All about jewelry: Why I Love Turquoise! Turkoosi, Turquesa, Turkooizen

Turquoise is a wonderful material for jewelry and has been used for thousands and thousands of years. I love to use it for several reasons, not only because the colour turquoise is one of my favorites.
First, I love working with materials that have a sense of history. Not only does one have the sensual appreciation that we who work with gemstones and metals get to experience, but there is the intellectual and emotional appreciation of being linked to those past workers, some in sophisticated workshops, some simply women with a supply of beads and stringing material who made necklaces and bracelets as they watched their children play. We know that turquoise was used as early as 5500 B.C.; bracelets found on the Egyptian Queen Zar tell us this. The Egyptians made turquoise beads. In addition to lapis, turquoise was one of the materials used most often by the Sumerians who inlaid it with gold and precious stones as well. As far as we know, the first mines were in the Sinai region of Egypt.

Turquoise probably got its name from "Turkey" although the best turquoise actually came from Persia (Iran), and calling turquoise "Persian turquoise" is still an indicator of high quality. Turquoise was also mined in China and in America and was traditionally set with gold and sometimes other gemstones. In Victorian times it was common to see turquoise set in gold with diamonds; it is recently, probably in the very late 1890's, and in the American Southwest, that turquoise became associated with sterling silver.

I also love the way that turquoise comes in such a variety of shapes and sizes - and that turquoise with and without matrix is considered equally valuable often. Many people value the "spiderweb" appearance of dark veins, while others prefer a clear blue unmarred surface. It also comes in such a range of prices that real turquoise is affordable for almost everyone. Of course, the colour of turquoise can range also from that wonderful "Sleeping Beauty" blue to a dark teal of which I'm fond as well.
Turquoise plays well with others - I love mixing it with lampwork glass, of course - the opaque turquoise and the transparent glass are a magical combination. And we now consider sterling and turquoise to be a classic combination. The second turquoise bracelet is one of my newest creations: a mix of turquoise, sterling, and Swarovski crystals in the new Sand Opal colour. I still like to mix turquoise with gold although most of my customers seem to prefer sterling silver with theirs.

All the turquoise bracelets shown here today can be found on the Cluny Grey Jewelry website. Please give me some time to get the prices on them!

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