After a brief hiatus from the jewelry making biz I'm back at it. I've added 4 new items for sale in my shop using stabilized turquoise. What's that you say? Well this is what it is: Stabilized turquoise is created by adding a clear resin to soft turquoise to help enhance the color and well as increase the hardness of the stone. Since turquoise is a very porous substance, the resin fills in the tiny holes and crevices to form a firm stabilized turquoise stone.

The harder variety of turquoise is more expensive. For the pieces I have just created I chose to use the stabilized turquoise so that it gives me the color I want and keeps the cost lower so that I can offer good quality jewelry at affordable prices.

Some very fine, high quality turquoise is from the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, Arizona. I have seen some of these stones polished and set into beautiful gold jewelry with diamonds surrounding them. The finer quality of Sleeping Beauty Turquoise has very little to none of the black matrix that you will find in most turquoise stones you see. Some people prefer the matrix in the stones. Turquoise comes in a variety of shades from green blue right through to the beautiful blue of the prized Sleeping Beauty.

Having a December birthday turquoise is my birthstone. I have a number of pieces with the different shades of turquoise. The Native American artists make amazing turquoise and silver jewelry pieces. If you travel to the southwest don't pass by the chance to see their work and if possible watch them create it.

Have a wonderful day! Happy creating!