Navajo Silver and Turquoise–photos courtesy of Steve Parsons http://www.familydobes.com/

Steve Parsons of Family Dobes

has been a great support.

Right when Big Bad Collars was just starting to take flight, I came down with pneumonia…and it took me out and down for the count.  When I was just recovering, my mom fell and had to have reconstructive surgery on her arm and shoulder.  Needless to say, the family had to scramble.  When life finally began to normalize a bit (yes, normal around here is relative term and I use it liberally…ha!), Steve was there to support and help me rebuild the business.

PLUS…got to appreciate anyone who gives you artistic license!

The challenge for these pieces was to create show stoppers for Steve.  Since he is based in Utah but has an international following, the western theme was obvious to me…and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  It was a project I had researched for two years, just waiting for the right circumstance.  And this was it.

It had to be distinctive.

You can’t get any more unique than hand-smithed Navajo Silver embedded with Kingman Turquoise.

The link conchos are hand stitched to the leather.

Navajo Silver and Turquoise Photos courtesy of Steve Parsons http://www.familydobes.com/