The Art of Cherokee Copper- A Blog RSS

Explore the meaning of the Cherokee Four Directions Symbol and a popular variation on that symbol.

The Mother's Tear Gorget     Greg took some artistic creativity with this one. The Gorget is smaller than it's pendant. But why call it a Mother's Tear?   During the Cherokee removal many mothers shed tears as their families were uprooted from the place they knew, These were people who lived in towns, had cabins and had lived among the immigrant settlers for generations.   Suddenly soldiers appeared and families were asked to leave taking only what they could carry.   Many of mother shed many a tear as they had to leave the only home they knew behind, as they had to leave their favorite well everything behind. But that was not the end, the mothers continued to...

Wild Onions in Cherokee cooking. tt is wild onion time in Oklahoma. Try a new recipe with them today.

  The Secret Sale is something special we do for our email subscribers. It is a sale that can only be accessed from a link. You won’t find it on our website. From time to time we scour the studio looking for lost treasures. What do you mean lost treasures?  If you have ever sewed or been a crafter you know how easy it is to buy all the pretty things. We admit we have done that a time or too with gemstones. We bought them because they were pretty with no idea of what we were going to do. We have been slowly clearing those out of the studio and giving them to Moriah to design beautiful pieces. Our...

    Today I would like to tell you a little about the gorget- the history behind it, and the importance of it in our collections. The art of the gorget is an enduring practice, and we'd love to show you why we love them! Originally, before the Europeans arrived, gorgets were made of shells. Carved with icons, symbols, highlighted with pigments, and even pierced, these shell gorgets were a symbol of status, amulets of protection, and overwhelmingly, a beautifully crafted adornment. The history of shell gorgets can be traced back to 200 BCE., but when the settlers arrived, the Native American's gorgets began to change.  Stemming from the French word gorge, for the throat, these pieces are reminiscent of...