Obsidian has been used in jewelry, as genstone statues as well as other ornamental purposes. Obsidians possess the unique property of a dual appearance: when cut in one direction, the stone is beautiful jet black, when cut on the opposite direction, the stone is beautiful gray.

Obsidians are typically dark in appearance. Their color varies from dark green, brown, grey, red, blue black, or anything in between. Some rare stones feature an almost colorless color. These color variations are due to presence of other impurities like iron and magnesium. Obsidian is fragile thus it has the tendency to crack.