Off The Beaded Track: Yellow Rose and Denim (for Val)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Yellow Rose and Denim (for Val)





These are made with Turqoise instead of Blue Impression Jasper as I couldn't get them anymore. These Turqoise beads have a trangular shape and are coincidentally symmetrical for these two pieces.

Turqoise is a beautiful gemstone which many cultures love. But very often, what is supposed to be Turqoise (as many sellers claim) is actually dyed Howlite. Howlite is also a semi-precious stone, but relatively cheaper than Turqoise. So how does anyone know if a piece of blue stone is genuine Turqoise or dyed Howlite? The only way to know is to break a piece of the stone. If the entire stone is blue/green even on the inside, it is genuine Turqoise. Dyed Howlite will be white on the inside. Well, I don't crush my stones to check, but I buy my turqoise from trustworthy suppliers. Also, Turqoise naturally comes with streaks or spots of black amongst the blue. The cleaner the stone is (without the black part), the higher the value.
So next time when someone tells you that a blue stone is turqoise, think twice, especially if it is very cheap. Usually, carved Turqoise flowers are hard to come by and are very expensive because Turqoise is a soft stone and carving the stone will crush the stone easily.
(Hope you enjoy this interesting bit of information I gathered when buying Turqoise a few years back).