Sterling Silver Turquoise Needlepoint Zuni Ring

When I was younger, I’d watch TV shows where people were building miniature ships in bottles. I never understood why they were doing it, because it wasn’t Scooby Doo and I just didn’t care. Fast forward to now, I get it. You come to appreciate the skill it takes to make small things with lots of details. And this brings me to a style of Southwestern jewelry called needle point.

Needle Point, sometimes called Petit Point (which is sorta different, but I digress), is a style where turquoise is polished down to small bits and placed in various configurations. Oftentimes these configurations take on geometric configurations that resemble starbursts or cactus -- in that they radiate from some center point. Like a ship in a bottle on some TV show that isn’t Scooby Doo, needle point requires a lot of skill. In fact, being able to complete this task of miniaturizing the implements of the jewelry is a testament to the artist's mastery.

I say all of this to say that this appreciation I now have for this kind of skill wasn’t innate. It came from an appreciation of watching other things done with care and precision. And that’s what this ring is. It’s the size of a ring with tiny petit point details that fill me with reverence for this kind of work. I still wonder how the bezel each piece of turquoise sits in was cut. Knowing that these pieces of turquoise the size of basmati rice would fall out of my hands the minute I attempted something this difficult. Which is why I wear needlepoint jewelry but stick to watching Scooby Doo. I know my skill set.