Welcome to my blog! I am an Artisian Jeweler, Lover of makeup, antiques, and all things steampunk, sister, pet parent, wanna be chef, knitter and crocheter. I have a ton of interests, which can change on a whim. This blog will contain the random musings of my somewhat twisted ADD mind. Enjoy!
Grab your phasers, put on your space helmets, and crank up your creepy theremin music, today's blog is on Tektites.
No, not the spider things from the Legend of Zelda games, although it would make a pretty cool alien, and it would go with creepy theremin music pretty well.
No creepy theremin music here, but it's just as good if you ask me.
But in a nutshell, Tektites are rocks (not all gem quality, of course) formed when space rocks hit the Earth. These impacts tend to be fairly energetic events (just ask the Dinosaurs), so even though Tektites are formed from ordinary Earth rocks and such, the materials in those rocks are transformed, both from the impact itself, and they are often shaped as they zip though the air and cool down.
For example, here's an Australite, which acquired its aerodynamic shape after it was ejected from a newly formed impact crater, and sailed through the air as a blob of molten glass. It may not be particularly shiny, but you might be interested to know that Australites helped to inspire the shape of the Apollo Space Capsules. In other words....
Note the similarity to the middle rock....
Also note the similarity to this fine example of Alien Technology.
There is only one explanation!
Most gem grade Tektites, however, are the illustrious green Moldavites. Not only are they beautiful, but there are only four Moldavite mines currently operating in the world, and they're all in the Czech Republic. Once they're gone, they're gone.
These spiky "flower burst" Moldavites are highly sought after by collectors.
While the smaller loose pieces are cut into gems
So remember, the next time you're looking for a different sort of gemstone for a unique gift, you may just want to look to the stars....
Until Tommorow
Chris the Intern
Ah, Garnet. That deep red gemstone that I'm sure some people out there know and love. Like any gemstone worth talking about, it's pretty to look at and reflects and refracts light in interesting ways when cut. And like a gemstone that isn't too fragile to actually use in jewelry, garnets range from 6.5 to 7.5. Wait, garnets. Plural. You know what that means, right?
That means there's a whole Garnet family out there just waiting to be explored. For our exploration today, we'll be looking at three members of the Garnet family.
Tsavorite, Spessartine,
and Demantoid
But before any of that silliness, let's cover Garnets in general. For all you science nerds out there, here's a model of Garnet's chemical structure.
And all the hippies said, "Eewww, chemicals D="
So yeah, when most people think of Garnets, they think of the red ones. Well guess what peeps, there are actually color changing Garnets out there! Unfortunately, still images of a color changing Garnet would be kinda boring, so I found you this video instead. If for some reason you don't like videos, all you have to do is not watch it, and pretend that it's a picture. Enjoy.
Unfortunately, these fancy things tend to be rare, and therefore expensive. So if you happen to own one, please get a monocle and top hat, and refer to everyone who doesn't own these things as "peasants" and/or "peons". The International Society of Humorous Snobbery thanks you for your time.
If, for some reason, you don't have that much money to spend on Garnet(s), there's always Yttrium Aluminum Garnets, or YAGs. In the synthetic gemstone world, these puppies have been around for a while. In fact, they were used as fake diamonds until the famous Cubic Zirconia came along. And for you super-villains out there, YAGs can also be used in laser devices, but only if you add Neodymium a special secret ingredient.
Not Pictured: Death Ray Components
Well, then. Now that we've got some interesting tidbits about Garnets in general out of the way, it's time to look at three specific varieties in detail.
Tsavorite
Yep, it's green.
Tsavorite is a Calcium-Aluminum Garnet, with the green color caused by a little bit of Vanadium or Chromium. To date, this gem has only been found in Tanzania and Madagascar. Most Tsavorite gems in existence weigh only a few carats. This one, however, seems to be abnormally large.
Don't ask me how big these are (spoiler alert: probably smaller than they appear on your screen)
Here's one up close
This one must be tiny
Here's an interesting cut
Next Up,
Spessartine
Unlike Tsavorite, you can find this stuff all over the world.Also unlike Tsavorite, it seems like Spessartine doesn't get faceted as often. If you ask me, though, that isn't really much of a problem.
They still look awesome when cut, of course.
Last, but not least, we have:
Demantoid
As it turns out, Demantoids are a variety of Andratite, which itself is a member of the Garnet family. Demantoids were first discovered in Russia, and Russian Demantoids often contain inclusions called "Horsetails", which are often sought after as an indication of the gem's natural origin. In other words, this is the stuff that makes these gems famous:
It's not just that this gem is natural, the inclusions look pretty good too.
An interesting comparison....
That's all for now, I suppose. Stay Fancy, Chrysalis Fans.
Until Tomorrow
Chris the Intern
So apparently Beryl is a mineral. At first I thought that Beryl was some weird name for a girl, like Sheryl but with a B. But it's not a name, I guess, it's a mineral. More specifically, this mineral encompasses an entire family of gemstones. Who knew? We do, now, because that's what we're here for. Learning things.
Now that I think of it, though, I'd name my hypothetical baby girl Beryl, rather than something like Mercedes, or Super Fly. But still, I'd try real hard to think of a name I like more than Beryl. I won't do that right now, however. This is a blog about gemstones, not baby names. If you're looking for baby names, go to a baby name website, or buy a baby name book, or maybe search for a baby name blog. They've got to be out there somewhere.
So yeah. Gemstones. Beryl.
Can anyone guess what color pure beryl is? No really. Guess.
Ok, I'll give you a minute or two.
Did you guess? Good.
Ok. If you guessed yellow, or pink, or dark brown, or mauve, or taupe, well, those were good guesses, but unfortunately they're all wrong. Pure beryl is colorless, it turns out.
Not pretty enough? Ok, try this.
So apparently this particularly boring variety of Beryl is called Goshenite. As in, "Oh Gosh, this gemstone looks like fake diamond. Why can't it be taupe!?!?"
Fun fact: Taupe is the king of colors.
Now, if you remember the beginning of this post (and if you don't, don't bother scrolling back up, I'll rehash it for you in a second), Beryl isn't just one boring gemstone, it's an entire family of less boring gemstones, each of which has a distinctive color due to impurities and such.
Are you noticing a pattern here?
Pure: colorless, boring.
Impure: colorful, not boring.
So anyway, after research and whatnot, I have condensed the many wonderful varieties of Beryl into the most significant four, the "big four", if you will.
Aquamarine
Emerald
Heliodor
Morganite
So, now that we have a nice list of gemstones, let's go through them in order, mmkay?
Aquamarine
(No, not that movie about mermaids)
I'm talking about gemstones here.
And how about one that has been neatly shaped to conform to our aesthetic expectations?
Fun fact: Aquamarine is the March birthstone.
I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS. And tells you about gemstones.
So yeah. About Aquamarine. If there's a place where you can find regular (boring) Beryl, there's a good chance you can find this sea-blue variety nearby. That color, by the way, is blamed on Iron ions somewhere in the crystalline structure of these rocks. Just because they're not boring doesn't mean they're innocent. For one thing, they will drain your bank account if you're not careful, just like children and beautiful mermaids.
Emerald
If you don't know what color Emeralds are, then don't go back to facebook just yet. Let me educate you.
I'll give you a hint. They're not purple.
It turns out that Emeralds are green.
You know what else is green? ALIENS!
So yeah, there's my shameless plug for the day.
Anyway, Emerald's greenish color is caused by chromium ions. Surprising, huh? Some of the rarest emeralds come from Colombia, like the prized Trapiche Emerald.
Apparently this thing is named after a grinding wheel. If you ask me, it looks like some kind of fruit.
Heliodor
Next up, we have Heliodor. What is it, you ask? Well, feast your eyes on this:
And this....
And these...
And even this!
Like Aquamarine, it's color is caused by Iron ions. The difference
seems to be the exact charge of those ions. Interesting that such a
small difference can make such a huge impact, huh?
Apparently, there is some confusion as to the difference between Golden Beryl and Heliodor. It turns out that Golden Beryl is more of the golden yellow shade, like this:
While Heliodor has more of a greenish yellow color, like this:
So, look up at the previous four images, and try to figure out which is which. Post your answers in the comments! Or don't, if you think it is a silly exercise.
Morganite
Finally, we have Morganite.For those of you out there who like all things pink, prepare yourselves...
In Morganite's case, the color is caused by Manganese ions. It was first discovered near Madagascar in 1910, and named after J.P. Morgan. The distinctive pink color of Morganite is often banded together with patches of orange or yellow colors, which can be removed by heat or radiation treatment. So if your nerd friend wasn't impressed with your gift of Topaz (dedicated to Jupiter, of course), make them a fun little science kit with Morganite and a Geiger Counter.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Be sure to leave a comment if you are actually named Beryl, and please remember that aliens are definitely cooler than mermaids.
Don't believe me? Ok, when's the last time that Mermaids built spaceships?
