S.P.E.C.T.R.E.

VapidLapid · Nov 16, 2010

Here is a bunch of Spectrolite from finland that I've been cutting and polishing with the intention to make a necklace. This isn't all of them just what's done so far, and even these still need to be ground down from the back to even their thicknesses and fine tune the orient. Since the flash is so strongly directional I pasted a bunch of slightly different views together. The ruler then is only right for the first row. Some of them have catseyes!

And this is what they looked like before. They came in slabs so these are pieces that I cut down. (note, they are wet in this photo)

Aoife · Nov 16, 2010

So these are all the same stones, the photos just taken from different angles?

LaurenThePartier · Nov 16, 2010

Those are great, VL! Absolutely love that you're cutting and polishing them yourself!

Kismet · Nov 16, 2010

That's so neat. I love how they can look so different depending on how you look at them.

VapidLapid · Nov 16, 2010

Aoife|1289938632|2768796 said:
So these are all the same stones, the photos just taken from different angles?

Yes Aoife, the same set of stones, from slightly different angles to help visualize the rolling flash of color.

Aoife · Nov 16, 2010

VapidLapid|1289938983|2768811 said:
Aoife|1289938632|2768796 said:

So these are all the same stones, the photos just taken from different angles?

Click to expand...

Yes Aoife, the same set of stones, from slightly different angles to help visualize the rolling flash of color.

What fascinating stones! I don't know anything about them, but they are truly beautiful. Would you be willing to share some details about them? Are they volcanic in origin? (You said Finland, so that was what came to mind.)

LD · Nov 16, 2010

This is the same family as labradorite (feldspar) isn't it? I love the shimmeriness (I know that's not a word but hope you know what I mean). Perhaps irridescence actually describes better what I mean!

chrono · Nov 16, 2010

You are a brave man to dare to do this yourself! They look so much nicer after your handiwork.

VapidLapid · Nov 16, 2010

It is in the feldspar group of minerals like its cousins labradorite and moonstone. I believe it was found in S.E. Finland when they were digging trenches in WWII. It behaves like it's the love child of a moonstone and a black opal.. Sometimes it is referred to as Black Moonstone. Easy to polish, it can be done on wet/dry sandpaper to 1500 grit then polished on a scrap of leather with cerium oxide. I think I've seen them on Barry's website and artcut as well.

iLander · Nov 16, 2010

Wow, that is cool stuff!

Never heard of it before, VL, thanks

Please compare and contrast it's qualities to moonstone and laboradite (sp). If I had the choice to buy one of the types of 3 stones, which one should I go for?

SB621 · Nov 16, 2010

oh that will be a gorgeous necklace! I love the flash to them! Could you get a close up of the cat's eye? Pretty please?!?!?!

Arkteia · Nov 16, 2010

What an unusual project!

VapidLapid · Nov 17, 2010

Sarahbear621|1289962149|2769423 said:
oh that will be a gorgeous necklace! I love the flash to them! Could you get a close up of the cat's eye? Pretty please?!?!?!

Well I tried. Hard to photograph so I pasted a lot of views of the same stone together to give you an impression of the rolling flashes of both the color phenomenon and the cat-eye. Here are 3 pictures of three different stones. In each picture it is always the same stone. The pics are terrible. My camera couldnt meter the light. probably wasnt smart to put black stones on a shiny white plate with a light 14 inches overhead, but there it is, so keep in mind then that these are over-exposed and washed out. I'll post another set that properly represents the tone and color.