King Manassa lives again! The first thing that demands one’s attention is the sheer size of the King’s Manassa turquoise stone in the bracelet. It must have been the size of a smartphone, yes it’s that huge. The placid green is balanced by three coral pieces mounted on either side of the center stone. I asked about the stone and to my surprise he said it was originally larger. My thought was, “how could it have been bigger when holding it in my hand it was already rather heavy.” Carlon told me that he made the stone slightly smaller to better fit the new bracelet he was making and to reduce the amount of unnecessary matrix on the mount (I know, I’m not sure I fully understand what that means either). The stone was originally purchase by Carlon’s mother. He stated that his mother bought the stone in the original “thin” bracelet and it was cumbersome to wear; so… he decided to use it in a new bracelet. He told me that he got the coral from a trading post in Zuni, who was trying to clear their safes of “C Grade” material that was just lying around.  Although the price was good, Carlon did state that it took three hours of digging through coral scrap to find those pieces. In selecting his materials for his products, Carlon said that you need to be persistent in your visits and have a good background knowledge of who carries the best raw materials. You just have to keep trying and keep an open mind; if you are looking for something specific, there is a good chance that you will never find it. Even if one place does not have what you want, come back at another time, keep looking!