Author: desteede

Shown here is a traditional Indian silversmith using the typical tools of the trade. The tools are smaller and more delicate than typically seen for metalworkers because silver is quite soft and easy to shape with lighter tools.

This image shows two Zuni women dressed in traditional Zuni clothing holding ollas, a kind of Zuni pottery. They are known not only for the pottery, but there is also a dance troupe of Zuni women who use the ollas during their performances.

This picture features the well known jeweler from the Zuni nation referred to as “Zuni Dick”. His Zuni name was Tsnahey according to the Overland Monthly, and was photographed several times from the early 1900s until this photo was taken, obviously late in his life. There are also colored drawings of this photograph in existence.

This shows a Navajo woman using a simple dye bucket for to bundle of wool she is working with. The technique is old, and the photo could have been taken in the 19th century. This colored wool will eventually be combined with other colors in clothes and rugs, as shown behind the dyer.

This is another step in the process of rug weaving for the Navajo crafters. Carding is the process of separating the long fiber wool from the short, along with any debris that may remain in the wool after shearing. Hand carding is much less common now.

This image is a photograph of the earliest stages of Navaho weaving, as practiced in the early 20th Century. The women are shearing sheep, using manual sheep shears as seen in the hands of the woman on the right. It is slow, difficult work with live animals.