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Castle Mountain Designs will be taking a break for a while.
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An 18mm chalk Turquoise bead, with freshwater pearls and sterling silver.
Hand-turned Pennsylvania Black Cherrywood
7" Effective Length
9 1/4" Total Length
This is a portfolio piece, and is no longer available to buy.
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For this piece, Tracey selected a vivid 18mm chalk Turquoise gemstone as the focal bead. A natural form of Turquoise commonly mined in China, chalk Turquoise is stabilized to increase its durability, then dyed to enhance its color, bringing out shades of blue that are reminiscent of Turquoise from Arizona's Sleeping Beauty mine. These stabilized gemstones are also resistant to oil absorption, meaning that they retain their wonderful bright color, rather than dulling and changing color over time.
Turquoise's wonderful color has made it popular for thousands of years, and across many cultures, ranging from the Egyptian Pharaohs to the rulers of ancient China and the kings of the Aztecs, as well as a number of Native American tribes. Its tendency to absorb oils and change color led to people believing that the gemstone was a protective amulet, and that the changing color reflected the health of the wearer. Turquoise is the traditional birthstone of July, and the modern alternative birthstone for December.
To complement the bright blue of the Turquoise, Tracey selected beautiful freshwater pearls, and set them all with sterling silver to form the dangles. A puffy sterling silver heart completes the design.
For the hairstick, we picked out a wonderful piece of Pennsylvania Black Cherrywood. Pennsylvania Black Cherrywood is a hardwood native to the United States, and known world-wide to be the finest of all Cherrywoods available. Rob hand-turned the hairstick, which was finished with a protective, water-resistant glossy coating, making it ideal for wet or damp bunning. The hairstick has an effective length of seven inches, and the entire piece measures in at nine and one-quarter inches in length.
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