Tektite Beads
Tektite beads are natural glass formed when a large meteorite struck the earth, melted the ground and flung droplets of molten rock across thousands of miles. The black tektites used for beads come from Southeast Asia and are about 790,000 years old. This collection holds natural tektite in a range of shapes for bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Appearance
Tektite is black, sometimes very dark brown or olive at thin edges held to the light, with a pitted, grooved surface shaped partly by its flight and mostly by slow etching during hundreds of thousands of years in the soil. Rough nugget beads keep that natural skin, so each one is different in shape and texture. Polished tektite is a glossy black much like obsidian, and the 2 are hard to tell apart by eye.
The rough, unpolished surface is the usual finish, because it is what makes tektite recognizable; a polished finish gives a plain black glass bead. Tektite is glass, about 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale, slightly harder than obsidian but still brittle. Avoid sharp knocks, store it apart from harder beads, and wear it as a pendant or in a necklace rather than in a bracelet that takes daily knocks.
Formation and origin
Tektites form in the first seconds of a large meteorite impact, when the target rock is melted, thrown into the upper atmosphere and cooled into glass as it falls back to earth. They land in broad regions called strewn fields. Bead tektites are indochinites from the Australasian strewn field, which covers Southeast Asia, Australia and the Indian Ocean; the impact crater has not been found with certainty. Moldavite is the green tektite from the Czech Republic, formed by a separate impact about 15 million years ago. Tektite is terrestrial rock melted by the impact, not a piece of the meteorite itself, though it is often sold as meteorite glass.
Pairings
Black onyx beads: smooth black chalcedony that matches tektite in color and gives a strand a polished counterpoint.
Clear quartz beads: colorless against rough black glass, a common pairing in crystal jewelry.
Hematite beads: metallic grey spacers between black tektite nuggets keep the strand dark and heavy.
Meaning and Metaphysical Beliefs
Tektite has long been regarded as a stone that came from the sky, and in Southeast Asia and Australia tektites were carried as charms and used as tools for thousands of years. In crystal traditions it is associated with transformation, expanded awareness and protection during travel, and it is often placed with the third eye and crown chakras. Tektite and moldavite are sometimes paired as a set in meditation practice. These are traditional beliefs, not claims of physical effect.
