Inlay Turquoise Wedding Band FJR0924

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.