Ronald Chavez lives at Santo Domingo Pueblo with his wife Petra and their grown son Ambrose. He is the retired Mayordomo of the ditch that runs through Santo Domingo and irrigates the village fields of corn, chili, beans and alfalfa, and he makes inlaid jewelry in his spare time. His earrings are reversible - each side is finished, so either can be worn outward.
Lapis inlaid on the side with white buffalo, turquoise, serpentine, coral and jet. They are 1.75 inches long with the ear wire and 1/2 inch wide.
These are free-form drops, narrow at the top and widening gently toward a rounded base. The main stone is a rich violet to purple, broken by patches of blue and a fine pale web that runs through it. Down one edge of each earring runs a column of small inlaid bands in turquoise blue, white with gray veins, deep red, pale yellow, yellow-green and orange flecked with black, ending in a block of deep blue at the base. The two are made as a mirror pair, so the inlaid columns sit on opposite sides, and they hang from French hook ear wires with wrapped loops. Light color against dark stone makes them easy to notice without being large.
Several of Ronald Chavez's other earrings in the shop follow the same plan, one slab of stone with a strip of inlay down the side, and his earrings, this pair included, are finished on both faces so either side can be worn out. Jewelry is his spare-time work at Santo Domingo Pueblo.
Made from purple compressed spiny oyster. Inlaid on the side with turquoise, jet and coral. Makes a stunning design. They are 2.25 inches long with the wire and 3/4 inch wide.
Carved in Kingman turquoise. They are 2.25 inches long with the ear wire and 3/4 inch wide. Inlais down the middle with coral, turquoise, lapis and jet.
Made from Kingman turquoise. Silver barrels and inlaid barrels thru out. Silver pendant with red ceramic cab. The necklace is 26 inches long. The turquoise beads are graduated from 8mm. The barrels and round beads are mostly 1.2 inch in diameter, different lengths. Like most of Ronald's necklaces, very unique.
