Natural stones vary. Your strand will match these photos in colour and size range, not bead for bead. Photographed under daylight-balanced light with no colour correction.
Iolite 9x15mm Faceted Pyramid
Specifications
| SKU | GS120 |
|---|---|
| Stone | Iolite |
| Shape | Pyramid |
| Bead size | 9x15mm |
| Cut | Faceted |
| Color | — |
| Weight | On request |
| Hardness (Mohs) | 7 to 7.5 |
| Origin | Cut in Jaipur, India |
| Availability | In stock |
Iolite is a transparent gemstone and a form of cordierite. The color of iolite is typically light to dark blue and violet. The stone appears to be opaque (transparent to translucent in clarity). The hardness of iolite (7-7.5) makes it suitable as a jewelry gemstone for brooches, bracelets, pendants, necklaces, etc.
What it makes
Pyramids are used for pendants, spike necklaces, earrings. Measured base by height, e.g. 9x15mm; usually drilled drilled across the base. More about pyramids.
Turn it and the blue comes and goes.
Iolite on a strand looks like denim washed a few times, blue with gray in it. Turn the strand and the color shifts: one face inky violet-blue, the next pale and watery, the third a hint of straw. That flicker belongs to the stone, not to the light. Glass can be blue, but glass cannot do that. Makers reach for iolite when they want a sapphire look at a working price, on a bead that holds its color across a whole necklace.
Legend gives iolite a job at sea. Viking navigators are said to have used thin slices of it as a filter, cutting glare and locating the sun through overcast sky so they could fix their own position. Whether that ever happened is unsettled, and the tale is passed along as tradition rather than record, but the name Viking compass stone has stayed with it. The nickname holds the idea in it: light read through a blue stone, direction found on a day with no sun in view. Iolite has long been fashioned for adornment, and in the language of anniversaries it belongs to the twenty-first year.
Beliefs about stones are tradition, not advice. Read the full story.
Gem cordierite, a magnesium-iron aluminum silicate. Mohs 7-7.5, one direction of cleavage. Most bead material is from India; also Tanzania and Sri Lanka. Nicknamed "water sapphire" for its pale sapphire look.
Daily wear is fine; avoid hard knocks along the cleavage. Soap and water.
Full stone guide
