In the year 1846, a launch rode into The Lizard, a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England. A foreign visitor, a German, stepped ashore and as he walked up the beach. His eyes were taken by a remarkable feature of this cove – the rocks. Their colours range from shades of emerald green through vibrant blue and yellow to deepest crimson and jet black, where passing footfall has polished their surface. They shine like jewels and are composed of a rock known as serpentine. And that visitor who’d been sailing the coast with his wife determined to find out more about this magical stone his name was Prince Albert. And when his wife Queen Victoria commissioned fireplaces carved from serpentine by local artisans, the local stone at once became fashionable and famous.
Serpentine is essentially a marble – a metamorphic rock created as the continents were formed some 300 million years ago. Beneath the world’s oceans, under great heat and pressure, the molten magma a mix of oceanic crust and superheated wet ultramafic rocks drew the surrounding minerals into the dense serpentine mass as it slowly solidified. Found on virtually every continent, this versatile rock has been both worked and used as a building material for centuries.
The rock has a long and ancient tradition as a useful and sacred stone in civilizations around the world. It was used to make seals by the Assyrians, the Persians and the Egyptians because neither ceiling wax or wet clay adhered to it and was carried as an amulet as it was widely believed to offer protection from snake bites. Amongst the indigenous people of South America, pink serpentine was revered and used for sacrificial altar stones in bloodletting ceremonies. While in New Zealand, the Maori fashioned green serpentine into tools jewelry and ceremonial axes.
Crystal serpentine helps you to let go of old and unhelpful behavior patterns from childhood or past lives. It releases past hurts and it’s used for protecting your well-being. It calms your spirit and helps to preserve your deepest beliefs. It is especially beneficial in Reiki healing. You can even use a stone of crystal serpentine in your office to help promote feelings of positivity and well-being.
Our green and pink serpentine sculptures display a vivacious mixture of colours and can become an integral part of your furnishings. These ornate pieces softly reflect multi-coloured hues heightened by polishing. Our well-crafted pieces, created by expert carvers, come in abstract contemporary designs and appeal to one and all. The idea is to take an edge off it or hand shaping it rather than turning it. We use the best quality serpentines stones all the time so that there are very few faults and you can get the fine edges. We are always finding new ways of interpreting the beauty of this versatile stone through our next generation of carvers.
Welcome to Suchandrima’s where passion and artistry amalgamate together to celebrate the beauty of Indian craftsmanship.
© Suchandrima's 2024
