We will have a vast selection of Lilly Barrack’s designs in store this weekend.  There will also be a selection of Native American jewelry from various artists. Come in for refreshments and enjoy early holiday shopping before the rush and crowds!  I am teaming up with me neighbors, Bella Casa and Prickly Pear for an early Christmas Open House in historic downtown Monument.  Each store will have a drawing for a $100 gift certificate.  Hours will be from 10 to 4 on Friday and Saturday, November 4th and 5th.  See you there!

Titled “Spirit” from Kathleen’s Veracity collection, this is one of her new designs in the store.  Look for the rest of her pieces to be uploaded in the next week and made available for sale. 

Kathleen is a local Colorado artist and I am honored to have her work in the store.  See more about Kathleen under ARTISTS.

There’s always something new ‘on the trail’.

I’ve just introduced a new collection to the Santa Fe Trail.  The designs feature collections of colors and my favorite beads!  I have collected beads for many years and these are some of the best finds.   Each bracelet and necklace will be slightly different, and therefore one-of-a-kind.

Just in for Mother’s Day!  Arlee Kasselman has sent me a beautiful collection of her stunning designs.  The styles range from petite and sweet to bold and chunky in a variety of price ranges.  Come in today to see which one suits your own artistic style!

I love this company’s designs and workmanship.  Shown here is  one of my favorite designs, the Copperhead Snake.

“At the heart of Julio Pagliani you’ll find the people of Norogachi, a small town deep in Mexico’s Sierra Madre, reachable only by sometimes impassable dirt roads through a land of Tarahumara Indians and Mestizo farming families.  Working with these talented people, we craft beautiful bracelets, necklaces and accessories embraced by the finest shops.”

When you purchase a design with Julio Pagliani’s name, you are helping a village to find fairly paid work…and make much-needed money….without having to leave home and family.

Arizona artist, Kit Carson has brought a taste of the wild to Santa Fe Trail Jewelry.  Inside some of his bracelets is this wonderful inscription of “Bad to the Bone”.  Kit’s Stitch bracelets are inscribed with “Life is Good” inside.  If you want a piece of the ‘wild side’, look for his work here at Santa Fe Trail Jewelry.
Jewelry with attitude.

 I discovered Kit Carson’s work through a friend who owns one of Kit’s  ’Pirate”  bracelets.  Engraved inside is the saying “Bad to the Bone”.  (see “Looking for Biker Jewelry?”)   I knew his designs would be a perfect fit for my store.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Kit Carson, the “Wildest Jewelry Engraver in the West”, is known for his original, bold, naturalistic, curvilinear design, extremely fine detail and a subtle sense of humor.

Inspiration rushes through Kit like a desert flash flood slapping the dust out of a dry arroyo.  He observes the rich palette of nature in the desert:  a leaf spiraling over itself, the graduating texture of a weathered stone, the voluptous form of the thunderheads, and the accelerating curves of a sunbleached bone.  As he notices a rabbit bounding by him, framed over a golden cactus against a turquoise sky, he’s back at his bench working madly, a happy guy.  “It is the nostalgic freedom of the western landscape and a return to a natural and simple life that I want to capture in my art”, says Kit.   His themes include ravens, dragonflies, cactus, bones, cowboys and anything else he discovers in the desert.

My own newest design for the season, 3 strands of serpentine heishiwith a jade-like quality, dotted with a trail of cultured pearls.  Years ago I fell in love and began collecting the fine jewelry from the Santo Domingo Pueblo Indians. This is a design with that inspiration

Santa Fe Trail Jewelry has been showcasing the designs of Richard Lindsay for over 6 years.  I have made it my mission each year to buy his featured earrings from his spring shows.  This year he designed the “Mountain Chime” earrings which I just had to have and I have added to my gallery.  I hope to add some of his other styles as I get to it but these are just a preview of his best, most outstanding work available.  Each element is hand made, so the wait can be several months.  I have these and 4 other pairs of fabulous Richard Lindsay originals available.   Watch for them to be added soon! 

Richard says “A hallmark is the registered signature of a master gold and silversmith.  I have chosen as part of my hallmark a triangle, the universal symbol of change.  It represents the three main sources of my artistic inspiration:  my love of nature, wildlife and the outdoors, my roots in the American West and the stories and symbols of American peoples past and present.  This hallmark signifies an authentic Richard Lindsay creation and guarantees enjoyment and inspiration.”

The breathtaking shards of glass Angie Olami uses in her jewelry date from 100 BCE to 300 CE. They were unearthed in Israel by archaeologists sifting through the fallen pillars and once magnificent cities of the Roman Empire.

And how do the colors form? The layers of iridescent colors have evolved gradually over the centuries as part of the glass’s chemical reaction to the sun, the water and the mineral rich earth in which it was buried. There has been glass found in England and Northern Europe dating back at least 1700 yrs, but it lacks the opalescence associated with Roman Glass because the natural phenomenon could not occur in their cold, damp climates. Angie Olami’s suppliers of Roman Glass are all licensed by the Israeli Government Antiquities Authority. Whole vessels are carted off to the museums and archaeologists keep whatever they need for research, the fragments are used in the jewelry design - useless rubble to some but magnificent gems to us!

Angie Olami jewelry is made from the hand blown fragments of ancient perfume pots, juglets, lamps, flasks, vases, cups and bowls. Each fragment varies in thickness, age and composition. Each piece underwent its own unique transformation as it became weathered with layers of patina. If a shard doesn’t sit exactly straight in its bezel, remember it is someone’s ancient wineglass you are wanting to wear as a pendant or as earrings.