Pendant - "Butterfly with Pueblo Life Designs" - Sterling Silver, Turquoise & Coral by Marian Denipah (Navajo)

A demure butterfly maiden spreads her wings, showing off designs associated with life in the Pueblos of the Southwest in this charming tufa cast sterling silver pendant by Marian Denipah.  On one wing, the Sunface, giver of life, is beaming over a flower with a red coral center.  The other wing sports a corn stalk, the staple food of the Southwest, and a hummingbird, an important pollinator that is believed by the Hopis and Zunis to have intereceded with the gods to convince them to bring rain.

Marian Denipah and her husband, Hopi artist Steve LaRance, learned this technique from award-winning jeweler Ric Charlie when they were just starting out on their artistic careers. They use tufa that they collect on the Hopi Reservation, cutting the design into the stone and then pouring the melted silver or gold into it.  Once the metal has cooled, the excess is cut off and the casting is filed and polished.

Pendant length 4", width 2 1/2".  Shown on beads by Larry Joe.