Navajo Inlay Carico Lake Turquoise Earrings FJE2091

Pueblo silversmiths are responsible for the love the today's world has for inlay jewelry. Southwestern Native American jewelry artists are especially recognized for their lapidary skills used to create inlay jewelry. Turquoise, shell, onyx, sugilite, gaspeite and other traditional stones are cut and polished and then combined in patterns and designs, embedded in the metal. There are different inlay techniques. Mosaic inlay is where each stone is laid in touching the stone next to it, and the stones are generally flush with the surface. Cobblestone inlay stones will be uneven in height and size, and may have beveled edges, giving the appearance of a cobble stone street. The stones are set touching each other, so it is considered a form a mosaic inlay. Channel inlay is different in that the stones will have metal ‘spacers’ between them. And finally, overlay inlay uses a cut-out design that attached to the backing and filled with stone work.  

A staple addition to your Southwest fashion collection, Carico Lake Turquoise is also a collectible North American Turquoise with an astonishing color palette. Ranging from highly unique electric greens to sky blue; from teal to mossy, earthy greens. And rarely, a nugget with both earth and sky color. The highest grade Carico Lake Turquoise is gem-quality American turquoise. Originally known as Stone Cabin, and then Aurora #8, Carico Lake Turquoise has a colorful history for a dried-up lake bed in a remote part of Lander County. The mine has come to rest with the owner of Sunwest Silver Company, Ernest Montoya.