Hopi Necklace

Hopi jewelry artists sought to distinguish themselves from other Southwestern Indian jewelry artists. Hopi have a unique style called overlay which is constructed from two layers of sterling silver. A design is traced on a sheet of silver and is then painstakingly cut out with a jeweler’s saw by hand. This top design layer is then silver soldered to another sheet, the bottom layer, of silver. Texturing is added to the bottom layer in all the open areas of the design using a hammer and a small punch. The piece is then trimmed to its final shape and size. Next, the assembled item is hammered into its final form, contoured, and blackened to enhance the negative areas of the design. The top surface is then buffed to either a matte-like satin finish or to a mirror-like high polish.