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Cody
Hunter -Navajo Silversmith
Cody Hunter is a very fine young Navajo artist/silversmith from
Chinle, AZ near Canyon de Chelly. He has been making jewelry since
about 1986. Cody’s jewelry portrays Navajo life as he saw
it when while growing up. It is from these experiences that he
develops the story themes for his bracelets, buckles and pendants.
Cody calls his bracelets “Inner Beauty Bracelets”.
The inside of the bracelets may have three main themes. They are
the Storyteller, the Home Scene and Running Horses. Included in
the background are the rocks of Canyon de Chelly, including Spider
Rock. He also includes summer shelters, grandmother storytellers
talking to their grandchildren, weavers, shepherds, horses, rabbits,
dogs, cactus and other things that would be seen in the Canyon.
The outside of his bracelets have a much more contemporary look.
They have a rough texture with with 14kt gold symbols and lines
hand cut and soldered on. He makes his bracelets by using a very
fine jewelers hand saw, cutting out the figures. To achieve the
three dimensional effect, he uses three to four layers of sheet
silver, with the various elements all brazed together to make the
composite. This technique is called "overlay." It is
very labor intensive work that must be carried out with great care. |
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