Some turquoise shouts. Dry Creek does something stranger—it almost glows.
Sheila Tso built this necklace around one generous teardrop of Dry Creek turquoise, then surrounded it with twelve individually shaped stones like a desert flower opening around a pool of pale blue water. The turquoise shifts from powder blue to soft aqua with scattered natural matrix, giving every stone its own tiny landscape.
And because the cluster is worked directly into a 20-inch handmade sterling chain, this isn’t merely a pendant placed on a necklace. It is one complete, beautifully balanced piece of jewelry.
Why This Piece Matters
Dry Creek is treasured for its exceptionally pale blue-to-white coloring, which feels entirely different from the saturated blues normally associated with American turquoise. This necklace uses thirteen complementary stones, including a commanding central teardrop, while preserving the subtle variations that make the material so recognizable.
Sheila Tso’s cluster work gives the necklace presence without making it feel overly formal. At 34 grams, it is substantial enough to register as a true statement piece but still easy enough to wear constantly.
Artifact Registry
- Artist: Sheila Tso
- Tribal affiliation: Navajo
- Materials: Dry Creek turquoise and sterling silver
- Construction: Thirteen-stone cluster with handmade sterling link chain
- Length: 20 inches
- Weight: 34 grams
- Hallmark: S. TSO / STERLING
- Date: Contemporary
- Collector’s Gallery Value: $1650
Curator’s Field Observation
The magic here is the range of blue. One stone leans almost porcelain, another has a little green whisper, and the center carries this wonderfully strange cloud of tan and gray matrix. Together they look collected rather than matched—and I mean that as the highest compliment. It feels organic, alive and completely one of one.
Eric’s Notes from the Field
I love when turquoise behaves in a way turquoise technically isn’t supposed to behave. Dry Creek always looks like somebody took the color blue, buried it beneath the Nevada desert for several million years, and then dug it back up after it had forgotten how loud it used to be.
This is quiet turquoise with an enormous amount of presence. Sheila gave it that classic cluster rhythm, but the oversized center stone makes the whole necklace feel less like a flower and more like some pale blue relic radiating outward. Very good. Very strange. Exactly my kind of treasure.
Some turquoise shouts. Dry Creek does something stranger—it almost glows.
Sheila Tso built this necklace around one generous teardrop of Dry Creek turquoise, then surrounded it with twelve individually shaped stones like a desert flower opening around a pool of pale blue water. The turquoise shifts from powder blue to soft aqua with scattered natural matrix, giving every stone its own tiny landscape.
And because the cluster is worked directly into a 20-inch handmade sterling chain, this isn’t merely a pendant placed on a necklace. It is one complete, beautifully balanced piece of jewelry.
Why This Piece Matters
Dry Creek is treasured for its exceptionally pale blue-to-white coloring, which feels entirely different from the saturated blues normally associated with American turquoise. This necklace uses thirteen complementary stones, including a commanding central teardrop, while preserving the subtle variations that make the material so recognizable.
Sheila Tso’s cluster work gives the necklace presence without making it feel overly formal. At 34 grams, it is substantial enough to register as a true statement piece but still easy enough to wear constantly.
Artifact Registry
- Artist: Sheila Tso
- Tribal affiliation: Navajo
- Materials: Dry Creek turquoise and sterling silver
- Construction: Thirteen-stone cluster with handmade sterling link chain
- Length: 20 inches
- Weight: 34 grams
- Hallmark: S. TSO / STERLING
- Date: Contemporary
- Collector’s Gallery Value: $1650
Curator’s Field Observation
The magic here is the range of blue. One stone leans almost porcelain, another has a little green whisper, and the center carries this wonderfully strange cloud of tan and gray matrix. Together they look collected rather than matched—and I mean that as the highest compliment. It feels organic, alive and completely one of one.
Eric’s Notes from the Field
I love when turquoise behaves in a way turquoise technically isn’t supposed to behave. Dry Creek always looks like somebody took the color blue, buried it beneath the Nevada desert for several million years, and then dug it back up after it had forgotten how loud it used to be.
This is quiet turquoise with an enormous amount of presence. Sheila gave it that classic cluster rhythm, but the oversized center stone makes the whole necklace feel less like a flower and more like some pale blue relic radiating outward. Very good. Very strange. Exactly my kind of treasure.
