Authentic Santo Domingo Turquoise Chip Necklace

What is heishi?

Heishi means shell and in the past, referred to pieces of shell that have been drilled and hand rolled or ground into shapes and strung as necklaces. With the reduced availability of some shell materials, the modern Native American artists also use hand made beads of other natural materials including stones when making heishi necklaces. Read more about heishi.

Olive shells are mollusks found mostly in warm tropical seas. These snails are carnivorous sand-burrowers, feeding mostly on bivalves and carrion and are known as some of the fastest burrowers among snails. An olive shell is smooth, and oval-shaped with various muted but attractive colors, and often patterns.The shell surface is extremely glossy because in life it almost always covered and protected by a mantle.