style.
Raised in southwestern Oklahoma, Dina’s first love was of horses, and she learned to reproduce their likeness in pencil sketches and paintings. She was later taught the traditional art of beadwork by an aunt, and became known for her beaded deerskin purses. In 1989, her interest in jewelry was piqued when her late husband, Navajo jeweler Herbert Taylor, taught her to cut beads and do inlay work. Dina began making jewelry on her own in 1996. Her work is featured in galleries throughout the southwest, and she is a regular participant at the Heard Museum Market and the Santa Fe Indian Market.
Along with her respect for the horse, Dina is also known for her affection for the wolf. Through many of her designs, Dina honors her tribal teachings of the wolf’s legendary hunting abilities and their human-like regard for the family (pack).

We met Dina at the Aurty Museum Indian Arts and Craft show and picked up a few of he exquisite pieces. Visit our web site at littlefeathersjewelry.com to view her work. You will be amazed at her attention for detail. These are pieces that you will treasure for generations!

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Belts or strings of wampum beads were not only used as ornamentation, but often told a story and as a pledge of truth of the words being spoken when such belts were held or worn.

The pattern of the bead work also had meaning that represented values and life lessons. Some of the patterns are, adoption, adoption with 4 directions, seven directions, five nations, six nations, unity, warrior, warrior in two worlds, two row, three sisters, and council fire of six nations.

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“Ever since I was young it seems I’ve always been around silversmithing. Growing up helping my dad with little odds an ends of the trade. Mostly cutting around the edges and grinding, so we called it. I remember doing this and helping my dad as little as age 8. Most of the time it was boring, and a rarely desired task. But looking back, it taught me good work ethics. That’s about how far my father would let do. As for the trade, he was against it. Meaning he never really wanted us to fully learn the trade. Reasons being that eventually it takes its toll on the body. Mostly vision and breathing problems from the use of caustic chemicals and torches mainly used in the trade. So while growing up and all the way to graduating high school the most I had done was cut and grind as well as setting stones. After high school I started my own business doing a whole different trade. I had become an upholsterer and opened my own upholstery business. 13 years after, I found myself looking for work. The economy hit of 2006 thru 2009 forced me to close shop. Only then did I start learning more and more on how to make jewelry. The first years I was a stamper. Making only stamped cuffs and bracelets in silver. I had learned a lot about silversmithing at this time. Learning to design and make my own stamps. Learning the way silver could be worked. Either by stamping it with designs or hammering it into shapes, or bending and manipulating silver into jewelry…..into wearable art. Eventually going from that stage to finally learning the ways of the torch and further pushing the limits to my creativeness. My dad, my mentor had taught me his way…the Tsosie way and design of making jewelry. A style known visually and uniquely to the beginning. Influenced by traditional “Dineh” Navajo culture and Mother Earth. Mimicking leaves, vines, animals. Seeing the beauty that surrounds us and interweaving that with silver, and precious stones like turquoise. Always preparing and making our jewelry with good thought in mind. Adding that essence holyness that we, as Dineh people, live and abide by. That brings us to today. Making jewelry….still learning. A little about what influences me in my design. I like clean smooth, flowing features. I often use things I find in nature in helping me design. Branches…water flowing…beauty in nature with plants, flowers…clouds. Mixing traditional with a newer younger perspective all while still respecting traditional design. Today, I still am learning. Finding myself drawn to other old ways of jewelry making. I currently am learning the ways of casting. Casting with sand, clay, and even tufa stone casting. Ever pushing my imagination and the limitless possibilities of creating beauty! Always with good thought, and ties to the beauty that surrounds us…in true Tsosie fashion.”

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Since 90% of all turquoise on the market today is at the least “stabilized”, my recommendation is to not let your turquoise jewelry be exposed to intense sunlight for long periods of time. Place your pieces in a place that will protect it from sunlight and heat.

note: Stabilization is a process where rough turquoise stones are heat treated with resin to enhance the color and hardness for ease in creating polished stones suitable for mounting. This is a standard practice today, and most turquoise jewelry purchased today will be stabilized. This includes most higher end shops.

Stabilized stones will not change color over time if they are properly cared for. Natural, untreated turquoise does turn color over time due to the porosity of the stone. Body oils, hand lotions, soaps, etc. will effect them. My experience is that natural, untreated stones will go from blue to a greenish blue.

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What is left of the Sleeping Beauty turquoise rough stones is going fast. Buyers from Europe and Asia are grabbing as much as they can get, resulting in a quickly diminishing inventory. Once it is gone, there is no more! This is bad news for Sleeping Beauty turquoise jewelry lovers.  Because of this closure, jewelry with Sleeping Beauty turquoise settings just got more expensive. If you watch the television jewelry shows like QVC and HSN you already know the prices are going up.

We at LittleFeathers have a modest inventory of hand made Native American jewelry with Sleeping Beauty turquoise settings. Our prices on the existing inventory of these pieces will not change due to this closing. (Inventory acquired prior to the mine closing) However, any new pieces we make available, and we did manage to get some,  will be priced based on the current market value. So……look now at our existing inventory and grab them while they are still available!!

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The first defense you have in identifying these imitations is price. If a piece of jewelry is advertised as turquoise, but the price is too good to be true, it probably is.  Appearance of the stone is important for identifying imitations.  Use a magnifying glass to inspect your potential purchase, and look for the following.  If the matrix or color seems too uniform, there is a good chance that it is not real turquoise. Turquoise is a gemstone, and in most cases, will have minor imperfections such as inconsistant color throughout, small pits, rough matrix or exposed host rock.

Howlite and Magnasite are minerals that have many of the same characteristics of turquoise. They are softer, naturally whitish in color and have matrix similar to turquoise. These two minerals are easily dyed to look like turquoise and is very hard to identify. Once again, look for uniformity in the color.

Your best defense against imitation turquoise is to deal with a reputable dealer. Look for a dealer that will give you a written guarantee of what you purchase.  And always, BUYER BEWARE!

LittleFeathers Jewelry only sells authentic, natural turquoise. Here are just a few pieces from our collection, or shop our entire collection of turquoise jewelry.

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The most common treatment is called “stabilization”. The medium and softer grades of turquoise are treated with resins and heated to make it hard enough to polish and enhance the beautiful blue and green colors of the stone. This is not a bad thing. Most turquoise for sale today is stabilized. It is durable, and the color will be maintained through years of wear.

Then we get into the other treatments such as fracture sealed, where resins are used to fill in cracks,  enhanced, where matrix is created using a patented process and block, where turquoise crumbs are compressed and treated with resins to form into solid blocks.

I find that the easiest way to determine if a turquoise gemstone is natural or treated is with the “hot needle” test. When you heat a needle point red hot and place it on a natural turquoise gemstone, there will be no penetration or marking by the needle point. Treated turquoise, on the other hand will allow small penetration by the needle point and you may also smell the resin. I would suggest that you find an area on the gemstone that is not clearly visible while wearing it to perform this test, as the penetration is small but permanate.

Here are just a few pieces from our collection of beautiful, natural turquoise jewelry, or shop our entire collection of turquoise jewelry.

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This stone was discovered near the Globe copper mine in of southern Arizona. We visited this area recently and have made contact with some local stone cutters with this stone. Hopefully we can negotiate some cabochons for some pendants, bracelets and the like in the near future.

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Purple Turquoise starts out as stabilized Blue Kingman Turquoise. There is not a vein of purple Turquoise that was discovered at the mine! It is dyed purple and then goes through a Bronze fusion process that creates a shiny bronze color to the matrix. It is then formed, polished and set in necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc.

As far as I can determine, the Kingman mine is the only mine authorized to process their Turquoise in this manner. Be careful when buying this Turquoise on line, or anywhere for that matter. Ask where the Turquoise is from. If they say anything but the Kingman mine, steer clear! Even then, buyer beware.

Here at LittleFeathers Jewelry, we carry a limited supply of authentic Mojave Purple Turquoise. Below are a few of our current pieces:

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