Necklaces & Pendants
“I treasure my Michael Kirk jewelry. He creates original, handmade pieces from the finest materials. His modern expressions of Navajo jewelry are elegant and meaningful.” - Betty Huffman, AZ
“I bought my first necklace and earring set in the mid 1990s and it's still like new.
I lost one of the earrings in 2008 and was devastated. Several years later, I contacted his daughter and Mr. Kirk made a new earring with perfect balance and matching turquois stone he was able to find. It was a smooth process working through his daughter Elizabeth. I trust and value his art and their business. I feel blessed every time I wear his creations.”
- Betty Huffman, AZ
ABOUT THE PROCESS
In developing the color series, the whole allure was being able to add color without utilizing stone. To create the bright colors, we add a ceramic e-coat to the jewelry using electroplating technology. To my knowledge, there are only a handful of artists using this process; it is relatively new, and different, for most people to see. I love that these pieces incorporate the traditional part of jewelry which is the fabrication and the contemporary part which is the coloring.
The jewelry pieces are all handmade, fabricated pieces. The e-coating color system is the final step the pieces go through and it brings out and magnifies any imperfection. Extreme care must be taken in the finishing process. The coloring process involves eleven steps comprised of an electrocleaner, distilled water, an acid dip and drying done with an air compressor. Fingerprints will show up in the color so we can’t touch the pieces and have actually developed our own tools for handling the jewelry.
Once the piece is completely finished to our satisfaction, we submerge the jewelry in a liquid bath and apply electricity, choosing voltage based on the thickness of ceramic wanted on the piece and the color we want to achieve. The other factor that affects the color is how long you apply the electrical current. The color process is followed by more cleaning steps and drying. While it air dries, it goes from something that looks tacky to a very metallic finish. Finally the pieces are cured for 30 minutes in the oven, removed and allowed to cool. Depending on the look we are wanting to achieve more steps are involved, if multiple colors are placed a single piece can have a coloring process of 26+ steps.
