Large Grizzly Bear Bracelet

Ancients of the Northwest Coast believed that some animals could supernaturally change their appearance and take on human form. Some humans could also transform into animals or mythic creatures when it was useful to do so. Bear moved back and forth from animal to human form, and as a result had characteristics of both. An ancient story tells of a woman who was carried off by Bears and was married to the Chief of the Bears. She gave birth to twin Bear Cubs who are considered to be the ancestors of Bear Clan People of the Tshimshian, Kwak’waka’ wak and Bella Coola.  Bear is a crest of the Raven clan, my son and I have worn this bear for many years.  It is a classic striking design, that will bring you many years of pleasure. This is a short synopsis of the story I will blog the longer version in the near future.  I also do this bear plain with no abalone, or with 14K red gold inlay in both eyes and hat segments, or abalone eyes and red gold hat.  I have done many many variation on this basic bear design.

Large Sterling Silver Grizzly Bear Bracelet with Abalone shell inlay

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Bear Bracelet by Owen Walker, 1.5 inch width tapering to .75 inch with Abalone inlaid eyes.

D20 $650.00

Sterling Silver Bear Bracelet

Design 19 Little Bear

This is another bear design, and it occurs to me that I don’t know how many different bear designs I have produced, and I guess it doesn’t matter. When you live in South East Alaska (the Panhandle), bears are your neighbors even in the towns. They are every where! When bears are your neighbors you learn never to take them for granted, and never to think you know what they will do next. There is one certain thing about bears and that is their unpredictability!
We designed this Bear Bracelet at the request of those wanting a bit smaller design to fit smaller wrists, yet have a large bear personality. The bear, both black and grizzly, are ancient family crests or totems, and respected by people all over the world. This one I think is playful and kind but strong and fierce when need be!

Design 19 Little Bear

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Bear Bracelet by Owen Walker, 1.25 inch width tapering to .75 inch.

Little bear with abalone eyes

price: $450.00
Please email for payment options.

Necklace TBA60A, made with Dentalium Shell, Padre, Ivory and Abalone beads

Dentalium is everywhere and yet, as a Trade Bead researcher and jewelry designer, it’s been my experience to find that so few people even know what it is. Dentalium is a seashell harvested on the Pacific coast of western Washington and southern British Columbia in waters averaging 60 feet deep, it rarely washed up on shore and had to be deliberately removed from the sea floor with a broom-type tool.  It was traded everywhere. The standard was 6 foot strings strung end to end in a manner that they didn’t fit inside each other as the standard unit of trade.  Journals of early fur traders and ships logs mention fathoms of Dentalium – 6 feet long used as a standard for trading.  I’ve blogged about the tools used to recover the shells from the sea floor on this site;  http://activeartist.net/blog/blue-russian-trade-bead-and-dentalium-necklace/  .

Found from the Arctic to Mexico and from the west coast of North America to the Mississippi River, Dentalium was and still is used for adornment by people of those areas.  Historically it was used in every kind of jewelry and clothing decoration; it was THE thing! Peoples of the Northwest Pacific Coast would trade Dentalium into the Great Plains, Great Basin, Central Canada, Northern Plateau and Alaska for other items including many foods, decorative materials, dyes, hides, macaw feathers which came from Central America, turquoise from the American Southwest, as well as many other items. The most astounding thing to me is the incredible trade network, even prehistoric, that traded the Dentalium Shell all over the world.

Many of us have heard of wampum, even children, probably because of the historical part it played in our American history. But Dentalium is just as influential and I think the tradition is older and more historical and traded world wide than wampum.  Natives from a tribe thousands of miles away from the harvest beds would use strings of Dentalium as money.  Highest quality shells would be about 2.25″ long, and a dozen would typically be strung together, and a 27.5″ string of dentalia was the price of a redwood dugout canoe to some California tribes. Certain men, who became known as “Indian bankers,” tattooed marks on their arms with which to measure the length of the shells. (1) Among northern California tribes, such as the Yurok, Karuk, and Hupa, and Chumash, dentalium shells were stored in elk-antler purses or treasure baskets.Owen and I saw one of these sweet little Dentalium “purses” in a museum at Cannon Beach, OR that was very beautiful and functional.  These purses are a pretty standard artifact for the coast and plateau tribes.  They are a large chunk Elk antler decorated with carvings, hollowed out and plugged on both ends with a slit in the side for inserting and saving dentalium for future use.

Wishram woman photo by Edward S. Curtis

I’ve found that the The Modoc Indians on the high Sierras traded and intermarried with the Klamath and the Hupa and that gave them access to the sea and the coastal trade routes with the Wishram, Siletz, Chinook and the Chumash to the south who all desired these shells harvested by the Nuu-chah-nult natives on the NW of Vancouver Is, Canada. My point here is that everywhere we’ve searched Dentalium is the most prolific trade bead item I’ve seen.

(1) Dubin, 436,437

Sterling Silver Hand Engraved Thunderbird Tag

Awesome Thunderbird!

This is the first of the new hand engraved tags being carved by Adam Mills in Sterling Silver at Walker Goldsmiths. The Tag features a Thunderbird.  Adam has been learning and working at hand engraving with the assistance of Owen Walker, Master Engraver,  for over a year. This tag is the first in a line of 10 NW motifs by Adam that will be featured on Walker Goldsmiths  webpage.

What is a Thunderbird? There are many wonderful tales in the legends of Thunderbird. They are an explanation of the wild and violent energies in nature like those found in violent thunderstorms. The Makah on the NW Washington coast tell of Tunderbird moving her wings in huge violent beats upon the sea to create the mighty waves and the sound of this action was the thunder. The Thunderbird had her nest, naturally, high up in the Olympic Mountains on Hurricane Ridge. To feed her babies she would swoop down to the Straits of Juan de Fuca and grasp whales in her talons to drag up from the sea to her nest.

Thunder Beings, essentially an attempt to represent the patterns of activity of a powerful, mysterious force in a way that can be understood simply and easily are mythical creatures believed to also have been birds that transformed into people and lived as people.  Legendary Thunderbirds folded their feathers behind them as a cape and removed their beaks while marrying and living as humans. When other tribes tried to capture them they revealed themselves and their true power destroying those whom sought to capture or enslave them. Thunderbird is one of the highest ranking creatures usually seen on a crest of a powerful Chief.

These Tags are 2 inches in length and 1 inch wide Sterling Silver. Tags come with a strong 24″ .8MM nickel plated bead chain.  Personal engraving can be done on the back for an extra charge.

Two Paths Wedding Rings

Walker Goldsmiths were privileged a couple of weeks ago to be involved with making custom wedding rings for a couple of special people. It was very much fun! They came to us highly recommended by a dear friend and mother of the groom. They had found on the internet a ring design that they thought would work and we started from there. I always want to know what everyday work they each do to ensure that the ring design is “workable” and comfortable in their daily lives. Some jobs are just not conducive to masses of highly elevated and crown set diamonds or stones that are basically too soft or brittle for everyday wear. It’s our job to educate our customers so they can be 100% happy with their choice.

Wax Carving of Two Paths Wedding Ring

The ring design that they liked they found on the internet and it was pretty close to very good, it just needed some special touches that would make it more wearable. We specialize in the rounded squared bottom shank that creates a weight/balance to the top design. I truly hate it whenever a ring turns on my finger and pokes me between my fingers, so we have answered the problem with the counter weight shank-back. So, of course I just love all the rings we make! The top of the ring also needed a more rounded structure compared to the initial design that they found because these kids are active hard working folks. The adjustments we made created a functional, substantial, comfortable, easy wear wedding ring. I carved a wax of the design making all the better changes to the initial design then called them to come and approve the wax. At this point we were able to finalize and see if we were truly communicating! And we were!  The rings, being wax were molded and kiln fired to remove the wax from the mold, as this is the “lost wax” process.  The rings were then cast in 14kt yellow gold by Owen and finished to a high polish.

The Two Paths Wedding Rings – we all cross paths in life all the time, what’s rare and amazing is that two paths can cross and then join to become one! Another sweet aspect of this tale is that Denis is a truck driver and Laurie works here and there all over Whatcom County, her long time home.

Now the really fun thing about all this wedding ring stuff is that these kids planned and accomplished an elopement! It’s so very romantic! We were privy, somewhat, to the secret and had to scurry to get them made in time and we loved every minute of it. Both came with family gold to be melted and incorporated in the rings, so here again is the concept of the paths of ancestors going on in the lives of these two path finders.

Walker Goldsmiths Booth 2012 Seattle Gift Show

Walker Goldsmiths did the Seattle Gift Show again this year and it’s been fun to see lots of old friends from AK and the lower 48.  We definitely noticed that the buying was slower and more cautious in volume and that folks are totally sick of having to be this way because of the slow $.  I think people who are in the retail market love the challenge and adventure of selling and providing what the customer wants.  I’m sure that there are all kinds of studies done on the psychology of it all.  We like being the provider of goods to these retail people and we too enjoy the adventure and challenge. There are always folks looking for new products not made in Bali or China and that’s where we shine.  All of our jewelry is made by hand by us in our studio in the USA!  We had Adam Mill’s new line of Sterling TAGS that were well accepted, and the bronze tiles and sculptures were items of interest and sold pretty well too. Of course we had a huge selection as always of Owen’s handcarved sterling Bracelets with and without abalone inlays, handcarved Earrings and Pendants, Janet’s lost wax cast Rings, our Potlatch Collection of cast Earrings and Pendants and Janet’s Trade Bead Collection.  Owen also sets up a mini engraving demonstration to show folks just how he works his magic.

Owen Walker with customer at the Seattle Gift Show 2012

The crazy weather kept a noticeable amount of people away.  Television weather people were telling everyone to “stay home if you don’t actually have to go out”, so some did. More old customers than new showed up, those Alaskans are a hardy bunch. We did pick up a new customer that bought a substantial amount of jewelry and they are located in WA.  There’s every indication that there will be repeat purchases from this new account.  Each product that we had for sale takes a special customer; relatively high end northwest native style jewelry and/or a market for bronze sculpture.  Both categories sold somewhat, so all in all it has been a slow show, but not a bad show!