| Original Message: Re: Re: "Swiss Lapis" |
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Hi Stefany, I thought of "Swiss-dyed lapis" too--since the books say this was jasper that was artificially colored blue. I'm not positive I have seen this stuff in real life. Plus, the idea of "dying jasper" sounds like either a mistake (because you don't really dye quartz-family minerals--they being beizen in Germany), or the material was not jasper. Whatever. But, in any event, I have expected that stuff to be a dark blue like lapis, and not a greenish-blue like turquoise. The books describe the coloring agent as "Berlin blue," but this is meaningless to me anyway. The present stones actually look as though a micro-crystalline mineral has been deposited in crevices—as happens with turquoise, chrysocolla, and lots of minerals. Of course, it's also possible that whatever this deposit is, it has also taken a green-blue dye very nicely, or whatever color treatment it might be. After Thomas' post, I did some searching on the Net for "cuprite/chrysocolla," "parrot wing chrysocolla," and the like, and found LOTS of stuff (including "parrot jasper"), but nothing quite like the present material. The link Thomas gave is the closest. Also, if this is a fairly new find from México, that would explain why I haven't seen it before now--because it hasn't made it's way to every bead and mineral store in the country yet. Thanks for your thoughts. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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