More Rough Stuff!!

More rough stuff!!

Here is some good news for you!!

As you will know, we are waiting for our new stock to come. We expect it to be here within the next 3 - 4 weeks. We will keep you updated in any case!

I bet you are wondering what the good news is.......

Gerdus already bought his ticket to buy new stock AGAIN!! He will be going on the 3rd of July. If you want something, please please PLEASE send us your wishlist!! We would really like to source it for you! If it is small items, Gerdus will bring it back with him, otherwise it will come with the rest of the shipment which will take about 6 weeks.

I got so many positive feedback from last weeks newsletter that I decided to write more about stones. In this newsletter I will give you some more information on Unakite, Amazonite, Kyanite and Purpurite.

You are probably asking yourself, "Why these specific stones?". No reason actually. Gerdus cleared the yard last week and we found a lot of rough stones laying around, so we thought that we would clean it up and sell it in the shop. There are more rough stones, I just randomly selected these few.

Please note that the images I am going to use is the actual images that we took of the items.

These stones are not available on our website yet!!

They will only be listed in a week or so. They are, however, available in our store. So, if you really can't wait, pop your kiddies in the car and make it a fun day! Come visit us here in Hartbeespoort!

We are open 7 days a week from 10h00 to 16h30.

Enjoy!!

Unakite

First discovered in the United States in the Unakas mountains of North Carolina, unakite is an altered granite composed of pink orthoclase feldspar, green epidote, and generally colorless quartz.

It exists in various shades of green and pink and is usually mottled in appearance. In good quality unakite is considered a semiprecious stone, will take a good polish and is often used in jewelry and other lapidary work such as eggs, spheres and other carvings like animals.

It is also referred to as epidotized granite. In some of the Blue Ridge occurrences an epidotized augen gneiss is present exhibiting foliation structures.
 

Unakite can be found as pebbles and cobbles from glacial drift in the beach rock on the shores of Lake Superior. It occurs in Virginia where it is found in the river valleys after having been washed down from the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Unakite is not limited to the United States, but has also been reported from South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil, and China. Some material labeled unakite lacks the feldspar and is more properly epidosite.

Amazonite

Amazonite is a green variety of microcline feldspar.
 

The name is taken from that of the Amazon River, from which certain green stones were formerly obtained, but it is doubtful whether green feldspar occurs in the Amazon area.

Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence. Formerly it was obtained almost exclusively from the area of Miass in the Ilmen mountains, 50 miles southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. More recently, high-quality crystals have been obtained from Pike's Peak, Colorado, where it is found associated with smoky quartz, orthoclase, and albite in a coarse granite or pegmatite. Crystals of amazonite can also be found in Crystal Park, El Paso County, Colorado. Other localities in the United States which yield amazonite include the Morefield Mine in Amelia, Virginia. It is also found in pegmatite in Madagascar and in Brazil.
 

Because of its bright green color when polished, amazonite is sometimes cut and used as a gemstone, although it is easily fractured.
 

For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery. Naturally, many people assumed the color was due to copper because copper compounds often have blue and green colors. More recent studies suggest that the blue-green color results from small quantities of lead and water in the feldspar.

 

Kyanite

Kyanite, whose name derives from the Greek word kuanos sometimes referred to as "kyanos", meaning deep blue, is a typically blue silicate mineral, commonly found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and/or sedimentary rock. Kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally indicates pressures higher than four kilobars.

Although potentially stable at lower pressure and low temperature, the activity of water is usually high enough under such conditions that it is replaced by hydrous aluminosilicates such as muscovite, pyrophyllite, or kaolinite. Kyanite is also known as disthene, rhaeticite and cyanite.Kyanite is used primarily in refractory and ceramic products, including porcelain plumbing fixtures and dishware. It is also used in electronics, electrical insulators and abrasives.
 

Kyanite has been used as a semiprecious gemstone, which may display cat's eye chatoyancy, though this use is limited by its anisotropism and perfect cleavage. Color varieties include recently discovered orange kyanite from Tanzania.The orange color is due to inclusion of small amounts of manganese in the structure.
 

Kyanite is one of the index minerals that are used to estimate the temperature, depth, and pressure at which a rock undergoes metamorphism.

 

Purpurite

Purpurite is a mineral, basically manganese phosphate, MnPO4 although with varying amounts of iron depending upon the source of the mineral. It is a striking pink purple color as might be expected of a manganese-containing mineral.

Did you know??

Did you know????

Read along for some interesting facts about Quartz.

Quartz Crystal is one of the most common Minerals on Earth.  With deposits around the world quartz is one of the most loved gems throughout history in the many forms we all love.  Quartz has always been available in a large variety of color, cuts and at a in-expensive price.

What is Quartz?

The chemical formula for quartz is SiO2, also known as silicon dioxide. The earth contains a large amount of silicon dioxide, since it is more common in the earth's crust than other more complex chemical formulas, including silica and oxygen. Quartz is present in many other types of rock, including granite, sandstone, shale, schist, gneiss, quartzite and various other rocks in all three major categories - igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.

There are two main kinds of crystal quartz,  Macro-crystalline and Cryptocrystalline Quartz.

There are two main varieties of crystal quartz of the same chemical composition, silicon dioxide, and similar physical properties. Macro-crystalline quartz, includes stones like: Amethyst, Aventurine, rock crystal, blue quartz,  Citrine,  hawk's eye, Prasiolite, quartz cat's eye, smokey quartz,  rose quartz and tiger's eye.

Macrocrystalline, or simply Crystalline, has crystals with distinct shapes recognizable to the naked eye, that run the gamut from tiny druzies all the way up to crystals larger than a man.

Worlds largest quartz cluster on display

How is it formed Naturally? 

Quartz can be formed naturally from the silica which collects in the earth. When silicon (Si) and oxygen (O2) combine, it will create silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is quartz. For this reason, quartz will form underground quite easily whenever a combination of oxygen and silica-rich solutions are present. The formation of quartz is generally at an angle, as the dripping of the solution causes quartz to form atop itself, which explains the quartz "spears" sometimes seen in nature. Quartz contains a crystal lattice, and does not require any specific temperature or pressure to form, occurring naturally from the presence of its component parts.

Unnatural formation?

In spite of the vast amount of naturally occurring quartz, most quartz used for industrial purposes is man-made. A heat treatment can be used to synthesize various types of quartz, especially by the use of high pressure and temperature in water. Most commonly, silicic acids (those that contain silicon) will be broken down in water where the SiO2 from the acid will be separated from the H2O, thus creating water and quartz. As heat in a solution drops, the saturation point will be lowered, causing additional crystals to form.

Phantom Quartz

These crystals are created when another substance other than quartz washes over the crystal leaving a layer on the termination during the crystals natural growth cycle. The crystal continues to grow leaving an image of itself where it was at the time the substance washed over it.

Phantoms can be made up of such minerals as Chlorite, Hematite or even Clay. On occasion heat can play a part causing a phantom to be visible through a different color shade. Most often either Smoky or Amethyst can display these heat induced types of Phantom. The most powerful phantom configurations are termed as being 3D. This is where the substance has totally covered the entire termination, leaving a 3D image rather than if the substance had only covered one side or face of the termination.


Smoky Quartz phantom crystal. (Item not for sale)

Opalite - Sea Opal Glass

Sea Opal Glass

What is opalite, also known as “sea opal glass”? Is it a gemstone, or is it man made?

“Opalite” usually refers to a man made glass used mainly in jewelry making. 

Opalite Tumbles 

Opalite is a man-made opalized glass resin that is fused with metal to create an opalescent effect. Although this material is usually anywhere from clear to milky colored, it takes on an unearthly, luminous blue glow – especially when placed against a dark backdrop.

That’s why it’s sometimes mistaken for moonstone. 

Moonstone

However, against a white backdrop or held up to the light, opalite / sea opal glass often takes on an amber color. 

But it’s the lovely, glowing blue that really attracts people. Wear opalite jewelry against any dark colored clothing, and start counting the number of people who come up to you and ask, “What is that stone?”

Although most of the jewelry components bearing this name are the glass variety, there is also a true gemstone called “opalite”. 

This stone is composed of dolomite plus quartz and fluorite, and is usually a purple, lavender, or mauve color. It sort of looks like a cross between lepidolite and charoite.

You may see this gemstone also called “opal fluorite” or “tiffany stone”.

Opal fluorite/Tiffany stone

The items shown above is NOT available on our website. It is only illustrations.

We have a selection of Opalite items available in our store, you can follow this link

http://bronnrocks.co.za/catalogsearch/result/?q=opalite 

or click here. 

Jewelry Findings

Findings is a group name for all the metal bits and pieces that you need to make your own jewelry

A typical self strung piece of jewelry needs the following items

1. Beading wire
2. Beads
3. Crimps
4. Jumpring
5. Clasp

Additional items may include
Crimp covers and horse-shoe (wire protector) wire ends.

Let us look at these one by one.

1. Beading wire

Beading wire is the wire that you use to string your beads on.

Here you can use

• String
• Leather
• Chain
• Ribbon
• Nylon cord (fishing line)
• Beading cable

This is personal preference.
If you want it to last longer you can use cable instead of nylon line. The downside to using cable is that cable can bend and hold a memory where it was bend. Nylon on the other hand may be cut with beads such as glass and gemstones. The heavier the beads the stronger the wire should be.

2.Beads

Be creative and use whatever is at hand. Go to the hardware store and pick nuts and washers or drill holes in seeds or go to www.bronnrocks.co.za and buy affordable beads in our vast gemstone section. Mix and match. Use pearls with gemstones or gemstones with glass beads. There are no rules. If they look great together, string them up. You can make your necklace in many strings or a single string. Sometimes adding an extra 3 strings can just take something out of the ordinary to the extraordinary level.

3.Crimps

Your line goes through the end of a clasp or a jump ring and is then passed through a crimp and the crimp is then flattened (crimped) to hold the beads together. A quick tip here is to allow a bit of slack in the line to avoid the string breaking when you bend the necklace around your neck. There are a lot of great videos on You tube on the use of crimps.

4.Jumpring

You should use a jump ring on the end of your line on both ends. A jump ring is opened and closed with 2 pairs of flat-nose pliers. Balance the right thickness of jump rings with your creation. If it is too flimsy it will not look right. Sometimes they use a pair of jump rings to make the bond stronger or you can use a split ring but these do not look as professional as a single jump ring. If you have the tools and equipment you can solder your jump ring close to make it more permanent.

5.Clasp

Finally you will end your creation with a clasp. A clasp must be easy to open and close. The easiest item clasp here is the magnetic type. Elderly people love magnetic clasp necklaces. They open easily and just pops together when you bring the two ends together. A box clasp may be more secure. There are so many types. Use the one that will look the best with your creation.

Have fun and send us some feedback at support@bronnrocks.co.za