Handmade gemstone jewelry - labradorite!

If gemstones had personalities, I would think of labradorite as a playful stone - at first appearing to be nondescript gray, then reflecting light and turning itself into flashes of brilliant blue, green, yellow or gold.Because of labradorite's flash, it is a fun stone to use in jewelry designs. The flash of color is unexpected, like a present - boop! here I am! - boop! - now I'm gone!

Labradorite was first found in Labrador, Canada. It is also found in the colder areas of the former Soviet Union. A beautiful blue, semi-transparent variety of labradorite, spectrolite, is found in Finland. Labradorite seems to like it cold!

Labradorite is a form of feldspar, the most abundant mineral in the earth's crust. The amazing color play, or flash of the labradorite is caused when the light strikes the thin microscopic layers of the gemstone and a phase shift is created. The phase shift causes many reflections, making parallel bands of shimmering color. This phenomenon is called labradorescence.

Labradorite brings out one's best qualities and brings good luck. It increases mystical wisdom, intuition and calmness.

The hardness of labradorite is 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, with 10 being the hardest.