Turquoise Hearts!!!

Hi Folks! I'm still having my heART attack. I just made these three hearts out of turquoise. This smaller one is mostly nuggety and natural that is just buffed up. I worked with the natural shape and smoothed out the lobes....
































This second one is symmetrical and polished all around. Also with a 3mm drill hole...































This large one is left sort of "nuggety" on parts and smooth and polished over the rest of it. 3mm drill hole through the lobe....




























































Turquoise is easy to polish. Nuggets can just be lightly tumbled in 600 grit overnight and then buffed with a muslin buff using Zam or Fabulustre, which will take it to a high polish.
When I was in Tucson at the big Gem & Mineral shows in February of 2010 I picked up a nice little batch of some turquoise to work with! This material is real turquoise from China that has been stabilized, which means that it has been hardened with a clear plastic resin that does not change the color. Most people don't know that about 90% of the turqoise mined in the world is a kind of turquoise "chalk" and the vast majority of that material HAS to be stabilized or treated in some way so that it can be worked into jewelry or beads. Natural turquoise that has not been treated and is stable enough to cut is rather rare and quite expensive. Untreated turquoise can absorb a person's body oils and turn green over time. Even an accomplished lapidary can't necessarily tell natural turquoise from treated turquoise once it's cut.

Turquoise has been one of the most popular gemstones throughout history, prized by every culture from the Egyptians (who made faience as a kind of imitation turquoise), to the Persians, to the Tibetans, to the Native Americans. The color experts at Pantone, have declared Turquoise to be the Color of the Year for 2010! Check them out for more info on the use of the color turquoise in fashion and design this year!

Here are the classifications of different kinds of turquoise. Natural: is material that can be cut and polished with no treatment. Stabilized: is material that has been hardened with a clear plastic that has not altered the color. Treated: is turquoise that has been hardened with resin that has been color dyed. Reconstructed: turquoise had had it's shape altered such as being ground up and pressed into a shape using resins and dyes. Imitation: is manmade (such as plastic) or natural product (such as howlite or magnesite) that has been made to imitate natural turquoise.

Thanks for looking and I'm currently working on hearts in kona dolomite, pyrite, dino bone, and serpentine...

Regards, David @DVHdesigns