Tag Archives: native american crafts

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1940’S NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN MADE SQUASH BLOSSOM STERLING TURQUOISE NECKLACE

Squash Blossom

Squash Blossom

This beautiful hand crafted 1940’s sterling turquoise Native American made Navajo Indian made 26” necklace. Most jewelry made was masterfully made and skills past down through generations.  One of the most important forms of Navajo and Southwestern Native American jewelry, is the Squash Blossom Necklace. Most are made of a string of plain round silver beads, interspersed with more stylized “squash blossoms”, and feature a pendant, or “naja”, hung from the center of the strand. The squash blossom beads are copied from the buttons which held together the pants worn by the Spanish, and later, Mexican caballeros. These buttons represent – and are modeled after – pomegranates

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1900 NAVAJO INDIAN MADE LEATHER CLOTH DOLL

Native American

Native American

A wonderful example of early 1900’s Native American doll. It is all handmade of cloth and leather.   Many of these dolls were sold early tourist trade late 1800’s to current day.   The Native American Indians master the craft of using natural resources to provide for a source of income and trading. However, the idea of a child’s doll as a lasting keepsake is not really traditional in a lot of Indian tribes. Dolls were usually made of perishable materials like cornhusk, palmetto fiber, or bundled pine needles; even dolls that were made out of wood or leather were not often built to last the way adult crafts were. In many tribes it was considered inappropriate to discipline a very young child, so they simply weren’t given toys they weren’t allowed to chew on and throw in the river. And in some tribes, the impermanence of children’s dolls and toys was meaningful to parents– as corn dolls and other childhood things naturally fell apart with time, it showed that a girl was growing up. Even though Native American dolls were not traditionally made to last, they were often beautifully adorned with miniature doll clothing and jewelry, beadwork or painting, and animal fur or even hair from the mother’s head. Because native adornment and decorative patterns are so distinctive, handmade Indian dolls are distinctive as well, and today many people, adults and children alike, like to keep them as cultural collectibles as well as toys.

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200yr OLD PRIMITIVE AMERICAN CALIFORNIA NATIVE INDIAN POTTERY WATER JUG

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Thousands of years ago, was the beginning of agriculture in North America caused the early nomadic Indian people to settle into new territories in North America. Soon, pottery shapes developed with various customs and techniques of gathering water, storing grains and preserving seeds for the season of planting. The craft was the woman’s job in the development of cooking pots that were made to sit on rocks in open fires, water jars with indented bases so they could sit comfortably on the heads of water gatherers, and large storage vessels for grains and water. Indian villages all over the North America became known for their different pot shapes and decorative styles.

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ANCIENT INDIAN ARROW HEAD NIANGUA MO GASEONADE RIVER COLLECTION

lot of Ancient Indian made arrow heads. These were all from Nigangua MO. Osage Fork of the Gaseonade River . They are 1 1/4″ to almost 3″ This came from estate of professor of archeology and history. He was collecting for over 70 plus years.  In the Stone Age, people used sharpened bone, flint napped stones, flakes, and chips of rock as weapons and tools. Such items remained in use throughout human civilization, with new materials used as time passed. As archaeological artifacts such objects are classed as projectile points (arrow Heads), without specifying whether they were projected by a bow or by some other means such as throwing since the specific means of projection.

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600 year OLD ORIGINAL ANCIENT INDIAN STONE AXE WEAPON AZ-CA

SONY DSC600 year original ancient very old Indian stone axe weapon from CA or AZ region.   This is a 5″ x 2 1/2″ all Indian made . This came from estate of professor of archeology and history.   Although stone axes had been used as tools and ritual objects by Native Americans for millennia, the axe did not become popular as a weapon until after Europeans had introduced iron and steel to native tribes. The word “tomahawk”– which is now synonymous with Indian-style fighting hatchets– originally referred to a war club in the Powhatan language. Once steel became available, however, axes with metal heads eclipsed the more old-fashioned war clubs as the Native American melee weapon of choice, and the word “tomahawk” began to be widely used to refer to this style of weapon.

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1900 NATIVE AMERICAN INDIA RUG

20140123_0491900 cir.  Native American Indian made rug.  Navjo rugs and blankets  (Navajo:: diyogí) are textiles produced by the Navajo People of the four corners area of the United States. Navajo textiles are highly regarded and have been sought after as trade items for over 150 years. Commercial production of handwoven blankets and rugs has been big important element of the Navajo economy. As one expert expresses it, “Classic Navajo serpes at their finest equal the delicacy and sophistication of any pre-mechanical loom-woven textile in the world.  You can see the craftsmanship in this piece color and design.

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ESTATE ATTIC FIND! VINTAGE LOT OF INDIAN BASKET COLLECTION cir. 1870-1920

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I have just acquired Estate Attic Find!  beautiful late 1800’s early 1900’s South Western Native American Indian basket collection.  I have over 20 pieces, all are stunning.   They are all hand-made by Native American  Indians.      Basket-weaving is one of the oldest known Native American crafts.  There are ancient Indian baskets from the Southwest that have been identified by archaeologists as nearly 8000+ years old.  Most Native American art, there were originally multiple distinct basketry traditions in North America. Different tribes used different materials, weaving techniques, basket shapes, and characteristic patterns.