Obsidian Gourd Round Bead Bracelet

Obsidian is natural glass, formed when lava cools too fast to crystallize, and it breaks with a shell-like fracture. So the shine on these beads is not a polish worked up on a wheel; it is the gloss of glass. You know it the moment you touch it: cold, and lighter than a stone of the same size. Glassy material has no cleavage planes. Break it and the edge is curved, not split along a flat face the way stone splits. Tap it and the sound is short and sharp, with no tail — the sound of struck glass.

The gourd puns on fulu, blessing and salary. A gourd on a vine, one runner and many fruits, adds a layer of descendants. Folk practice also used it as a medicine jar, hung at the door to collect sickness. With all that stacked on it, the gourd became the auspicious shape that needs no explaining. A red cord is often tied around the waist of the gourd, to bind the two halves together. The practice is old, and what it wants is steadiness.

Three circumferences: eighteen, twenty and twenty-two. Eighteen is the common single loop, twenty the middle, twenty-two leaves room for a thicker wrist. The bead count follows the length, one or two more as the loop grows, and the weight goes up with it. Hands swell in summer and shrink in winter, so the middle size is the safest. Don't measure tight; leave a finger's room. Bring the thumb in against the palm when you measure. If it passes the widest part of the metacarpals, the whole hand will go through.

To choose obsidian, take it into strong light and turn it slowly. Some beads show a rainbow sheen — red, green, blue — and on a single bead it should be a whole patch to look right; half a patch is not worth it. All black has its advantages too: steady, and it goes with anything. You won't see the sheen under a fluorescent tube. Take it to a window, or hold a phone light right against it. The sheen is natural, whole patches are not common, and if you find one, don't hesitate.

Glassy material is fragile. A table edge, a car door frame, one knock and there is a chip, and a chip cannot be repaired. No need to take it off for a shower, but don't throw it in a bag with your keys. The gourd's waist is narrow and that is where the string takes the strain, so go one size heavier on the elastic. A gourd bracelet does not stack well: the waist is thin, and pressing against another string breaks it easily. Worn alone, with nothing beside it, it looks best.