Crystal quartz and golden rutilated quartz

Clear stone, gold needles, cold in the hand.

On a strand, clear quartz looks like water that has been cut and held still. Each faceted bead throws small white sparks, and the drill hole shows as a bright line through the middle. Rutilated quartz is the same clear stone with fine gold needles running through it, some in loose parallel bundles, some crossing at angles. Turn a bead and the needles catch light one at a time. Pick one up and it stays cold in your palm. Glass warms.

Where it comes from

Rock crystal comes out of Brazil, Madagascar and India. Golden rutilated quartz is nearly all Brazilian. The needles inside it are rutile, the most abundant of the three natural forms of titanium dioxide, which grows as slender brilliant crystals, often enclosed by another mineral as it forms. Much of the golden material comes from Bahia State, and at the January 2017 Jewelry Industry Summit in Tucson, Brian and Kendra Cook of Nature's Geometry described work with 2,500 miners toward a collective at Remedios in Novo Horizonte, with a warehouse, cutting facilities and a visitor center. In the United States, the name Herkimer diamond properly belongs to double-terminated quartz from Herkimer County, New York; the short, faceted look it inspired is Herkimer-style. Our strands are cut in Jaipur, India, and chosen strand by strand in Cupertino, California.

What tradition says

Rutilated quartz has been called Venus' Hair Stone, after the fine gold threads suspended in the clear body. That name has traveled with the stone for a long time, and the inclusions are what people talk about first: the same needles a cutter would remove from another gem are the reason this one gets picked up. In crystal tradition, rock crystal is given the title "master healer." It is a folk name, offered here as tradition and nothing more. People have long kept clear quartz close, and the old names stayed attached to it as it passed from hand to hand.

These are beliefs people have held about the stone, told as tradition. They are not claims, and not advice.

How makers use it

Clear quartz is the workhorse spacer, the bead you set between colors to give the eye a rest, and the one makers use when they want white sparkle without diamonds. Rutilated quartz behaves like a neutral with something going on inside it. Faceted pears at 9x15mm hang well from ear wires and read from across a room. A 7mm rondelle strand runs easily as a full necklace or as breaks in a strung piece. Tubes suit drop earrings and simple pendants. We list seven strands. In the rutilated, dense bright gold needles spread evenly through the bead give the strongest flash; sparse brown ones stay quiet.

Looking after it

Quartz sits at 7 on the Mohs scale, hard enough for everyday wear. Wash in warm soapy water with a soft brush, and an ultrasonic is fine. Watch the drill holes on rutilated beads, since a rutile needle that reaches the surface can chip there. Dry a strand fully before putting it away.

Sources: Rutilated quartz, Rutilated Quartz: The gemstone rutilated quartz information and pictures · Minerals.net, Rutilated Quartz Buying Guide - International Gem Society, Rutile | Structure, Properties, Uses | Britannica