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.. She's equally blessed to have "Lonnie Willie" for a father.(Who is now retired) Lonnie happens to be the brother to Ronnie, Juan,Melissa, Rudy Willie and for those that know & follow the industry, Ronnie sits high on the list for being 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 both Tawney & her brother Cooper their start by having them 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:

Butterflies play an important role to Native culture & Tawney forwards that role into these artistically designed Butterfly earrings.

Hanging from a matte finished sterling disk & moveable link chain, these are creatively designed with a time consuming method & are unique for the fact where Tawny 'free hand' cut butterfly from one piece of sheet sterling & then the butterfly's wings were then hand cut out. Light stamping dresses up the wings & adds to their look. The abdomen is depicted by some gorgeous colored marquise cuts of natural, non treated blue Royston turquoise that came from Lonnie's old stash from the days when he himself, was a jeweler. These cuts were mined before they started treating turquoise! Based on the sterling's gauge & the cut out design, allows these to be lighter on the lobes.(See weights below)

** You can find more of Tawney’s earrings listed under this same earring category(Earrings 2) & the rest of the Willie families work in most categories (Her brother Cooper’s work however, is only under “Men’s Rings”) **