Volcanoes And Jewelry: The Connection
I have a lot of different hobbies and interests. One of those is volcanoes. I have had an intense fascination with volcanoes ever since I bought a book on them (17 years ago!) I grew up in Washington State in the shadow of Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. The possibility of Rainier erupting and the memory of Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption is always in the back of everyone’s minds. And as I got older, I finally went to hike on these VERY DORMANT volcanoes!
Even a couple of years ago, I lost my mind when I got to go see Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park! And I still follow the US Geological Service Facebook page to see if there’s an eruption of any kind. One could say this enchantment with volcanoes runs deep. So do you want to know how I felt when I found out there’s a connection to jewelry? I was ecstatic! And I knew I had to write a piece about it!
You might ask, what is the connection between jewelry and volcanoes? There’s two links. The first is that volcanic eruptions can affect gemstone formations! If you read my piece on gemstone formation, you’ll recall that the tectonic plate movement, which causes volcanic eruptions, also initiates crystal formation (which creates gemstones). This isn’t always a guarantee but every time you see a gemstone, you’ll look at it and wonder if a volcano was responsible for it! (Hopefully you will, I don’t to be the only one!)
The second link between jewelry and volcanoes is that there is jewelry made out of volcanic rock and glass. In a volcanic eruption, the lava comes out and once it has cooled down enough, part of it becomes igneous rock. Igneous rock is a name for a category of rocks that include obsidian, pumice, granite, basalt, rhyolites, and more. These rocks are taken and made into jewelry by designers who specialize in “volcano jewelry”. Designers who work with these materials will often take obsidian, which can be used to make glass, and mold it into jewelry.
If you’re interested in learning more about this, then just google volcano jewelry and you will find tons of sellers on Etsy complete with background information. And you see something there that you think would go well with something we offer, be sure to check out our products to get a good jewelry combo!