Inv# DMSTjfL1902

Guarantee:  Sterling Silver bead & turquoise earrings by Diné [Navajo] silversmith Dorinda Mariano.  Total length 2.7” including ear wire. Weight: 17 grams.

Size: 2.7” total length including ear wire.

Summary Description: Sterling Silver ear wire suspends a hand-formed Sterling Silver bead with hand-tooled designs.  This large silver bead suspends 6 individual strands of tiny Sterling Silver beads, each strand consisting of 11 or 12 tiny silver beads and terminated with a turquoise chip.

Materials: Sterling Silver ear wires; Sterling Silver beads strung on silver wire; turquoise chips

Dimensions:

• Total length including earring wire: 2.7”

• Length of silver dangle without earring wire:  2.2”

• Size of Sterling Silver beads:  large bead 0.5” diameter x 0.3” high, suspending 6 dangle strands, each consisting of 11-12 Sterling Silver beads  0.1” diameter [4mm] & terminating in a turquoise chip

Weight:  17 grams

Comments:
Native Americans are not only the first occupants of America—they also are the first American artists as reflected in prehistoric dwellings, petroglyphs, pictographs, paintings, basketry, pottery, foot wear, and clothing. If you appreciate the beauty, skill & spirit of real Native American hand-made jewelry, you will be delighted with these unique Dorinda Mariano sterling silver bead earrings that reflect light & bounce with energy as you move! 

Dorinda Mariano is a skilled silversmith who uses knowledge handed down by generations of her Diné ancestors.   Dorinda envisioned the unique design of these earrings.   Her dedication to using traditional hand-made processes includes hand-rolling & cutting sterling sheet silver, hand-forming the large bead half-domes, hand-soldering the half-domes into full beads, hand-drilling the bead holes, and hand-finishing the silver.  Even more amazing, each of the large ½” diameter silver beads have a design that is hand-tooled by Dorinda on the top & bottom domes that form the large silver bead!  [See photos]  Equally awe-inspiring are the 6 strands of hand-strung, very tiny [4mm] silver beads that hang from the large silver bead—11 or 12 silver beads on each strand for a total of 66-72 tiny beads! Take a moment to really think about the time, the challenge, & skill required to create these delightful earrings ‘gifted’ us by Dorinda! 

The jewelry market is now flooded with fake “American Indian” jewelry that in fact is foreign-made, either mass-produced by machines or hand assembled in ‘sweat factories’.  Native American artists rely on sale of their unique art to support their families. So by purchasing Dorinda’s unique hand-made jewelry you are supporting her family and also ensuring preservation of Dorinda’s unique artistic vision and skills so they endure for many more generations.