Description
A gold sheen obsidian drop, polished into a dome on its front face and flat at the back. The copper veil does not stay put: it travels up the curve as the stone tilts, and comes back down as it returns.
Gold sheen obsidian owes its veil to microscopic gas bubbles laid in a single plane by the flow of the lava. Light bounces off them and comes back copper, but along one axis only. On a flat surface the veil appears all at once and disappears the same way; on a dome, there is always some part of the curve sitting at the right angle, and the veil travels instead of blinking. The shape changes how the stone behaves. The obsidian varieties go into this family.
The catalogue already sells gold sheen obsidian as a pendant, and a drop in black obsidian. This is the crossing of the two, and it is the dearest of the three: a drop large enough for the veil to have room to travel calls for a good-sized gold sheen block, and gold sheen obsidian with no dead zone is what the supplier delivers least easily. All three are here.
The reservation is the dead zone, and it needs saying. On almost every block of gold sheen obsidian there is a region where the bubbles are misaligned and where the stone stays black at any angle. On a small bead you avoid it easily; on a drop over an inch across it is harder, and a piece can keep a mute zone along one edge. I set those aside, and that explains the price as much as the size of the block does.
Crystal lore ties obsidian to grounding, and gold sheen in particular to self-confidence. None of that is proven, and no piece of jewellery heals anything. I have gathered separately what tradition attributes to obsidian, in the conditional from start to finish.
- Genuine gold sheen obsidian, drop polished into a dome, flat at the back.
- The copper veil travels along the curve instead of blinking.
- A piece selected with no dead zone: on a drop this size, that is the hard part.
- Adjustable braided brown cord, no metal clasp.
What to know before you wear it
 |  |  |
The specifications
- Stone
- Gold sheen obsidian, volcanic glass
- Shape
- Drop, dome polished on the front face, flat back
- Dimensions
- About 32 x 22 mm / 1 1/4 x 7/8 in
- Setting
- None, stone drilled and knotted
- Cord
- Braided brown cord, adjustable length
- Gender
- Unisex
- Brand
- Bijoux Obsidienne
Finding the axis of the veil before cutting the drop
On a gold sheen obsidian, the axis of the veil is read before the first cut and never after. You light the block in raking light and turn it slowly: the plane of the bubbles appears as a sheet that lights up all at once. The drop has to come out parallel to that sheet, failing which the veil ends up on the edge and the front face stays black. A reading mistake cannot be recovered: you do not put material back, and a badly oriented block will never give a good drop.
This piece is the dearest of the catalogue’s simple pendants, and I would rather say why than let anyone assume a move upmarket. It is neither the cutting nor the mounting, it is the material: a block of gold sheen obsidian large enough and regular enough for a drop over an inch across is rare, and I set many aside. The other pendants are here.
You read the sheet of bubbles before the first cut. Afterwards there is nothing left to recover.
Obsidian does not mind water. The polished dome keeps fingerprints, a dry microfiber cloth is enough. Avoid knocks against a belt buckle, and never an ultrasonic bath. Cleaning an obsidian piece covers the rest.
