What is Dyed or Color Shot Turquoise?
What is dyed or color shot turquoise or turquoise that has had the original color enhanced or changed? Dyed turquoise is of course turquoise that has been dyed. How to tell if this has been done is very easy for an old pro. But on an amateur level I will try to help you with this. Try to look at the matrix and see if it looks like it has been dyed. The matrix will accept some of the dye also and will not have the extreme color difference of the different materials. You will see the dye bleeding into the original color that the matrix was. Turquoise and the matrix or mother rock are two different materials and colors of each are separate. So you will notice the dye affecting the color of the matrix. Don’t confuse extreme blue color with dyed turquoise as turquoise can be very bright blue. But for the blue color to bleed into the matrix is a good indicator of dyed turquoise. Also when looking at bead necklaces beware of every nugget or bead being the exact same shade of color. Nature does not produce exactness very often. Actually look for different shades of color on each bead or nugget as well as many different shades on the many different nuggets or beads. Color shot turquoise is usually part of a treatment process and will include the color shot process. Over time I have see a lot of color attempts done to turquoise. I have even seen the blue toilet bowl cleaner being used to color turquoise. This of course looked very unnatural and was easy to detect .Copper sulfate is a nice blue color and I have seen it used also. I have seen much use of other materials that are dyed and being passed off for turquoise. I will cover this in that title. Dyed turquoise is usually dyed with an anilyn dye. Today we have many very professional setups that are around the world and have very good dye processes that can be very hard to tell.
Copyright 2010 @ James Saunders
What is dyed or color shot turquoise or turquoise that has had the original color enhanced or changed? Dyed turquoise is of course turquoise that has been dyed. How to tell if this has been done is very easy for an old pro. But on an amateur level I will try to help you with this. Try to look at the matrix and see if it looks like it has been dyed. The matrix will accept some of the dye also and will not have the extreme color difference of the different materials. You will see the dye bleeding into the original color that the matrix was. Turquoise and the matrix or mother rock are two different materials and colors of each are separate. So you will notice the dye affecting the color of the matrix. Don’t confuse extreme blue color with dyed turquoise as turquoise can be very bright blue. But for the blue color to bleed into the matrix is a good indicator of dyed turquoise. Also when looking at bead necklaces beware of every nugget or bead being the exact same shade of color. Nature does not produce exactness very often. Actually look for different shades of color on each bead or nugget as well as many different shades on the many different nuggets or beads. Color shot turquoise is usually part of a treatment process and will include the color shot process. Over time I have see a lot of color attempts done to turquoise. I have even seen the blue toilet bowl cleaner being used to color turquoise. This of course looked very unnatural and was easy to detect .Copper sulfate is a nice blue color and I have seen it used also. I have seen much use of other materials that are dyed and being passed off for turquoise. I will cover this in that title. Dyed turquoise is usually dyed with an anilyn dye. Today we have many very professional setups that are around the world and have very good dye processes that can be very hard to tell.
Copyright 2010 @ James Saunders
