Gilbert "Dino" Garcia is one of only a handful of working silversmiths at Santo Domingo Pueblo. He works with both silver and gold and specializes in casting his pieces in hand-carved tufa stone molds. Dino's pieces, however, are different from those of most sandcast artists. Dino uses a soft tufa (learn more about Tufa) which he digs at a location in Arizona shown to him by his grandfather. This soft tufa allows Dino to carve particularly detailed designs in the stone, but the very softness of the stone means that each mold is only good for casting one piece. Dino's two-piece molds are carved on each side so that his pieces show carved designs on both sides; on the outside and inside, or front and back. Each of his pieces is truly a one-of-a-kind work because the mold itself does not survive the casting process intact.

This is one of the first rings made for us by Dino. He set a hand-ground stone of natural, untreated two-tone green Royston turquoise in this ring. This is a "native cut" stone done on a simple grinder without using increasingly fine grades of grinding belts to get the stone to a high luster. And it is no coincidence that this "primitive" cut and polish of the stone enhance the particularly rustic style of Dino's work. Though this piece is brand new, it looks like it is at least fifty years old already. The ring face and shank are cast from separate molds and the ring shank shows carved motifs of a glowing sun on one side and the moon and a star on the other side.

Note the photo above which pictures a carved, blackened stone mold; this is an example of the type of hand-carved tufa mold used to cast such a piece. After carving his mold and prior to pouring molten Sterling into it, Dino blackens the inside of the mold by using his acetylene torch. Normally, an acetylene torch is used with a combination flow of acetylene and oxygen. The oxygen makes the flame burn hotter, but also aids in burning off the carbon. Dino lights his torch with only the acetylene flow turned on and, in the absence of oxyen to burn off the carbon, the inside of the mold is blackened. Then he pours his molten silver into the mold and the carbon fuses with the silver surface and creates a nice contrast in the deep-carved parts of the mold. After cleaning up the casting with a wire brush and buffing it by hand with steel wool, the raised motifs are shiny and the nooks and crannies are blackened.

Dino's hallmark appears as the cast word "Dino" on the back of the ring face.

Stone: 7/16" diameter

Ring face: 1 1/16" x 15/16"

Width of shank in back: 3/16"

Size: 8 1/2