• The forum upgrades have been completed. These were moderate security fixes from our software vendor and it looks like everything is working well. If you see any problems please post in the Forum Technical Support forum or email us at forum_moderator (at) aawforum.org. Thank you
  • March 2026 Turning Challenge: Olla! (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to David Wyke, People's Choice in the February 2026 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Dave Bell for "Torus Teapot" being selected as Turning of the Week for March 9, 2026 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Source for Turquoise

Michael Nathal

Michael Nathal

Joined
Jul 5, 2015
Messages
415
Likes
4,087
Location
Strongsville, Ohio
I like to use turquoise chips inlay on many of my pieces. I frequently use man-made turquoise, which can be either synthetic rock or a resin. My current batch is from Tuckers Turnings and is resin based, and the color is much closer to blue than green. Recently I picked up some (unlabeled) stone chips at a club auction that were much more green than blue. I really like the green tint and am looking to find some more. If any of you have a lead for more greenish turquoise, I would appreciate it. As I look at it, I wonder if it is not turquoise at all but something like malachite. I have attached photos of the blue and green varieties. PXL_20260314_161927040.jpgPXL_20260314_161849294.jpg
 
Seen lots of different grades on Etsy, from powders to coarse sand to chips,
Does it sand flat pretty easy? Am trying to get up the nerve to try something like that, not really on a turning to start but on a table top.
 
Tom Rice said:
Seen lots of different grades on Etsy, from powders to coarse sand to chips,
Does it sand flat pretty easy? Am trying to get up the nerve to try something like that, not really on a turning to start but on a table top.
Click to expand...
sanding, nah not really, so I go for very fine powder and CA glue. But then I am only using it on turnings and in small amounts compared to a table top etc.
 
Years ago, a member of our club who sold work in hoity toity galleries gave a demo on inlaying turquoise. This was well before it became commonplace. He said when he wintered in Arizona he would go to flea markets and buy strands of small pieces for less than $10, and they were very easy to lay into a cut groove and then level. 10 years or so ago, not being a snowbird, I bought some strands of turquoise like he described at a local bead store. When I went to level them, I discovered that they were all white inside, and not turquoise at all. Caveat emptor.
 
hughie said:
sanding, nah not really, so I go for very fine powder and CA glue. But then I am only using it on turnings and in small amounts compared to a table top etc.
Click to expand...
Hughie, I tried some powder as an alternative for the same reason. Turns out that we have so much static electricity here in the desert that the stuff would leap off of my spatula, finger, or even the turning itself and plaster on to something else. I alternately laughed and cursed my way through that first tuquoise powder experiment. I think that I'm going to try something just a bit coarser next.
 
Last edited:
Michael Nathal said:
I like to use turquoise chips inlay on many of my pieces. I frequently use man-made turquoise, which can be either synthetic rock or a resin. My current batch is from Tuckers Turnings and is resin based, and the color is much closer to blue than green. Recently I picked up some (unlabeled) stone chips at a club auction that were much more green than blue. I really like the green tint and am looking to find some more. If any of you have a lead for more greenish turquoise, I would appreciate it. As I look at it, I wonder if it is not turquoise at all but something like malachite. I have attached photos of the blue and green varieties. View attachment 86134View attachment 86135
Click to expand...

Turquoise has gotten expensive lately. I crush my own chips on a steel plate with the back of a cold chisel. Green tuquoise is hard to find. IndianJewelrySupplies.com and AllTribes.com (same company) has some nice tuquoise but their chips will need a little more crushing to be usable for inlay. Do not get howlite turquoise because it is not turquoise and often times white inside. I have a pound of natural New Mexico turquoise stones that has some greens in it that I’d be willing to part with for $100 plus shipping. I can send pics if interested.
 
I'm not going to be any great help here but years ago I used to buy big paper bags of floor sweepings of Turquoise. Colbaugh Processing in Kingman, Arizona and Kingman Turquoise is the one I may have dealt with years ago. All you have to do is make a smasher to break them down into the size you want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top