Have you heard of howlite? If you work at all with beads and jewelry you likely have seen a lot more of this gemstone than you realize.
If you’ve seen beads that are carved, shaped and then dyed bright colors, you’ve probably seen howlite!
Howlite’s main claim to fame is that it is very soft and that means that it takes dye very well. In turn that means it is often used to imitate other stones such as turquoise, coral or even lapis lazuli.
Although there are dishonest sellers will try to pass off dyed howlite as more expensive stones, you can tell an honest seller by the fact that their colorful stones are clearly labeled as dyed howlite.
If you think you might have some imitation gemstones you can check out the video by Gem Rock Auctions entitled “How to Tell the Difference Between Turquoise and Dyed Howlite.”
Although howlite is a fairly plain stone on its own, it definitely has its uses, whether to be dyed bright colors that cannot be found anywhere in nature or to be used as its own clean and simple white self.
You can find howlite:
Enjoy the video and happy creating!
Watch the Howlite, The Master of Disguise Gemstone-Friday Findings at YouTube.
That is very interesting! I’m going to check some of the turquoise jewelry I got as a steal years ago–bet it is in fact Howlite. :O