Christopher Nieto is a relatively young artist from Santo Domingo Pueblo who has excelled beyond his years in terms of the exacting precision of his traditional necklaces, both in terms of design and execution of the component parts of his pieces. All of his beads are handmade, whether he is working with turquoise, jet, mother of pearl, red coral or spiny oyster. His mosaic inlay is also of the highest calibre of craftsmanship. His work is increasingly sought after and in May 2006 he won first prize for his necklace entry at the Indian Arts and Crafts Association (IACA) Show in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Chris is a master at making any sort of bead by hand. He attributes much of his skill to diamonds; diamond saw blades, diamond-tipped drills and diamond infused grinding pads. These are handmade nugget-shaped beads of apple coral; ground to rough shape, then tumbled for a few days in a rock tumbler to make them perfectly smooth and well-polished. Chris interspersed Kingman turquoise heishi as spacer beads between the apple coral. The soft blue and rich red make for a gorgeous combination. This necklace terminates in Sterling cones at the catch.

A photo of Christopher (wearing one of his necklaces) can be seen in our Artists section under the letter "N".

Apple Coral Beads: 3/4" running length; 1/2" to 5/8" diameter

Kingman Heishi: 1/8" running length; 3/16" diameter

Length: 18 1/4"