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More about Black Onyx

Whether black onyx beads are used as a background accent or the rock star of your jewelry making, our selection of Black Onyx beads will be sure to find a welcome place in your bead collection. This relatively hard gem — onyx has a Mohs hardness of 6.5 to 7 — is found in only three places around the globe: Arizona, Mexico, and Algeria.

The word "onyx" is a Greek word that means a claw nail or a human fingernail. The legend is that while Venus slept, Cupid clipped her fingernails and left the cuttings scattered on the ground around her. Since Venus was a goddess, she would never succumb to death because none of her body could die. So the gods turned the nail clippings into the stone which later became known as onyx.

Most Black Onyx, like our beads, has been heat treated to improve its color.

What exactly is Onyx? An informative post on our Wire-Sculpture jewelry making blog gives you the answers. Click here to go to "Gem Profile: Onyx."

Make a striking piece of jewelry by combining our black onyx beads with sterling silver wire! Make a necklace, bracelet, or even a whole jewelry set with our ebony Black Onyx beads — and don't forget to pair these beads with our lovely Black Onyx Cabochons!

Take a gander at our brand-new, U.S.-supplied line of high quality beads. We here at Wire-Sculpture are committed to keeping in stock thousands of beads for making jewelry, so you always have a source for the beads you need!