Born at Shungopavi on Second Mesa, Stacey Josytewa is a member of the Snow Clan and an exacting silversmith who specializes in traditional Hopi overlay pieces.

We've only been buying Stacey's work since June of 2004, but he is a very welcome addition to the collection. He does super-detailed traditional overlay work. He often employs Spiderwoman designs and his forms and detail bring his spiders to life. This is a uniform-width cuff with three panels of Spiderwoman arrayed across the front. The detail work in the textured, oxidized underlayer is impeccable and the surface of the overlayer is buffed to a high shine.

Hallmarked "Stacey Josytewa" in script near one terminal with a pictographic hallmark near the other terminal accompanied by a "Sterling" stamp.

                                            Uniform width of cuff: 1"

                                 Terminal to terminal: 5 7/8"     Gap: 1 1/8"

                              Total inside circumference (including gap): 7"

**Important Note** Silver polish is the enemy of Hopi jewelry. It will get into the grooves of the textured layer and be hard to remove (you can use a toothbrush under running water to get it out). Also, don't use a cloth impregnated with jeweler's rouge to polish it. In most cases, the best polishing rag is a 100% cotton t-shirt that has been softened by repeated washing. After all, you only want to polish the top layer.

Hopi overlay jewelry consists of two layers of silverwork. The overlayer consists of a separate layer of sheet silver which has cut out designs made with a jeweler's jigsaw. The designs may be geometric, figurative or realistic. These designs almost always incorporate themes or symbols of Hopi religion since the Hopi perceive no separation in their lives between the secular and the religious. The underlayer of Hopi silverwork consists of a layer which is carefully hammered to create texture for that part of the design which will show through the top layer of "cut out" design. After creating this texture on the underlayer, it is oxidized to make it dark grey to black in color. Then the two layers are soldered together to create the full effect of a precisely cut out design brought to life by the dark textured underlayer. Precision of the "cut out" of the overlayer and intricacy of the texturing of the underlayer are the main criteria for judging the quality of the piece. Some Hopi jewelry is finished with a brushed surface and some is buffed to a high polish.