Black obsidian is glass, not stone. It forms when lava cools too fast to build a crystal structure, which is why it breaks with a curved, smooth edge instead of a grain — and why it takes a polish that no black gemstone quite matches.
Four blacks, not one
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Plain black obsidian is the flat, matte-deep reading. Almost no light comes back off it.
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Rainbow obsidian holds a band of color that appears across the surface at one angle and disappears at the next.
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Gold sheen obsidian throws a metallic gold sheet rather than a rainbow, and reads warmer for it.
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Rough or half-cut pieces leave part of the stone unpolished, so the difference between polished and raw shows on the same bead.
What it is cut into
Most of this collection is cut as a pixiu — the guardian figure that gathers rather than guards — or left as a plain round for a mantra strand. The stone takes a carved form well because it has no grain to fight, which is why the finer detail on the figures survives.
There are also two Buddha and mantra pieces carved in obsidian, and one half-circle paired with clear quartz. The pixiu pieces show the carving at its most detailed.
Wearing it
Obsidian is hard but brittle. A sharp knock can chip an edge, so keep it away from hard surfaces and store it on its own.
Choose plain black if you want it to disappear, rainbow or gold sheen if you want the surface to move.
