Handcrafted Navajo Pearls by Virginia Tso. The process 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, and finally stringing them on a chain. This is the traditional way of making handmade beads. Virginia is one of the few Navajo silversmiths who still makes her sterling silver beads completely by hand. The beads are graduated in size from 10 to 19 mm and the necklace is 26 inches long.