A Sleeping Beauty turquoise necklace is made from turquoise that came out of the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, Arizona, and it is loved for its clear sky blue color, which is why so many people search for it by name. If you are looking for one, the things to pay attention to are the color, the shape and character of the stones, how the strand is strung, and the finishings that will hold it together for years of wearing.
I have been knotting turquoise for a long time now, and Sleeping Beauty is one of those stones I get asked about again and again, so I wanted to walk you through what I look at when I choose a strand, using the one sitting on my bench right now as the example.
Where does Sleeping Beauty turquoise come from?
It comes from one place, the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, Arizona, which was named for the mountain whose outline looks like a woman asleep with her arms crossed. The mine closed to turquoise mining in 2012, so every strand you find today was cut from stone that came out of the ground before then, and that is a big part of why people go looking for it by name. I wrote more about the history and the name in Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, Why the Name? if you want the longer story.
What color should Sleeping Beauty turquoise be?
The color everyone pictures is that clean, even sky blue, and it can range from a soft chalky blue to a deeper blue depending on the stone. Sleeping Beauty is known for having little to no matrix, which is the darker host rock you see running through a lot of other turquoise, so the blue tends to read as one calm color from across a room. When I am choosing a strand, I hold it in daylight and look for blue that stays true from one end to the other without a single bead pulling green or gray, because once it is knotted and lying against your skin, any odd one out is the first thing your eye goes to.
Is a little pyrite a flaw?
Not to me, and it is one of my favorite things to find. Most Sleeping Beauty is that clean blue, but every so often you come across nuggets with tiny glints of pyrite caught inside, and those little gold colored flecks against the blue are exactly the kind of character I absolutely adore in turquoise. The strand I have right now has them, and they catch the light every time you turn your head, so if you see pyrite in a Sleeping Beauty strand, think of it as personality rather than a mistake.
Nuggets or rounds?
Rounds give you a very polished, uniform look, and nuggets keep a bit more of the natural shape of the stone, so each bead is a little different from its neighbor. I tend to reach for nuggets with turquoise because I love how organic they feel, and the strand on my bench is made of 6 to 7mm Sleeping Beauty nuggets, which is a size that feels substantial without being heavy and sits beautifully at the collarbone.
Why does a turquoise necklace need to be knotted?
Every one of my strands is hand knotted on silk, with a small knot between each bead, and that does two things. It keeps the beads from rubbing against each other, which matters with turquoise, and if a strand ever breaks you lose one bead at most instead of watching the whole necklace scatter across the floor. The silk color is part of the design too, and for this strand I chose red silk, because the contrast of red against that Sleeping Beauty blue is so striking and makes the color of the stone look even brighter. If you want to know how to tell a strand was knotted with care, I went through all of it in Why Are Gemstone Necklaces Knotted With Silk?
What should the clasp and finishings be?
This is where a lot of necklaces cut corners, so I always turn a strand over and look at the ends. On my pieces the silk at each end runs through French wire, which is a tiny coil of gold that protects the silk where it meets the clasp, since that is the spot that gets the most wear. This strand finishes with a 14k yellow gold cast lobster clasp and infinity link, handled 14k yellow gold French wire, and my custom engraved 14k signature heart tag, so every part you touch to put it on is solid gold.
The Sleeping Beauty strand on my bench right now
I wanted this one to have a little more character and personality than a plain strand, so I added a single solid 18k yellow gold daisy bead, set off to the side rather than in the center, and it totally completes the piece. It is 17.75 inches long, hand knotted on red silk, made with 6 to 7mm Sleeping Beauty turquoise nuggets with those little flecks of pyrite, and it arrives in a gift box. This is the exact strand you will receive, and there is only one.
You can also see every turquoise piece I have available right now in my turquoise collection. And if you have a question about this strand, just reply to any of my emails or send me a message, and I would love to help.
Brittany
