Rock Crystal

Just sitting here wondering how my love for all things gem and mineral relates to my love for cooking.  Rock crystal candy of course!  I remember going into candy stores as a child and being obsessed with the formations of rock candy and the pretty colors.  As a grown up I would much prefer rock candy on a stick for sweetening my ice tea and skip the childhood memory of a mouthful of sugary sweet crunch.

After doing a Google search for recipes I came across Christian Grantham's Flickr page chronicling the process of failures and success and a winning recipe.  It seems the secret is starting the sticks with a bit of eggwhite brushed on them and rolled in sugar before adding to the jar of sugar and water mixture.  With some flavored extracts added to the mixture I think a whole grown up version could be in my future. 

Zzyzx

 

 Soda Springs California, aka Zzyzx, here I come.  I am packing up my tools, sorting through my gemmies and laying out projects to get ready for my trip to the Desert Studies Center with CFMS (California Federation of Mineralogical Societies).  I will be taking workshops in enameling, soft stone carving and lapidary and working on as many jewelry projects as possible.  Heaven!

Mineral Illustrations

Velvet malachite from Llandidno, Denbighshire England.  Hand colored copper plate engraving from 1803 depicting a 3.1 inch specimen presumably from the collection of James Sowerby.  Published in Volume 1 of British Mineralogy.  Image and details from The Mineralogical Record.

Velvet Azurite (left) and Malachite (right) from Cornwall.  Hand colored copper plate engraving from 1804 depicting 2.4 inch specimen from the collection of Philip Rashleight and 1.8 inch specimen from the collection of Richard Phillips, respectively.  Published in Volume 1 of British Mineralogy.  Image and details from The Mineralogical Record.

Entertaining Blogs Worth a Read

NC Black Co, follow their travels over the next 264 days as they cross the country and teach micro forming jewelry and engraving classes.  Stella a NC Black K hammer is ready to get her wings and go on a road trip.  "Every time an anvil rings, another hammer gets its wings."

 







Rockchaser writes about their rock collecting adventures in San Diego County including links to regional collecting blogs, online resources and rock and gem shows.  Follow Sesame Pooch the rock sniffing hound as she finds new mine shafts and survives her encounters with killer dog eating rocks.

Galerie de Mineralogie et de Geologie

The National Museum of Natural History in Paris which I wrote about yesterday (Meet Me in Paris | Cabinet Bonnier de la Mosson) also has a Galerie de Mineralogie et de Geologoie.  Since a flight to Paris isn't in my plans right now, viewing their incredible mineral treasure online is nearly as good as being there in person.  The photos are incredibly detailed and with each there is the ability to pan and zoom in to see the mineral formations up close.  Use their search function to find minerals by name or by species.

Mineral Collection

This antique rock and mineral collection of twenty-six glass vials each labeled with a specimen inside is listed for sale on Aldetha's Etsy shop.  Estimated to be from the early 1900's the collection includes specimens of Garnet, Chrysocolla, Graphite, Copper, Lepidiolite, Beryl and more.  This may have been someone's reference collection or a school project who knows, either way it is a wonderful bit of history.

Color Change Mineral

1842 Hand painted lithograph with applied mica powder depicting the mineral Alexandrite Chrysoberyl and the color change it has in daylight (left) and incandescent (right).  From the publication Schriften der Russisch-Kaiserligen Geselschaft für die gesammte Mineralogie zu St. Petersburg.

I am searching for more information on the 1842 publication and geologist Asbjørn Halvorsen.

Tourmaline

Tourmaline is one of my favorite gemstones.  The stone spans an incredible range of color from dark intense blue to pale blue, yellow, olivine, chromium green to all shades of pink and raspberry.  When I learned that I could dig through the tailings of Tourmaline mines to find treasures I could not resist.  Better yet the mines are about a two hour drive from Los Angeles.

The gems pictured here are just some of what my boyfriend and I found when we went in June last year to the Himalaya Mine and the Oceanview Mine.  These have been washed and scrubbed a bit with a bristle brush but nothing further. 

The Tourmaline in the photo above and the next two photos are from the Himalaya Mine near Lake Henshaw in San Diego County.  The mine was a prominent Tourmaline mine and although it is no longer in operation you can dig through their tailings.  We had good luck that day and found a lot including some Aquamarine and Quartz.

We also went to the Oceanview Mine which is an operating mine.  The Oceanview Mine is located off a private road near the Pala Casino in San Diego County.  It was a hot day and taking a walk into the underground mine was a great way to cool off and see an actual mine shaft.  They frequently post on their Oceanview Mine Facebook page the latest finds and what will be in the tailings for the upcoming weekend.

Below are our best finds from the Oceanview Mine.  We also found Kunzite, Lepidolite, Mica and Beryl.

Unclaimed

Although published late in 2008, I just read about David Maisel's book Library of Dust. 

From  BLDGBLOG written by Geoff Manaugh:

I first learned about Library of Dust when I interviewed Maisel back in 2006 for Archinect. In 1913, Maisel explained, an Oregon state psychiatric institution began to cremate the remains of its unclaimed patients. Their ashes were then stored inside individual copper canisters and moved into a small room, where they were stacked onto pine shelves.

After doing some research into the story, Maisel got in touch with the hospital administrators – the same hospital, it turns out, where they once filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – and he was granted access to the room in which the canisters were stored.

Over time, however, the canisters have begun to react chemically with the human ashes held inside them; this has thus created mold-like mineral outgrowths on the exterior surfaces of these otherwise gleaming cylinders.

Please read the entire essay by Geoff Manaugh.

Since reading about the subject matter I still have mixed emotions.  The copper canisters with organic crystal forms in turquoise, green, blue and white are beautiful.   But no one should become an unclaimed patient.  Never. 

Faux Malachite

There is a bit of me that likes interpretations of malachite better than the real thing.  The concentric green organic shaped rings fascinate me.  Above image is Fornasetti's wallcovering version.

Hand painted, source unknown

Jim Thompson Fabric

Amazing Minerals

More amazing mineral lithographs.  These are from France 1780s, framed 15" wide x 20" high.  No additional information as to the naturalist or book these originated from.  Available from GRIS through 1stdibs.

Amazing Minerals

These amazing, detailed minerals in watercolor and gouache were painted by Viscount Alexandre-Isadore Leroy de Barde in 1813.  He was just in his 30's and already well recognized as a virtuoso in his 20's.  The mineral painting, shell painting below and another of birds in the series were purchased by Louis XVIII and are in the Louvre Museum in Paris.  In later years Leroy de Barde opened a private museum of natural history in Paris.