Gary James: Beautiful, Unique Jewelry

Gary James retired eight years ago and settled in the southwest. His interest in Native American jewelry inspired him to begin working with turquoise. During a trade show in Phoenix, he learned about the gemstone larimar. A variety of the mineral pectolite, which is found throughout the world, the sea-blue color of larimar is only found in the Dominican Republic.

Gary has two cases full of exquisite jewelry at the Sedona Artist Market. One case is what is called "old pawn," which is a phrase describing highly collectible American Indian jewelry that was pawned in the past and never redeemed. Gary has a nice collection of items, including rings, necklaces, bracelets, watches, and more.

His second case is filled with the unique blue stone known as larimar, again in a variety of sizes and shapes. With the larimar, Gary creates original designs as well as repairing pieces that have damaged or less attractive stones.

Gary was recently prompted by another jewelry artist who asked "Do you ever work with anything other than larimar?" Gary decided to try something new. He fashioned some high quality rhodochrosite into a pendant, pairing it with a 3 mm sterling rope chain.

In his other case, he is currently offering a complete "Man in the Maze" jewelry set. In Native American culture, the maze is a symbol of life--happiness, sadness, and reaching one's goals and dreams upon arriving at the center. The set consists of a necklace, bracelet, earrings, and a ring.

Come in to see Gary's work seven days a week, 10-5.