Sold...!!!! Turquoise carved piece orders with Leather cord necklace with Carico Lake turquoise James Saunders artsit , JS PD 10

Welcome to Jim Saunders Jewelry site...!!!

Metal.............................................. Sterling bail
Stone.............................................. Carico Lake Turquoise from Nevada
Stone weight ................................... 20 cts
Stone size.......................................... 30 x 24 mm .. 5 mm thick
Cord.................................................Rustic leather cord
Beads................................................. none
Artist................................................ James Saunders

The stone just speaks out. !!..... Jim's pieces are an avenue of his personal creation to bring forth to share this passion with others. Own one of these very unique ultimate pieces born of the earth..!! released beauty by Jim.



Jim Saunders is one of the original silversmiths from the 1970's turquoise jewelry boom based in Albuquerque, NM. While all of his fellow jewelry makers from that era went on to other ventures, Jim stayed true to his first love, jewelry making. He persevered through the jewelry crash and never quit. His work at an early age was sold in retail stores nationwide including Sears and Roebuck, JC Pennys, and many others. He later became involved with QVC and the Home Shopping Network. His personal work and designs were cutting edge for the time. During this period he developed one of the largest volume stone cutting operations in the United States, and pioneering ultrasonic stone cutting.
Here is a pendant that I have made with a very unique piece of naturally formed turquoise. In recent years I was coming back from a trip to my turquoise mines when a friend of mine and Albuquerque asked me to see what my turquoise looked like rough from the mines and before any any work had been done.
My turquoise mines produce very rare and unique formations and some of them are a very unique fossil turquoise labeled pseudomorph turquoise clams. These are extremely rare and only two or three mines produce these in very small quantity.
As he was looking at these unique shapes they made several comments on my other turquoise and its unique shapes and opened my mind to working with these unique shapes. When I got back to my studio I was very intrigued with looking at my turquoise with an entirely new approach in leaving the shape that nature had formed the turquoise at the ground with as intact as possible. Most turquoise forms and veins and nuggets. Nuggets have been used over the years for necklaces when they are drilled and they have a roundish shape and makes orders a great bead.
Two of my turquoise mines produce very unique shapes of turquoise that fall into their own category of shapes. I worked with these unique shapes for over a year to find a method to retain as much of the original shape left intact as possible. After a year's work I figured out a method to achieve this.
Now the challenge was how to set these unique shapes. My goal in setting these unique shapes was for my silver work to be in the background and for the stone to take center stage or be the main focus of the piece of jewelry. I did not want my silver work to overpower the stone, I actually wanted the opposite. My goal was to have as minimal my silver work and to show the stone for its maximum and yet still be a piece of jewelry and function as a piece of jewelry. To be honest this will be an ongoing process. Here is a piece of jewelry I have made with this goal in mind. I hope you like it and enjoy this awesome stone.

The stone just speaks out. !!..... Jim's pieces are an avenue of his personal creation to bring forth to share this passion with others. Own one of these very unique ultimate pieces born of the earth..!! Released Beauty by Jim.