Labradorite

Gray until it turns, then blue across the whole face.

Hold a strand up and turn it slowly. One bead goes flat gray, the next throws a sheet of blue across its whole face, and a third gives you a thin edge of gold before it closes again. Faceted labradorite does this bead by bead, so no two strands look alike. The body color runs gray to near black, which is why people reach for it: a neutral that lights up when the wrist moves.

Where it comes from

Labradorite was first identified in Labrador, Canada, and takes its name from that peninsula. The geological type area is Paul's Island, near the town of Nain. It is a plagioclase feldspar, sitting between albite and anorthite, and it forms in mafic igneous rocks such as basalt, gabbro and norite. In anorthosite it can be the most abundant mineral in the rock, and it is one of the more common plagioclase varieties. It has since been reported in Poland, Norway, Finland, China, Australia, Slovakia, the United States and Madagascar. Most of the rough cut for beads today comes out of Madagascar. As a gem it is usually cut en cabochon, with a rounded convex surface. The beads on our strands are faceted instead. Our strands are cut in Jaipur, India, and chosen strand by strand in Cupertino, California.

What tradition says

The color play has a name of its own, labradorescence, borrowed from the stone that made it famous. What makes it happen is ordinary enough: light reflecting off thin twin layers inside a gray to black body. What tradition made of it is less ordinary. Because the flash appears and disappears as the bead turns, labradorite has long been called a stone of transformation, and that is how crystal tradition still describes it. The observation behind the belief is one any maker makes at the bench: the light sits inside the stone all the time, and the angle is what decides whether you can see it.

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

How makers use it

This is the gray-with-fire neutral, and it works hardest next to silver and in boho stringing. Faceted pears and daggers hang well from an ear wire, swinging and catching light from more angles than a still bead does. Rectangles suit statement necklaces, where the broad faces let a full sheet of blue show. Beads around 7x13mm keep to a scale that will string a whole necklace, while pieces closer to 20x37mm want to be the only thing in the design. Blue across most of the bead is the usual look; the strands with stronger flash add gold, green and purple alongside it. We list ten strands.

Looking after it

Labradorite is 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale with perfect cleavage, so a hard knock can split a bead and big nuggets tend to chip along their edges. Keep it to earrings, pendants and loose necklaces rather than tight bracelets. Clean with warm soapy water only, never in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner.

Sources: Labradorite: The gem plagioclase feldspar with play-of-color!, Labradorite, Labradorite, spectrolite: The gemstone Labradorite info and pictures · Minerals.net, Labradorite