Editing Navajo Nation (section)

===Art and crafts===
[[File:SAAM-1974.28.44 1.jpg|thumb|left|''Navajo Women'' by Andy Tsihnahjinnie. Oil on fiberboard, 1934]]

An important small business group on the Navajo Nation is handmade arts and crafts industry. A survey conducted by the Arizona Hospitality Research & Resource Center reported that the Navajo nation made $20,428,039 from the art and crafts trade in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|author=Arizona Hospitality Research & Resource Center|title=2011 Navajo Nation Visitor Survey|url=http://navajobusiness.com/pdf/Ads/NavajoNationFinalReport5-4-12.pdf|website=navajobusiness.com|publisher=Northern Arizona University|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-date=November 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113065121/http://navajobusiness.com/pdf/Ads/NavajoNationFinalReport5-4-12.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since the introduction of sheep into the [[New World]], Navajos have traditionally made use of either the vertical loom or the [[Loom#Back strap loom|back strap loom]] (belt loom) to weave yarns.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kester |first=Bernard |title=Reviewed Work: Walk in Beauty by Anthony Berlant, Mary Hunt Kahlenberg (The Navajo and their Blankets)|journal=African Arts|volume=11 |issue=2 |date=1978 |pages=14–15 |jstor=3335442 |language=en }}</ref> The early weaving practice was such that unprocessed wool was chiefly used to make blankets and which still retained its [[lanolin]] and suint (sweat), and which could repel water, on the one hand, but which left an unpleasant odor to the finished woolen product, on the other.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Kephart|author-first=H.|author-link=Horace Kephart |title=Camping and Woodcraft; A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness |edition=18 |volume=1 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |location=New York|year=1957|page=149 |isbn=9781149752364 |language=en|url=https://archive.org/details/campingwoodcraft0000keph/page/n7/mode/2up |oclc=2191524}}</ref> Today, modern techniques have replaced the old, and wool is preprocessed and treated with an alkali substance. By 1900, the weaving of traditional Navajo blankets had been replaced by rug-making.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kester |first=Bernard |title=Reviewed Work: Walk in Beauty by Anthony Berlant, Mary Hunt Kahlenberg (The Navajo and their Blankets)|journal=African Arts|volume=11 |issue=2 |date=1978 |page=88 |jstor=3335442 |language=en }}</ref>