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PrintJewelry-making couple use old Navajo technique for their designs
Darryl Dean and Rebecca Begay have pushed the boundaries of ancient tufa-casting by creating a style of their own.
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Rebecca and Darryl Dean Begay are a husband and wife team who create tufa-cast jewelry.
Darryl has been a jeweler for more than a decade, and his wife has followed suit for the past three years.
Jewelry-making has become their shared passion and livelihood.
Tufa casting is one of the oldest jewelry techniques the Navajos used in their silver-smithing.
Watch Darryl explain tufa casting.
It involves pouring molten metal into a mold carved from the relatively soft tufa stone, which is formed by compacted volcanic ash.
It is a difficult technique that produces one-of-a kind jewelry with a unique pebbled texture from the stone.
Darryl and Rebecca have pushed the boundaries of this ancient technique by creating a style of their own.
They use high-karat gold and sterling silver to produce their works of art, and prefer to use rare high-grade American turquoise, such as Bisbee and Morenci turquoise from Arizona and Lone Mountain turquoise from Nevada.
Darryl and Rebecca have won awards at the prestigious Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, Arizona.
In 2008 Rebecca was a SWAIA fellowship recipient and won the Best of Jewelry Classification and Best in Miniatures for a sterling silver seed pot at the 87th Annual Santa Fe Indian Market.
Even though the seed pot was only 3 inches in diameter and without stones, Rebecca's piece was considered innovative and distinctive (see one of Rebecca's seed pots in the slideshow above).
It was the breakthrough they had been hoping and striving for.
Darryl and Rebecca are also featured in the new book by Dexter Cirillo, Southwestern Indian Jewelry: Crafting New Traditions.
Their jewelry sells for $200 to $20,000, and can be found on their new website — along with jewelry from other top Native American designers — at www.turquoisehousegallery.com.
For more information on Darryl and Rebecca, visit their personal website at www.darrylandrebeccabegay.com.
