Native American artisans create molds from cuttlebone and tufa stone to cast metal jewelry.
Anthony Lovato works with tufa stone molds to create jewelry at his studio in Santo Domingo Pueblo, N.M. Credit... Adria Malcolm for The New York Times Steel Accessory
The first time Althea Cajero saw someone pull a piece of cast silver out of a cuttlefish mold, revealing a pattern of wavy lines in the metal, she was hooked. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she said.
Now, nearly 20 years later, she still uses cuttlebone — the chalky internal shell of the squid-like cuttlefish — as molds for casting jewelry.
Dried cuttlebone, when sanded, has a “unique, elegant texture,” she said during an interview in her home studio in this community north of Albuquerque. “It kind of looks like a fingerprint. Each pattern is different.” When molten silver or gold flows into the mold, it settles into the cuttlebone’s narrow ridges, transferring the natural design to the metal’s surface.
In the Southwest of the United States, many Native American jewelers like Ms. Cajero use the age-old art of casting to make contemporary, one-of-a-kind pieces, producing textures and shapes that would be hard to create any other way.
Casting comes in many forms and can be done using a variety of methods and materials. No matter what technique is used, though, a key element is the mold. One material often used for jewelry molds in this region is tufa (pronounced TOO-fa), the compressed fine-grain volcanic ash found in geological formations across the Navajo and Hopi reservations and in other parts of the arid Southwest. The best tufa stone for casting is soft enough to be cut into blocks with a hand saw and carved with blades or dental tools.
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