Overlay

Overlay describes a piece of silver with a design cut out of it – a negative design – laid over a second piece of silver or gold and soldered together. First, the artist carefully cuts a design out of silver, and keeps the part that is leftover. The designs must be carefully sawed out, making this the most painstaking and intricate step in the whole process. This piece of silver is then soldered onto a sheet of plain silver and the inside of the design (the cutout area) is oxidized to show up black beneath the polished silver layer. In the mid-20th century, overlay emerged as the defining style of Hopi silverwork.

Learn More: About Overlay   About Hopi Silversmithing