Snowflake Obsidian Beads

8" strand $16.70 Qty: ½ strand (loose) $8.85 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

15" strand $8.70 Qty: ½ strand (loose) $4.80 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

16" strand $3.75 Qty: ½ strand (loose) $2.15 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

16" strand $4.70 Qty: ½ strand (loose) $2.70 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

16" strand $5.90 Qty: ½ strand (loose) $3.40 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

16" strand $5.70 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

16" strand $5.90 Qty: More Pics, Ideas, and Wish Lists »

More About Snowflake Obsidian

Inclusions of white, clustered crystals of the mineral cristobalite (a type of quartz) in black obsidian glass produce a beautiful snowflake-like pattern, producing snowflake obsidian.

Obsidian is a type of naturally formed glass that was originally expelled from a volcano as molten lava and then cooled very rapidly in the surrounding environment. This rapid cooling prevents an organized crystal structure from forming, so although obsidian is a hard material, in chemical terms, it is considered a liquid! From a geological perspective, most obsidian is a very young material – less than 20 million years old – as over time, it becomes transformed from glass into rock through a process called “devitrification”.