Quartz Beads
Quartz beads are cut from silicon dioxide, one of the most common minerals in the Earth's crust and the one that defines 7 on the Mohs scale. This collection holds every quartz we stock: clear and cloudy quartz, rose, smoky and strawberry quartz, rutilated, tourmalated and hematoid quartz, phantom and seaweed quartz, Herkimer diamond quartz and Super 7, in a range of finishes and shapes for bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Appearance
Clear quartz is colorless and glassy; cloudy or milky quartz is white from countless tiny fluid inclusions; smoky quartz runs from pale tan to deep brown. Rose quartz is a soft, even pink; strawberry quartz holds red flecks of iron minerals in clear quartz. Rutilated quartz carries golden or brown needles, tourmalated quartz black ones, and hematoid quartz is tinted yellow to red by iron oxide. Phantom quartz shows a ghost outline of an earlier crystal inside the bead; seaweed quartz is clear with green mineral growths; Super 7 mixes amethyst, smoky and clear quartz with fine needle inclusions.
Herkimer diamond quartz is a trade name for small, naturally double-terminated crystals; ours come from Pakistan, not the New York locality that gave the name. Faceting makes clear and inclusion-free quartz sparkle; a smooth polish shows inclusions and phantoms best; a matte finish turns any quartz frosted. At 7 on the Mohs scale, every quartz wears well.
Formation and origin
All quartz is the same mineral, silicon dioxide, crystallizing from silica-rich fluids in veins, geodes and pegmatites or from cooling magma. What differs is what was trapped inside or substituted into the crystal as it grew: aluminum and natural radiation make smoky quartz; iron makes amethyst and hematoid quartz; microscopic fibers make rose quartz; needles of rutile, tourmaline or goethite grow through rutilated, tourmalated and Super 7 quartz; a pause in growth, a dusting of chlorite or iron, and then more growth leaves a phantom. Brazil is the largest source, followed by Madagascar, India, Pakistan and the United States.
Pairings
Lepidolite beads: lilac mica beside clear or smoky quartz, a soft pairing; quartz handles the wear lepidolite cannot.
Larvikite beads: dark grey with silver-blue flash gives clear and cloudy quartz a dark anchor of similar hardness.
Rhodochrosite beads: pink and cream bands warm a strand of white or smoky quartz without clashing.
Meaning and Metaphysical Beliefs
Quartz has long been the most used stone in crystal traditions. Clear quartz is called the master stone and is said to amplify intention and the other stones around it; smoky quartz is associated with grounding, rose quartz with love, and phantom quartz with growth through past stages. Chakra assignments follow color, with clear quartz placed at the crown. These are traditional beliefs, not claims of physical effect.
