Description
Rhodonite butterfly wings, carved and polished, set on a slim silver toned metal stand worked into a butterfly body with fine curled antennae. The wingspan measures 15cm across the pair.
Rhodonite polishes to a high glassy finish and this pair has been taken all the way, so the surface throws light back rather than sitting flat. The wing veins are cut in as fine raised lines and the outer edges are scalloped, following the shape of a real wing down through the lower lobes.
What you can see in the rhodonite butterfly wings
The pink is strong rather than soft. Raspberry and deeper crimson run through the body of each wing, broken up by cream and pale mottling that gives the stone a marbled look rather than a flat colour.
Black streaks band across the upper section of both wings. That black is manganese oxide, which is the signature of rhodonite and part of what identifies the stone rather than a flaw in it. There are thinner tan and brown markings along the top edges.
The two wings are a matched pair but not identical. Look at the images rather than the description for the pattern, because that is the part no wording gets right.
About the stone
Rhodonite is a manganese silicate and it is regularly confused with rhodochrosite, which is a manganese carbonate. The two share a root name and a pink colour and very little else.
The quick tell is the black. Rhodochrosite bands in white and pink stripes, while rhodonite carries those dark oxide veins running through the pink, exactly as this pair does.
About this piece
Every crystal carving in the Grove is photographed on its own, and the piece in the photograph is the piece that arrives. Nothing is swapped for something similar.
These rhodonite butterfly wings sit in small clips on the stand arms rather than being fixed in place, so each wing lifts out and can be held. The stand has a circular cut out base and stands on its own without needing a shelf edge or a prop.
Traditional correspondences
Rhodonite is worked with for the heart in traditional practice, but not in the soft way rose quartz is. The association is with repair after something has gone wrong, with forgiveness that has been worked for rather than felt easily, and with steadying yourself in the middle of it.
The black running through the pink is usually read as part of that rather than separate from it.
The butterfly form carries its own association, with change that has already happened rather than change being asked for.
Correspondences are traditional and are offered as part of a practice, not as a substitute for medical or professional advice.
Caring for rhodonite
Rhodonite sits between 5.5 and 6.5 on the Mohs scale, softer than quartz. Do not store this piece touching quartz points, and keep it away from anything gritty.
It has good cleavage in two directions and is brittle, which means it chips rather than scuffs when knocked. The thin scalloped edges of the carve are the vulnerable part. Lift the piece by the stand rather than by a wing tip, and take the wings out of the clips before moving the stand itself.
Keep it away from acids and salt water. Rhodonite is a manganese mineral and the surface can dull and darken over time as the manganese oxidises. A dry cloth and a shelf out of direct heat is all it asks for.
To cleanse, use sound, breath or moonlight. Water is not needed here.
What you receive
The rhodonite butterfly wings shown in the photographs, the metal stand, and nothing else. Sent by Royal Mail Tracked.
Browse the rest of the crystal carvings, or see everything currently in stock in rhodonite.
For the mineralogy behind the stone, Mindat holds the reference data on rhodonite.
