Let’s Talk About: White Buffalo

Before I started making jewelry, I never paid much attention to turquoise- honestly.  To me turquoise was just this plain blue color that wasn’t interesting at all and I generally gravitated towards anything but turquoise.  Once I started making jewelry, I noticed turquoise was the stone of choice and I quickly discovered why.  The variety of colors and matrices are amazing! I never knew there were so many different types of turquoise and now I would like to share some of them with you.  
  Since my January update was White Buffalo heavy, I decided to start there.  So technically White Buffalo isn’t true turquoise, it’s a calcite and lacks copper which gives true turquoise its color; but, it is formed similarly to and found in veins like turquoise and behaves like turquoise in the cutting and polishing processes. It’s mined in Tonopah, Nevada and generally is included with turquoise.  
   White Buffalo is found surrounded by chert so it’s often cut to include some of the chert, giving it swirls or streaks of dark brown and black.  You can find pure white White Buffalo, but personally I prefer the browns and blacks mixed in. It gives it that snowscape appearance. As soon as I discovered White Buffalo, I knew I wanted to make jewelry for a winter update with it. That’s not to say I won’t use it in other seasons, it just looks like winter to me.