Jonathan Garcia

MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE:
I make handmade Heishi beads out of different types of natural stones and natural shells in its raw form; different shades of blue and green turquoise rocks, black jet, serpentine, pipestone, spiny oyster shells, melon shells, olive shells, I use various types of lapidary equipment and tools to make my heishi beads. 6" wet saw with a diamond blade, dremel drill using dentistry drill bits to drill heishi beads, 10" grinding wheel to make beads round, 6" sanding wheel with different sandpaper grids to smooth heishi beads, buffing wheel to give heishi beads their shine, all done while strung on a #8 piano wire. Handtools used are tweezers, flat pliers, needle-nosed pliers, small and large cutters. finished strands on jewelry is soft flex tiger tail wire. all silver work finishes are all sterling silver. Trademark for my jewelry is a single yellow\green serpentine heishi bead at beginning of jewelry items.