Virginia Tso, Navajo Pearls

Virginia Tso is a renowned Navajo jeweler from Pinedale, AZ who has specialized in handmade sterling silver beads since the 1970s. For Virginia, bead-making is a family tradition for many generations. Virginia makes beads in the traditional way which involves melting down scrap silver, rolling it into sheets, cutting out the rough shapes, doming each bead, stamping or shaping, punching the hole, soldering each half together, filing and buffing to a shiny finish or oxidizing to a soft satin patina.  Virginia is one of the few Navajo silversmiths who still makes her sterling silver beads completely by hand.