Rhyolite Beads
Rhyolite beads are cut from a fine-grained volcanic rock, the lava equivalent of granite, whose flow banding and crystal-filled cavities give each bead a different pattern. This collection holds natural rhyolite, including rainforest rhyolite jasper and Mexican bird's eye rhyolite, in a range of finishes and shapes for bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Appearance
Rainforest rhyolite, also sold as rainforest jasper, is a mottled green with patches of cream, brown and rust and small clear-to-white spots where cavities filled with quartz, so the surface looks like moss and bark. Bird's eye rhyolite from Mexico is pinkish tan to brown with round eyes, each a concentric ring of color around a quartz center, scattered across the bead. Patterns and the share of each color vary a great deal from bead to bead and strand to strand.
A polished finish deepens the greens and browns and makes the eyes and quartz spots stand out; a matte finish mutes the whole bead into a soft, earthy camouflage that suits the pattern. Faceting is uncommon on an opaque, patterned rock. Rhyolite is a mix of minerals, mostly quartz and feldspar, so its hardness averages about 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale and it holds up well in everyday bracelets, though softer cavity fillings can occasionally wear faster than the rock around them.
Formation and origin
Rhyolite is silica-rich lava that erupted and cooled quickly at the surface, so its quartz and feldspar crystals are too small to see, and gas bubbles trapped in the cooling lava later filled with quartz, agate or chalcedony. The orbs in bird's eye rhyolite grew as radiating crystals around a nucleus while the lava was still hot. Rainforest rhyolite comes from Mount Hay in Queensland, Australia, and bird's eye rhyolite from Mexico. Leopard skin jasper and several other patterned jaspers are also rhyolite, which is why the names overlap so often.
Pairings
Ocean jasper beads: orbs beside orbs, in brighter greens and pinks that lift rhyolite's earthier palette.
Crazy lace agate beads: cream, red and grey swirls next to rhyolite's mottled green, with matched hardness.
Tourmaline beads: black tourmaline spacers give the busy pattern a plain, dark frame.
Meaning and Metaphysical Beliefs
Rhyolite has little traditional lore of its own, since it was long sold under jasper names, and it has mostly taken on the beliefs attached to those jaspers. In modern crystal traditions rainforest rhyolite is associated with change, self-worth and the natural world, and it is usually placed with the heart chakra. These are traditional beliefs, not claims of physical effect.
