About Our Guild

Guild Description:
Our guild represents a wide variety of jewelry artists with unique talents and techniques, as well as the suppliers of beads and beading supplies.
Guild Mission:
To gather together Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Studios for the purpose of sharing information, ideas, techniques, and strategies for promoting our Artfire Studios.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Featured this Week: Turquoise-- A Sacred Gemstone

Turquoise has been a "prized" stone for many years. It was used to make jewelry by the Egyptians and it was "honored" by the Native American Indians.

The colors of turquoise range from blue to green. The more copper in the stone the bluer it is and the more iron in the stone the greener it is.
It's name means "Turkish Stone" as it came to Europe by way of Turkey.

Turquoise is found all over the world in places where volcanic activity has occurred. It is found here in the US, Mexico, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Tibet.
The turquoise found in Iran is known to be of the highest quality. It was first mined there over 6,000 years ago. However, not much is exported now. Today much of turquoise comes from Mexico, the U.S., and China.


Here is a list of words that has long been associated with turquoise:

Protection, wisdom, energy, serenity, wholeness, self-expression, creativity, peace of mind, emotional balance, good luck, spiritual grounding, honest communication, friendship, love and loyalty. Absorbs negativity.



These are some of the "Metaphysical Properties" of turquoise:
Protects and blesses the wearer.
Brings wisdom.
Enhances communication. Absorber of negativity.
Excellent grounding stone--it helps us to better understand ourselves bringing emotions and ideas under control.
Strengthens and calms the mind and body.
Excellent healing stone.

Some of the healing properties of turquoise:
Neutralizes overacidity
Alleviates rheumatism, gout, stomach problems, viral infections
Increases growth, muscular strength
Alleviates pain, relaxes cramps
Contains anti-inflammatory and detoxifying effects


It is easy to see why turquoise has long been known as a sacred gemstone.


Please share your turquoise beads, pendants, and designs using turquoise in our Artfire thread:

4 comments:

Ajdjss Guild said...

Turquoise is one of my favorite gemstones to create with. I love how it looks with copper and silver.

Evelyn said...

Great turquoise lore. And, did you know Pantone made turquoise the color of the year for 2010?

Rouge River Beads said...

Also a fav! Such a beautiful colour for summer and it looks so great with a tan!

Creations With Heart said...

Great turquoise feature! I could fill my store with it and never get sick of seeing it!! It's such a beautiful, unique stone that never goes out of style!