Friday, May 24, 2013

Sleeping Beauty Turquoise!



These are beautiful stones, a gorgeous color!  Devin says they are sky blue, I say they are robin's egg blue.  We were told the mine was closed in June 2012 and they are now just pulling from the leavings outside the mine.  



Just a few from the listing:






Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Tiny Crystal Flowers! Amazing!



Not the kind of crystal for faceting, but still so very cool!

"Scientists at Harvard have coaxed microscopic crystal flowers to form in a beaker of fluid.
When one thinks of the word "crystal", you think, perhaps, of wedges of quartz stone, ice crystals and salt — not organic, flowing forms or flowers. But, by manipulating chemical gradients in a beaker of fluid, postdoctoral fellow Wim L, Noorduin at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has managed to control the growth of barium carbonate crystals to form very controlled sculptures of flowers, with petals, stems and leaves."
Read the rest of the article here:
Tiny crystal flowers grow in a beaker!