Two Grey Hills is located
to the east of the Chuska Mountains and south of Shiprock, New
Mexico. Navajo rugs from this area feature intricate designs
woven with natural sheep wool in varying hues of brown, cream
and grey anchored with black and white. The black is typically
over dyed to make a more solid contrast with the other colors.
Two Grey Hills rugs will typically have a single or double serrated
design as the central focus within the weaving. Other design
elements such as geometrics, stair steps, even occasionally,
pictorial elements will take up the balance of the weaving. A
dark border typically surrounds the interior design elements.
Two Grey Hills weavings are
believed to have started around 1911. Encouraged by two local
traders, George Bloomfield and Ed Davies, weavers were encouraged
to continually improve the quality of their rugs. Eschewing the
reds of Ganado and wild distortions of Germantown weavings, Two
Grey Hills weavers preferred the natural shades they were able
to create by blending the brown, black and white wool of their
own flocks.
Encouraged to excel in their
weaving technique, even today, Navajo rugs from this area tend
to have a higher thread count per inch than weavings from other
areas of the Navajo reservation. While a typical contemporary
Navajo rug will average around 30 wefts to the linear inch, Two
Grey Hills weavings average around 45. The acknowledged master
of Two Grey Hills weavings, Daisy Taugelchee was known to create
tapestries with up to 115 wefts per linear inch.
