There's something about spring and the cheerful colors that go with it. The thoughts of soft pinks, blues and violets send me to my rock collection for hues to cab.
What I found was two different pink minerals I'd acquired this January when I was in Quartzite, They gave me a head-start for this year. First, I saw this beautiful, smooth pink rock. It had some slight variations in color, but I loved the pink-ness of it.
The seller called it thulite, although I've heard some people call is rosaline. On the mohs scale, it clocks in at 6.5 and it was easy to work.Because of the softness, it finished to more of a luster than a shine, but it made it shiny enough to make it difficult to photograph. I thought I had it out of focus until I looked at the cab directly again, yes, that's how it looks!
MORE PINK!
I admit I rarely work with rhodonite. I love the pink, but in the pieces I've had access to, there has generally been an overwhelming amount of black. Those rocks don't talk with me . . . maybe it's my fault. I finally found one slab that had enough pink that it got chatty. Here's what's left of it:
It's easy to see the fuzzy black lines, however, the large expanses of pink turn the black into an accent, not the main event. When I was playing around with the whole slab and my stencils, I heard a quiet whisper that it felt feminine, and liked the idea of it having a grey fur coat draped over its shoulder. This mineral is a 5.5-6.5 on the Mohs scale which makes it very similar to the thulite in terms of how it is to work. So that's what I did. What do you think?
THE PINK CONNECTION
In researching these minerals, I found an interesting connection--why they're both pink!
Both minerals contain manganese. It is normally considered a gray mineral, but when it is oxidized, it can impart a pink color.
Like what you see here? Please go to the top of the right side column and subscribe. You'll get my blog automatically delivered to you every two weeks and your contact information will never be shared or sold.
Check back on April 12 for more musings by your Lapidary Whisperer where stromatolite will be trying to discover whether its story is about a Starry Night or a Nightmare on Elm Street!
See you next time,
Donna Albrecht
+.
I'm quite fond of the black veining in that slab of rhodondite; it gives it the effect that I see and enjoy with turquoise.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I love about lapidary is how we each find lovely designs and stories in the stones!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the black veining in the stone before the teardrop shape, but the shine on the final version is really beautiful. Still, I find I miss the texture that veining brings.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing to learn was that it's manganese that makes them pink. I love learning from the research you do.