Genuine Stone: How to Know What You're Wearing

Maybe you saw a bracelet on someone's wrist and pointed your phone at it to ask Google what stone it was. Maybe you already own one and just want to know it better. Either way, you do not need a lab to get to know a stone. Your hands and your eyes will tell you most of the story.

Here is how to recognise genuine stone, using the bracelets we make as examples.

Feel it: stone starts cool

Pick up a stone bracelet that has been resting in the room and hold it against the inside of your wrist. It feels cool at first, then slowly warms to your skin. Stone draws heat away from you before it settles. Plastic, by contrast, feels close to room temperature and warms up almost at once.

It is a small thing, but it is the first sign most people notice: stone feels like something that came out of the earth.

Weigh it: solid for its size, with one beautiful exception

Most stone beads feel pleasantly solid. Close your hand around a bracelet of tiger's eye or obsidian and you feel the weight of it.

Lava is the exception, and it is a good one. Lava stone is full of tiny holes, left by gas bubbles that escaped as the lava cooled. That makes it surprisingly light. Our Longonot Black is a good example: pick it up and the lightness surprises people, then look closely and you will see the pores of real volcanic rock across every bead.

Look closely: no two beads are alike

Nature does not repeat itself. In a genuine stone bracelet, every bead is a little different: the bands sit in different places, the colour shifts, one bead is a shade darker than the next.

Tiger's eye shows this beautifully. Turn a bead in the light and a soft band of shine slides across it. In genuine tiger's eye, that band and the stripes behind it change from bead to bead. Look at our Simba Gold one bead at a time and you will not find two that match.

Those small differences are not flaws. They are the stone's fingerprint, and they are why your bracelet is not quite like anyone else's.

Learn each stone's signature

Every stone has its own tell, something you can see once you know to look for it.

• Lava: pores. Tiny round holes all over the surface, and a light, matte feel.
• Tiger's eye: light that moves. A silky band of gold glides across each bead as you turn your wrist.
• Howlite: veins. A white stone traced with soft grey lines, like a map, running differently through every bead.
• Obsidian: a deep, glassy shine. Obsidian is natural volcanic glass, so it has a smooth, mirror-like gloss no other stone quite matches.

Our Batian White is howlite: round white beads with soft grey veins, each one drawn a little differently.

Our Njorowa Ember is mahogany obsidian: glossy black with red-brown streaks, like embers in a fire. Turn it under a lamp and you will see that glassy shine.

Once you know these signatures, you start to see them everywhere, and you start to have favourites.

Choose the stones yourself

Knowing your stones makes choosing them more fun. With Design Your Own you can pick the stone, add a second one, and see every bead before you decide. Start with tiger's eye, the stone whose light shows best, and build around it.

Just ask us

The simplest way to know what you are wearing is to ask the people who made it. Every BWA bracelet is named on our site for the stone it is made from, and if you want to know more about any bead, message us on WhatsApp. We are always happy to talk stones.

Next time you put your bracelet on, hold it for a moment first. Feel it cool against your skin, turn it in the light, and look at how each bead is a little different from the last. That is genuine stone, and now you know how to read it.