Design with Lapis Lazuli Opens the builder with this stone already picked.
Lapis is a rock rather than a single mineral: blue lazurite, white calcite veins, and flecks of brassy pyrite all in one piece. The best material is a saturated blue with scattered gold and very little white.
It was ground into ultramarine, the pigment used for every important blue in European painting until the nineteenth century – which is why it carries the reputation of something worth saying properly.
How to judge quality: deep even blue, gold flecks rather than grey ones, and minimal white calcite. At Mohs 5-5.5 it will scratch, so keep it off harder stones in the same strand.
Properties at a glance
- Material: Metamorphic rock, mainly lazurite with calcite and pyrite
- Colour: Deep blue
- Mohs hardness: 5 – 5.5
- Main origins: Afghanistan, Chile, Russia, Siberia
- Chakra: Throat, Third Eye
- Element: Air
What people use it for
Truth, voice, saying the hard thing. These are traditional associations, not medical claims – wear what speaks to you.
Care
The softest stone here and porous. Do not soak it, do not use chemicals or ultrasonic cleaners. Wipe with a dry cloth only.
Also known as
Lapis, Lazurite, 青金石