Red Jasper, Natural, Faceted Rondelle, One 8x5mm Strand

Red Jasper, Natural, Faceted Rondelle, 8x5mm

One strand is 15 to 16 inches long

8x5mm rondelle strands have 70 to 75 pieces

Red Jasper can be found all corners of the earth. From the sands of Madagascar to the rainforests of Brazil, and the deserts of Australia, you can find Red Jasper. It is also found in the western areas of the Unites States such as California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Washington. Red is the most common color for Jaspers, and it gets its hue from the presence of iron. Jasper usually contains up to 20% of foreign materials which are what give the Jasper gemstone its many color variations.

Jasper is a member of the chalcedony family. It is usually an opaque stone with a solid color, or an irregular display of colors caused by various mineral impurities. Its colors are usually red, yellow, brown, or green in color and rarely blue. The common red color is due to iron inclusions. It often contains an abundance of impurities, and therefore some regard it as a rock instead of a mineral. Patterns arise during the consolidation process forming flow and depositional patterns in the original silica rich sediment or ash. The Jasper name means "spotted or speckled stone".

Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin. Jasper in mentioned many times in the Bible. Green jasper was used to make bow drills between 4th and 5th millennium BC. 

Hardness 6.5-7  

This is a natural stone that has had no treatment other than cutting, drilling, and polishing. 

The source of these beads is South Africa, and they are cut, drilled and polished in China.