Sleeping Beauty Turquoise & Sugilite Ring - Size 8

Natural Sleeping Beauty turquoise is hard to find these days, especially in this bright, sky blue color. Michael Horse paired it with a stunning sugilite that is bright purple. What combination! The stones are inlaid into a sterling silver setting with a tufa cast band (more on tufa cast below). 

Size: 8 - Setting 1" H x .75" W

Tufa Cast Jewelry: Tufa is a volcanic stone which can be as dense as chalk which has an organic texture. The first thing a jeweler does is examine a piece of tufa for any tiny fractures.  If it looks good, the tufa is cut in half and, if there is a design, it is carved into the tufa.   There is a pour hole carved into the top and several narrow vents carved into each side.  The two pieces are then bound together tightly and molten silver or gold is poured through the hole at the top.  If there are any cracks, the tufa explodes when the metal is poured in and the process has to begin again.

Sugilite: Gem grade sugilite is very rare and has been since it was discovered in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa in 1981. The stone was brought to the world-famous Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show a few years later where it caused much excitement including to the owner of Gathering Tribes who at that time owned a lapidary and rock shop in California. The highest grade of sugilite is called gem sugilite and is translucent and even more rare. There is no more new purple gem sugilite coming from Earth.