by M H September 27, 2024

This blog entry is cross-posted from our other store, Unlimited Singing Bowls, where we offer the best in bronze and crystal singing bowls – with bowls for beginners, curated singing bowl sets for sound healers, and all of the accessories you could ever need! Check it out here!

If you’ve been attending sound baths over the last decade or two, you’ve probably noticed that quartz crystal bowls have been having a big moment. Sound bath meditation is in its “quartz crystal” era. Over at Unlimited Singing Bowls, we’ve been carrying various brands of Crystal Bowls for about 10 years.

As we’ve waded deeper and deeper into the crystal waters, we’ve learned a lot about the bowl making process – both from our own research and from feedback we hear from sound healers we work with – and, in turn, about the myths that have been propagated by companies marketing these amazing sound therapy instruments with claims that they're made from "pure quartz crystals" or "high-quality quartz gemstones". We've even made sure to adjust our item descriptions to ensure we're not spreading incorrect information. We know these bowls are amazing and we think their meditative tones speak for themselves. 

So in the interest of learning and growing so we can dispel myths in favor of honesty and earnestness, we want to dive in and sort through some of the myths and facts about quartz crystal and quartz crystal bowls. We hope this blog entry will help you in your journey to find high-quality and affordable crystal bowls for your sound healing needs!

What's in a Crystal? The Sands of Time

The biggest misconception we run into is the idea that frosted crystal bowls are made from large, precious quartz crystal gemstones that have been crushed up. That is not the case. All crystal bowls are made from naturally-occurring quartz sand, more commonly known as silica sand, which is formed through natural erosion processes.

Quartz sand, or silica sand, is made up of silicone and oxygen in the form of SiO2 or Silica Dioxide – the two most common elements found in the Earth’s crust. This type of sand is born out of mineral quartz crystals that form, along with other minerals, within cooling globs of molten granite rock (magma) deep in the Earth. As magma cools closer to the Earth’s surface, different minerals crystallize and solidify at different temperatures. Quartz is one of the last minerals to solidify, forming inside of small pockets of hardened igneous rock as clear, glass-like crystals.

Because quartz is typically the last mineral to harden, formed over a long period of time, it has an extremely strong chemical structure. That means it remains intact while other minerals wear away. Over time, it rises to the surface and appears out of the igneous rock in the form of sand. This sand is eventually carried by rainwater to rivers, where it is then delivered to the shorelines and beaches of oceans and lakes as fine, white sand.

Not all beaches are purely quartz / silica sand, and not all quartz sand ends up on beaches. For something to be considered silica sand, it must contain at least 95% SiO2 and less than .6% Iron Oxide. If it contains less than 95% SiO2, it’s known as “regular sand” and has a much darker color than silica sand.

How to Make a Crystal Bowl

The process for making crystal bowls is very similar to glassmaking. Crystal bowls are best described as glass products. To make crystal bowls, silica sand is heated at extremely high temperatures (around 4000℉) in a centrifugal mold where it spins at high speeds until the silica particles fuse. Once the particles have fused and the bowl has been formed, it’s cooled and finished.

 

Here's a short video showing some of the bowl-making process
The bowls that are used for sound therapy today have their roots in a totally unrelated industry. Quartz has special electrical and conductive properties that make it a perfect semiconductor for computer chips, microprocessors, and other electrical devices. In the 1980’s, as the use of computers and microprocessors skyrocketed, so did the demand for quartz crystals (a key component of computer chips).

To meet the increased demand, a process called the Czorchralski method was developed to “grow” large silicon or quartz crystal ingots. The method involved the use of quartz crucibles and a small seed crystal placed inside the crucibles to grow large crystal ingots at extremely high temperatures and under extreme pressure. These ingots could then be used to manufacture computer chips, microprocessors, and other silicon-based products.


Here's a diagram of the Czochralski Method from Science Direct
The quartz crucibles used to grow these crystal ingots are nearly identical to the quartz crystal bowls that are used in sound baths today. They're made the exact same way – in a centrifugal mold from fused silica sand. They weren’t originally intended for sound therapy, but some point, someone discovered that these crucibles created beautiful, resonant tones when tapped. Suddenly, a new musical instrument was born! Today, most crystal bowls are made by the same manufacturers who produce quartz crucibles for the silica / quartz manufacturing industry. Voila! Welcome to the world of Frosted Crystal Bowls. 

You Did It! Do You Feel Better?

I know I do. And there it is – the story of crystal bowls, rooted in the technology boom and industrial innovation of the 1980’s – from the tech gurus of Silicon Valley, through the industrial quartz and silica processors of the world, to the sound healing studios of Mt. Shasta. From pockets of igneous rock to the, uh, shimmering shores of Venice Beach, quartz is everywhere. It's in the computer that’s processing the letters I type on my keyboard for this blog, just as it’s in the crystal bowls sitting on the shelf behind me.

And while it may be a surprise to some to discover that Crystal Bowls don’t come from manually-crushed precious gemstones procured from your local metaphysical and crystal shop, we think there’s something even more magical about the naturally-derived, time-forged process that creates the quartz and silicon sand.

We hope this Hero's Journey of quartz inspires you to dive into the ocean of crystal bowls and other crystal sound therapy instruments with a clear mind, empowered by a deeper knowledge of what goes into these amazing bowls. 

Be sure to check out Unlimited Frosted Crystal Singing Bowls over at Unlimited Singing Bowls! We have hand-picked Crystal Bowl Sets perfect for sound healers, and we have individual bowls organized by size and note.

 

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