10 Strand Blue Gem mine Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Each bead involved slicing or slabbing small pieces of turquoise, making the surface with a grid pattern and centering each square with a dot for drilling.  A small hole is drilled for each dot and the turquoise is cut along the frid lines, producing several small cube-shaped beads from each slice of material.  

These are then strung on steel wire and the beads are held against a grinding wheel, taking the corners off first and rotated until perfectly rounded and smooth.  Polishng is done while the beads are still on the wire.  From the steel wire this heishi is then strung onto a cord for wearing as a necklace.  

This labor intensive work produces an average of 10 heishi per inch, each approximately 1/16" in diameter.  There are 10 strands measuring approximately 20 1/2" each.  The two silver cones, into which the strands are gathered, are made of mill rolled and hand stamped sterling silver. The hook and eye closure is hand made.

The potters of Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico are known for well-formed pottery decorated with dramatic stylized flora, often in combination with geometric designs.

Santo Domingo Pueblo also hosts jewelers with expertise in creating the finest heishi as well as shell overlay work. In the early years, some overlay work combined traditional turquoise, jet and shell with unorthodox modern materials such as poker chips and phonograph records.