Description
A silver sheen obsidian sphere, mirror polished, hung from a black cord. The grey veil moves across the dome with every movement of the body, and since the shape is round, it has nowhere to stop.
Silver sheen obsidian owes its veil to very fine gas bubbles, laid in a single plane by the flow of the lava. Fine, they return a cold grey light; larger, they would give the copper of gold sheen obsidian. Same rock, same volcano, two opposite colours depending on the size of the bubbles. The obsidian varieties go into this family.
The catalogue already has two spheres, one in gold sheen obsidian and one in celestial eye. This is the third variety, and the coldest of the three: where the gold sheen warms a complexion and the celestial eye draws a crisp circle, the silver sheen is nothing but a displacement of grey light, with no figure. It is the quietest and the least demonstrative. All three are here.
The reservation is its dependence on light. Silver sheen needs a direct source to light up frankly: in sunlight or under a lamp it is crisp, under a diffuse ceiling light it stays a black ball with a hint of grey. The gold sheen copes better with flat light. If you work indoors with no window, that is a real point of choice between the two.
Crystal lore ties obsidian to grounding and credits silver sheen with a role of self-reflection, by analogy with the mirror. None of that is proven, and no piece of jewellery heals anything. I have gathered separately what tradition attributes to obsidian, in the conditional.
- Genuine silver sheen obsidian, mirror-polished sphere.
- The grey veil moves without ever stopping: a sphere has no face.
- The coldest and quietest of the catalogue’s three spheres.
- Adjustable braided black cord, no metal clasp.
What to know before you wear it
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The specifications
- Stone
- Silver sheen obsidian, volcanic glass
- Shape
- Mirror-polished sphere
- Diameter
- About 18 mm / 3/4 in
- Setting
- None, stone drilled and knotted
- Cord
- Braided black cord, adjustable length
- Gender
- Unisex
- Brand
- Bijoux Obsidienne
A sphere forgives no flaw in its roundness
A sphere is the least forgiving shape, because the human eye detects a flaw in roundness well before it can be measured. A discrepancy of two tenths of a millimetre between two perpendicular diameters, invisible on calipers to anyone not looking for it, shows immediately when the stone turns at the end of its cord: the reflection does not sweep evenly, it speeds up and slows down. So the check is done by turning it, never by measuring it.
This sphere completes a family that was missing a member. The gold sheen and the celestial eye were in the catalogue, the silver sheen was not, and yet it is the variety I most like to set as a ball: with no figure and no warm colour, it lets the shape speak on its own. All three are here and the obsidian guide explains the varieties.
A flaw in roundness is not measured, it shows when the ball turns. The reflection speeds up, then it slows down.
Obsidian does not mind water. The mirror polish keeps fingerprints, a dry microfiber cloth is enough. The sphere rolls if you set it down: keep it in its pouch. Never an ultrasonic bath. Cleaning an obsidian piece covers the rest.
