I am a silversmith who likes to do things the old ways. Even though casting is an old way I prefer to manipulate Silver by hand and do not cast. All my work is done from flat sheet and wire silver. I design each piece draw my layouts onto my materials then cut and shape it using hand tools such as hammers pliers and other non power tools. The only power tool I use is to drill and polish with. I perfected my style of work while living in the Olympic Mountains in a Tipi,living mostly in the old ways. I am part Blackfoot but do not now or ever claim my work is Native American jewelry as I am not a member of any tribe. I am however an experienced artist and have been making jewelry for 20 plus years now. I usually sell just by word of mouth but thought I would try this venue to see if I could widen my customer base and get more items out to people who would love them. For me it is the art that is important and how my items make people happy. A good story to show this is about a girl around 11 years old.
 I used to set up a small work bench on weekends at a local store about 45 min from where my tipi was, and sell my work to locals and passing tourist. I make a lot of Animal jewelry such as Eagles, Orcas, Horses and such. Well one day an 11 year old girl and her mother stopped by and she asked me if I could make a Cow Necklace for her. I told her I could do that but the starting retail price of my necklaces are about $75.00.
She said that she would save up for it and smiled. Well her and her mother came to the store every weekend for gas and a few items as people do and she would smile at me every day. About 2 moths later she came up to me and said she had saved up her money and now had enough to buy her necklace. So I told her I would have it with me the following weekend.
 Now I had been watching her as her and her mother came into the store on weekends and this little girl always had a smile and helped her mom carry their groceries to the car and even pumped the gas for her mom. I could tell also that her mom like most of us  did not have a lot though she took care of the things they needed. I knew they did not have much money overall. She was a very bright happy young lady. So the next weekend when she came to buy her necklace her eyes sparkled in joy and a large smile was on her lips. Her mother was also smiling though you could see in her eyes that spending $75.00 was a strain on her budget. Well when she came up I put the necklace in her hand and she smiled even brighter and said it was perfect just what she wanted and she handed me the $75.00 to pay for it. She turned to leave and I told her to wait she had some change coming. She looked at me not sure what I meant as she had handed me the right amount to pay for the item she had bought. Well I told her and her mother I had been watching them as they came in and was happy to see how she handled herself every trip, how she was always smiling and helping her mother from pumping gas to carrying things so I wanted to give her a discount for being the great little girl she was. Her mother looked at me and smiled in thanks and the little girl got extra excited as I handed $45.00 back to her. For the next year every weekend she came into the store she was wearing that necklace and she would come up and show me with a great smile on her face that she was still wearing that necklace.
  Now this is what my metal work is to me the joy in someone’s face as they receive or buy something that really makes their heart sing.
                               Crow