Labradorite Stone Wonderfully Iridescent
Labradorite is a feldspar mineral that's well known for being exceptionally iridescent. With the reflection of light magnificent shades of blue, green, yellow and reds can be seen.
Polished labradorite is incredibly popular and prized around the world for its optical properties.
A variety of the mineral feldspar, labradorite grades 6 - 6.5 on Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Being such a hard material makes it a popular choice for jewellery. It's also widely used for decorative purposes.
The optical phenomenon in labradorite is known as labradorescence or schiller. It's caused as light reflects off thin layers of intergrown minerals beneath the surface of the stone. When light hits the layers at certain angles it's refracted and scattered which creates the effect that we see.
The colours do not come from within the stone, they're the reflection of light.
Labradorite is often used for its metaphysical healing properties. It can be found in several locations around the world including the Labrador Coast in Canada after which it was named, Russia and Finland.
Beautiful colours can be seen as this labradorite stone interacts with light. Sadly in some material labradorescence can be difficult to capture in a photo.
