- Black Lava Stone Beads: Black lava stone beads are cut from basalt, a type of igneous rock formed during volcanic eruptions. Due to their holes and bubbles, lava stone beads add great texture, but not a lot of weight, to jewelry designs. Lava stone is naturally rough in texture, and our beads appear to be treated with a paraffin wax to make them smooth to the touch - plain basalt would be rather abrasive! Lava stone beads are a great base for Art Clay Silver paste and other precious Metal Clay pastes - just be sure to burn off the waxy coating in a kiln first.
- White "Lava" Stone Beads: Natural lava (basalt) is only available in shades of black and brown. All white and other colors that are commercially sold as lava are a similar stone (likely pumice, which is also volcanic), or occasionally are synthetic. Due to their unknown makeup, we don't recommend heating white "lava"in an oven or with a torch.
Due to the porous nature of these beads, both styles are great carriers for essential oil aromatherapy jewelry.