Ellouise Toya Santo Domingo Inlay Sterling Silver Turquoise Earrings

Ellouise Toya, the designer & artist of Ellouise Originals was born and raised in the Kewa Pueblo of New Mexico (formerly known as Santo Domingo Pueblo). Ellouise's parents, Don & Nancy Crespin, taught their five children the painstaking process of making heishi as was passed down through the generations to them. Since 6,000 B.C, Kewa Pueblo Indians have been known to be the most proficient in the heishi making process, the oldest form of jewelry in New Mexico. Heishi (hee-shee) is a term referring to hand-made beads, usually as necklaces, created from any natural materials such as turquoise, coral, abalone, serpentine, lapis, black jet, etc. Traders would bring such raw materials to the Santo Domingo Pueblo from California, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, and surrounding New Mexico mines. Ellouise is honored to be continuing in her family and Pueblo heritage. As she strings her necklaces, her son and daughter are by her side learning the family traditions and stories. She