Ira Custer Bracelet of Tufa Cast Silver Lightning

About the Piece:

Here is a striking tufa cast silver cuff bracelet by Navajo jeweler Ira Custer entitled "lightning in a storm".

The bracelet is decorated with a repeating storm pattern which Ira Custer carefully etched into a mold of soft tufa stone, a type of volcanic rock. He then poured molten silver into the tufa mold and waited for it to harden. Eventually, a long strip of silver emerged, and Ira filed off the excess silver that remained from the pour holes and shaped the silver strip into this cuff. It's an old, painstaking process, and Ira Custer was one of the best. 

A lovely detail in this bracelet is that the width gently tapers from one end to the other. (One end is a hair under 3/4" and the other is a hair over 1/2") The design itself is much like the nature of a good lightning storm - after an initial surge, the rain and lightning slowly begin to diminish as the storm moves away.

Ira Custer passed away a few years ago breaking the hearts of those of us who knew and loved him. He was a dear friend of mine, a kind and loving human, an adored husband and father, a skilled artist and former roper and bull rider in the Navajo rodeo. May he always live on in our memories and in the beautiful jewelry that he gifted us with. 

You can read more about the process of tufa casting jewelry here. Ira Custer provided me with the photos used in the write up.

His bracelet measures 5 5/8" inside plus a 1 1/8" opening that can be adjusted. The width varies between 3/4" to 1/2"

You can see me present this bracelet here.

Summary:

Item: Tufa Cast Silver Bracelet by Ira Custer entitled "lightning in a storm"

Attribution: Ira Custer (Navajo)

Materials: Tufa cast silver

Dimensions: The bracelet measures 5 5/8" inside plus a 1 1/8" opening that can be adjusted. The width varies between 3/4" to 1/2"

Signature: Signed ITC

Provenance: One of Turquoise & Tufa's last remaining new pieces by Ira Custer.