Hearts

For jewelers, the beginning of a new year is an invitation to focus on hearts. Heart-shaped jewelry is in high demand in early February, so in order to have new inventory, I need to start work now. But of course, there are lots of other personal benefits for me to start the new year giving attention to hearts, especially to my own heart. I carved the heart in the pendant above using a Burtis Blue turquoise nugget from Cripple Creek Colorado. I preserved the natural surface texture of the nugget by only giving it a light polish. The minute details of parallel grooves and other markings that you can see on the surface are a record of the stone’s growth and development while it was buried in the earth.

The backside of the stone was so pretty that I left the back of the pendant open. It is good for the turquoise to rest directly against the skin. This allows the body to have direct access to the energy of the stone.

In this turquoise nugget, I discovered a perfectly formed quartz crystal nestled inside a pocket in the stone. I tried to get a closeup so you can see it. There are actually two pockets with quartz crystals visible. Burtis Blue turquoise is a particularly special kind of turquoise in that quartz crystals are commonly found in the turquoise, a sign of it’s extraordinary hardness and durability. What a perfect symbol of going within to find your own inner truth, tucked inside your own heart.