Asking for your help!

Well, I usually spend the time on here telling you about what is new with Mojave Moon. We have discussed a good many things anywhere from new fashions to the history of silver work, but today I want to venture down a different avenue.

On our web site we have a survey available to our customers. I'm asking anyone who visits our site to please take the few minutes to answer the 10 or so questions. This information is to help me make our site everything you want. I want it to be user friendly, as well as safe. I need to know what you like, don't like and what you'd like to see in the future. Since you are who we want to please I need to know what you think as well as what you want.

The information you give us is strictly confidential and will go no further than my desk, so please please give me just a couple of minutes out of your day!

Thanks so much and remember---- help me make Mojave Moon better for you !

Gayla

Summer Catalog

We are so happy to announce we finally have our Summer catalog in the mail !!!!

It has been a bit of an undertaking but I'm very pleased with the outcome. So many of you requested a catalog as another option to purchasing on line.

The catalog gives you a better view of the great products we carry.

We have put complete outfits together for you, it's a breeze to find entire outfits without searching all over trying to coordinate each piece.

Our extensive line of turquoise jewelry coordinates perfectly with Christine Alexander, BB Simon and Kippy. Come in and take a look.

Please go to the web site at www.mojavemoon.biz to request your copy of the Summer 2008 catalog. We would love your feedback------ we want to make it a simple safe shopping experience for you.

Thanks so much!

Gayla

Summer look of Christine Alexander

Well the summer is well under way. With 4th of July under our belt we know we are in the middle of the heat and humidity.

We, here at Mojave Moon, have so many new jackets and coordinating tanks to make you look like a million bucks this summer. We have pinks, baby blues, corals, whites, greens and a hot red !!

For those of you who are not familiar with Christine Alexander, I have been wearing this brand for over 12 years. They are made in the USA, and have a wonderful guarantee that they truly stand behind.

The best in crystals are used with high end, well constructed jackets, tees, tanks and shirts. I'm sure if you drop in to see us you'll find a PERFECT fit for your wardrobe.

I almost forgot to mention they have "to die for" flip flops! We have them in several colors--- again with that lifetime guarantee-- how can you go wrong??

Drop in to see us !! Sign up for our free catalog while you are there.

Thanks.

Gayla

The history of Silverwork

Although not an indigenous art form, silversmithing designs brought to the Southwest by Spanish and Mexican soldiers became important parts of Navajo life.

Atsidi Sani (the Old Smith), first Navajo credited with silversmithing, learned the craft from a Mexican smith as early as 1853. Soon the Navajo sought not only the caballeros bridles and iron bits, but also Spanish rosaries, necklace, crosses, beads, and bells, changing the styles into their own. Life on the reservation meant that prestige and wealth could no longer come from raiding.

A new lifestyle evolved as warriors became herders and, in their free time, silversmiths. Around 1870, Navajo smiths began hammering out U.S. and Mexican coins, then stamping and engraving the metal with designs. By the so-called Classic Period of Navajo silversmithing (1880-1900), the art was mastered and silversmiths created concha belts, bracelets, bridle decoration, and naja necklaces for their own joy and prestige.

In 1872, Lanyade, a Zuni, learned silverworking from a Navajo smith named Atsidi Chon, and soon the Zuni were taking the craft in their own direction. By 1890, Zuni silverwork consisted primarily of settings for turquoise.


In 1898, Lanyade passed the craft on to a Hopi artist, Sikyatata. Early Hopi silverwork resembled that of the Navajo. However, in 1938, Dr. Harold S. Colton and Mary Russell Colton, founders of the Museum of Northern Arizona encouraged Hopi silversmiths to apply their famous pottery, basket and kasina mask designs to silverwork. The Hopi developed a distinct style called overlay wherein two sheets of silver were layered, the top one cut with an openwork design while the lower one is blackened or etched to emphasize the design.

The wonderful bracelet is a perfect example of the overlay process.

Hope you enjoyed the short history lesson. The information is courtesy of Lois Sherr Dubin who has done year of research into North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment.

Thanks for visiting!!
Gayla