Description
6.25" Ric Charlie Navajo sterling tufa cast cuff bracelet with spiderweb turquoise.
Ric Charlie is an accomplished, self-taught Navajo goldsmith who has gained international acclaim for his tufa-cast jewelry. The texture and fine lines he achieves by carving in tufa stone, combined with colorful patinas and semiprecious stones, define Ric Charlie’s work. For nearly three decades, Ric has been drawing upon traditional Navajo techniques while pushing the boundaries to stay on the cutting edge of jewelry design.
Charlie's love of color draws him away from the turquoise commonly found in Southwestern jewelry. He instead favors the gold, rust, red, purple, blue, and green patinas he achieves by adding liver of sulfur to the silver. The fine lines in his jewelry are accomplished by cutting tufa stones (compressed volcanic rock) with dental tools.
Ric learned basic jewelry-making techniques in 1973 when he was in high school. He studied jewelry-making and design in college at Arizona State University and University of Arizona, and went on to teach himself tufa casting after being inspired by the work of Preston Monongye and Charles Loloma.
“Sandcasting is a pretty difficult medium,” Ric Charlie says. “But for me it’s second nature. Everything I do is cast, and 99 percent of them are one-of-a-kind.”
In 1983, Ric helped to design and construct the staff and medallion used by the president of Arizona State University.
Today, Ric Charlie teaches and advises Native artists in his unique tufa-casting methods, while still producing top-of-the-line work for galleries and collectors around the world. Ric has received numerous awards from competitions at the Heard Museum and Sante Fe Indian Market, including Best of Show, Best of Class, and the Raymond Dewey Memorial Award for Excellence in Tufa Stone Casting.
Marked or unmarked as shown in pics, weight and other measurements in pics. Sorry but my jewelry is stored in a secure location and cannot be accessed for more pictures, videos, or measurements until sold. If you look at pictures/description your<br>question should be answered. Thank you so much for your time and consideration! If you would like to chat, that would be great, but lets chat about something that isn't answered in this listing that we put so much effort into already :)<br><br>All precious metals are tested and guaranteed. A Native American jewelry piece referred to as "silver" or "ingot" is guaranteed to be at least 90% silver. I rarely use the word "sterling" when referring to older Native American silver or really any older silver jewelry as silver contents vary and "sterling" is 92.5% silver. No older jewelry is going to be exactly 92.5% silver, some a little over, some a little under. It wasn't an exact thing with handmade jewelry. I've seen thousands of pieces xrf'd to prove this. Bracelets are photographed on a 6" women's wrist.
