SPINY OYSTER JEWELRY GUIDE
Description
True to their name, spiny oyster spondylids are cut from bright red, pink and orange oyster shells to bring one of the most vibrant pieces of art to anyone's collection of southwestern jewelry. Spiny oyster shell jewelry is often a natural and stunning complement to turquoise jewelry, with the hues of pink, red, and orange of this stone playing beautifully against the blue and green hues of turquoise, they create a striking contrast that blends perfectly with the latest styles and fashions of modern day.
About the Stone
As one of the main staples of the Native American jewelry community, these shells are treasured by artisans for their various colors. The reason for their vibrant coloration is because of the oyster's different diets of seaweed and other types of plankton. For this this reason, colors tend to differ from region to region. Most of center pieces for spiny oyster jewelry are found in warm water climates, such as: Sea of Cortez or off the coast of Baja California.
In Jewelry
Spiny Oyster is becoming rare due to their vast over-harvesting. This depletion of the shell has left some artisans to reworking spiny oyster jewelry from pre-existing pieces as a way to cope with the finite amounts of the beautiful source material left in the world. Due to the nature of their origin, jewelry from this particular stone is believed, by some cultures, to possess similar properties to the ocean, which they call home. Some believe these pieces to have a pure calming power, while others believe that they bring a sense of awareness and understanding.