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:

Tawney put her creative mind into overdrive which can clearly be seen in these wonderfully designed "one of a kind" earrings! There is something so unique about the design & personally speaking, they have almost a 'Deco" feel to them.

Hanging from a beaded garland round top, is a drop that has a hand cut out bottom layer with see through shapes & it's this underlying layer that's been given a deep dark oxidized finishing.. Then placed atop of this oxidized design, she over laid a thicker wire along the perimeter that has been chiseled to give the wire design texture & added strength to the underlying sterling. Perfectly sized hand melted beads of sterling are used for accents in the middle. These earrings have super clean lines & are cut to precision!

I hope you find her workmanship & her art to be as impressive & as beautiful as I do!! They can be worn with just about everything,from traditional Navajo jewelry to contemporary, with the same finishing.. Wear these when you do a day of all sterling or a day when you're wearing your colored stone pieces!! Dress them up or down!