Stone Beads — Carnelian

Another stone with an ancient and fascinating history. Carnelian is a variant of Chalcedony. Carnelian was traditionally used to make signet rings with a carved seal for use with sealing wax, as the hot wax did not stick to the stone. Carnelian is colour-enhanced by baking for days in an oven, buried in rice husks. . It's beautiful, firey reds and oranges come from iron oxides in the stone.

Metaphysically and historically - the Greeks and Romans particularly valued Carnelian and believed that it could calm bad temper or "still the blood."

It is a medium hard stone - with a hardness of 6.5, and takes a particularly high gloss when polished.

We try to choose consistent stock, but the nature of natural stones is that there will be inconsistency between strands and between individual beads.