Kingman Turquoise Pendant Necklace

Here we are in mid December already and it appears I'm behind in my blog posts!

We've been having fun creating new jewelry daily and out selling in Lake Havasu City, Az on Sundays.  Time flies -

Today's necklace is made using Kingman Turquoise.  I've had the pendant bead for some time and have been kind of putting off using it as I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.

I added copper spacer beads between the turquoise beads for the first time too, I've seen this affect in beaded jewelry where all the beads are strung together and like the look.  This necklace chain is 24" long, made from copper and has been antiqued and polished then treated with ProtectaClear to maintain and protect the finish.  

Kingman Turquoise & Copper Bracelet

This is a copper bracelet I made recently using some of our Kingman Turquoise stash.

I've been recycling some of my already made necklaces and bracelets, the barrel links came from one of those bracelets.  I learned to make the links from a YouTube tutorial by "Making it easy with Liz" when I was a beginner.  I didn't like the look of my bracelet with just barrel links any longer so why not take it apart and make something new?!

I love the way this Kingman Turquoise bracelet came out, the 6 mm turquoise beads are a nice size with the 18 gauge wire I used to make the barrels.

I think I'll look through my stash and see what else I can recreate!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Kingman Turquoise - Boulder Turquoise Necklace & Earrings

I bought 3 big rectangular Boulder Turquoise Beads when we shopped at Colbaugh Processing back in September.  I love the look of them but they were too large for a necklace link in my opinion.  To me they looked like they should be a pendant so that's what I tried with them using wire weaving and wrapping.  

Of course they needed a necklace so I made up several Triple Loop Links and combined them with 8 mm Boulder Turquoise beads.  It's a big bold necklace with that size bead but I like it and I know there are other ladies out there who will too.  

I antiqued the copper then polished and shined it & added a protective finish using ProtectaClear to preserve the patina I gave it.  

I also made a pair of matching earrings using the 8 mm Boulder Turquoise Beads and the Triple Loop Links I created.  

• Kingman Turquoise - Colbaugh Processing
• Triple Loop Link - "The Missing Link" by Cindy Wimmer
• ProtectaClear - by Everbright

Kingman Turquoise - Boulder Turquoise Necklace

I have a few rectangular shaped Boulder Turquoise Beads that are quite large.  I purchased them to see if I could make pendants using them.  For this pendant I used wire weaving and wrapping.  I'm not sure I'm thrilled with my wire work but I love the piece of turquoise so I'm going to wear this one.  For the necklace I used 8 mm matching Boulder Turquoise beads and added a few Triple Loop Links that I learned how to make from "The Missing Link" book by Cindy Wimmer.  

All the copper has been antiqued and polished to bring out the warmth and beauty of the metal then sealed with ProtectaClear to preserve the patina I gave it.

Using the 8 mm beads gives this necklace a bit of weight, not too much but you know you have it on when you first start wearing it.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Kingman Turquoise - Boulder Turquoise Necklace Set

For this necklace I used Boulder Turquoise from the Kingman Mine.  It's more green in color but has some blues mixed in there too.  

I've read that turquoise that is blue has more copper in it and turquoise that is green has more iron in it.  I thought that was interesting!  Also over time some turquoise will turn green as it ages due to effects of oxidation, dehydration and exposure to the elements and products we use (lotions etc.). So turquoise once blue will sometimes end up green – that’s why you see more green turquoise in vintage pieces.  There are many internet sources where you can read and learn about turquoise.

“Also, within the same mining operation, sometimes within the same vein, both greens and blues will be found. The blue is the copper, and greens are molecules of zinc or iron.  My information came from Native American Jewelry Tips.

I also made a pair of matching earrings to go with my necklace.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Kingman Turquoise - Mohave Purple Turquoise & Copper Earrings

I've made a few Mohave Purple Turquoise necklaces and bracelets and thought they needed some earrings to go with them. For this pair I made a couple of matching fancy coiled links to suspend from my Mohave Purple Turquoise beads, assembled everything then antiqued and polished them.

Mohave Purple Turquoise is a byproduct of turquoise mining. It's produced by taking the turquoise scraps from stone cutting, grinding some into powder and leaving some in small chunks. It sometimes has metals like bronze added into the mix, its then dyed. The harder turquoise stone doesn't accept the dye & the softer stone takes the dye so you have a beautiful multicolored stone and virtually no waste in the process. I think it's a neat way to up-cycle what would be wasted and a great use of resources. This process also gives consumers unusual semi precious gemstones.

My second pair of earrings uses the same Mohave Purple Turquoise beads with a different fancy link that matched a bracelet I'd made.  Both sold very quickly so I'd better get to work on making a few more!

This Mohave Purple Turquoise came from Colbaugh Processing, the miners and producers of Kingman Turquoise just outside of Kingman Arizona.  We are fortunate enough to live a couple of hours away from Kingman so we can go directly to the mine when we want to shop for Turquoise.

Kingman Turquoise - Mohave Green Necklace

I'm really excited about this necklace!

Green is my favorite color and I love the way this one turned out.  The pendant is a Mohave Green Turquoise coin bead that has two holes on either side of the bead.  I bought it when we went to Colbaugh Processing in September, they had a box of broken strands that you could purchase the turquoise by the piece.  After making this pendant I realize this was a ready made bracelet they sold that had come apart.

I've been playing with wire wrapping so I used our small gauge wire that would fit through the holes and went to work.  After making the pendant I used the 6 mm Mohave Green Turquoise I'd purchased to make a matching necklace chain.  The links are a basic wrapped link and I finished it with a handmade hook and eye closure.  

It's approximately 18 inches long.

Mohave Green Turquoise is a dyed turquoise, in the processing of turquoise stones there are left over chunks and powder which Colbaugh Processing doesn't let go to waste.  They dye these left over turquoise bits & pieces and make something new and fun for us.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

I'm participating in The Chicken Chic's link party!

Kingman Boulder Turquoise Necklace

I thought it might be fun to start sharing some of the jewelry I've made using the Kingman Turquoise from our trip not too long ago.  This necklace uses Boulder Turquoise.  This type of Turquoise has more of the "host rock" in it than regular Kingman Turquoise.  I love the look of it!

 I used a rectangle shaped bead for a focal in the center of the necklace that I thought was gorgeous then added the Classic Hoop link between the 8mm Boulder Turquoise beads.  It's finished with a handmade hook and eye closure and has been antiqued and polished to bring out the beauty of the metal then treated with ProtectaClear to preserve the patina I gave it.  It measures about 18" long.

I also made a pair of matching earrings.  My Classic Hoops don't always look identical but these two I focused all my energy on getting them as close as possible!  

If you are interested in learning how to make the Classic Hoops I learned from The Missing Link book by Cindy Wimmer.

Kingman Turquoise

Last Tuesday my husband Rick & I had the opportunity to take a day trip to Kingman Arizona.  We visited Colbaugh Processing, the miners and producers of Kingman Turquoise.  I forgot to take pictures when we were there so I've borrowed a few from their website.

There were walls filled with different turquoise beads and boxes and buckets full of turquoise in different shapes sizes and colors, it was cool!

Here's a photo of one of the walls in the store (courtesy of Colbaugh Processing).

This photo also belongs to Colbaugh Processing and is from the mine at Turquoise Mountain.

Here's what we brought home with us from Colbaugh Processing, kind of pales in comparison to what we saw today, but hey, we can go back any time.