Rutilated Quartz from Brazil, a very elegant material. Many people see this and think it is man made but nature made this, and to think that they used to consider this flawed material. Since they changed export laws in Brazil it is harder to get and much more expensive. Fortunately I bought quite a bit while it was easier to come by. The only problem in cutting this is in larger needles as you are cutting you can feel the grinding on the top to the stone pushing the needle thru and into your fingers on the bottom of the stone.