Black Tourmaline Bracelet, 8mm

Schorl, 8mm. The black species of the tourmaline group, in a wearable gauge.

Natural striations. The lengthwise grooves running the crystal are characteristic, not flaws.

Stretch cord fit. One size, no clasp, made for daily wear.

• Material: natural black tourmaline (schorl) beads, 8mm, on stretch cord
• Surface striations and slight variation in luster are normal for the species
• One-size stretch fit; wipe with a soft cloth, remove for swimming

Tourmaline is not one mineral but a group, and schorl is its plainest and most abundant member: iron-rich, opaque black, forming the long striated prisms that turn up in granite and pegmatite almost everywhere granite and pegmatite occur. The collectors' stones, rubellite and indicolite and the watermelon crystals cut to show their pink cores, are the rarities. Schorl is the everyday one, and its ordinariness is part of why modern practice took to it: it is the protection stone you can actually afford to keep by the door, at the corners of a room, and on your wrist all at once. That association is twentieth century rather than ancient, and it is no weaker for it. The stone does no warding by itself; it keeps company with warding you are already doing.

1. Cleanse it on arrival with smoke or moonlight, whichever your custom uses.
2. Wear it daily rather than saving it; this is a working stone, not an occasion one.
3. Stack it with a finer gauge if you want the black to read as a band.
4. Remove for swimming to spare the cord.

• Black Tourmaline Stretch Bracelet, 4mm Beads: the fine gauge, for stacking.
• Black Tourmaline Bracelets: the full family.
• Protection and Warding Items: the wider shelf.

What is schorl?

The black, iron-rich species of the tourmaline group, and the most abundant tourmaline there is. Black tourmaline and schorl are the same stone under two names.

Why is this tourmaline black when tourmaline is usually colorful?

The colorful stones are a different species, elbaite. Schorl takes its black from iron, and it is the common member of the family rather than the collectible one.

Are the grooves on the beads a defect?

No. Tourmaline crystals grow with lengthwise striations, and seeing them on a polished bead is a sign the stone is what it says it is.