January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
Welcome to the GemologyOnline.com Forum
A non-profit Forum for the exchange of gemological ideas
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:39 pm

All times are UTC - 4 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:08 am 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
With much help from Timur (forums poster energyos) I got a new microscope! Or rather, an old gemolite with a sz7 head. I think I may have used one better scope when I borrowed my advisor's old $40,000 kitted out petrographic scope, but other than that this is absolutely amazing. I've been taking pictures through the ocular and stacking them with helicon, though I do have a camera adapter on it and I'm waiting on the last part to get that functional. I have a lot to learn but I've been enjoying it so far!
Image
Copper schiller in an Oregon sunstone.
Image
Red hematite nails in a Nigerian amethyst.
Image
Dumortierine crystals in quartz (not the best photo but I still like this material).
Image
Interesting pseudocubic(?) growth on the surface of an Indonesian grape agate.
Image
What appear to be platy crystal inclusions in Canadian 'hypersthene' (iron-enriched enstatite, the calcium-free relative of diopside). I'd guess exsolved hematite or ferrosilite. This material has a gorgeous, rippled silvery sheen in the hand. It is usually seen as tumbles or poorly cut commercial cabs, but a friend recently cut a few proper cabochons from it and boy howdy and they look amazing (picture borrowed from his etsy page):
Image
Anyway, I'll be playing with this some more. I still need to fix the clip that holds the bowl in place so I can tilt it and not ruin my back though!

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 6:42 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
OK, Stephen...now you've on the hook.
I expect to see these photos on the Gemology Project!!!!


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:49 am 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
That's a good point--I definitely need to spend some time on that now that I have an account, though I suspect the pictures would be a bit more useful with proper scales included (which is good practice but also sounds a bit like work).
In the mean time here are a few more photos:
Image
Tiger eye, a real classic. You can see the individual needles of altered crocidolite floating in the quartz. They call it limonitized in the literature but just off the cuff I'd guess it's really just goethite like those classic golden inclusions in Amethyst.
Image
Image
A slightly unusual Needles Blue agate, in the hand and under the scope. Needles Blue is a special agate from California--it is found as blue veins in a brown rhyolite matrix. It is colored by copper, and some veins are gem silica, but others don't have good blending of the chrysocolla/spertiinite into the agate, and can also contain green inclusions (malachite?) black clouds (manganese oxide?) and fine red spots (cuprite?) which add a bit of a purple cast. This one is a nice example of all of these, with a picture of a blue-and-green canopied tree with a black trunk.
Image
This is a cool specimen we've had for a few years. It's an oddball with its bright red needles, but closer inspection reveals that the red is just a coating (presumably iron oxide) at the contact between the quartz and the crystal, and the actual crystal inside is a dark green. I think they are tourmaline inclusions based on what appears to be a triangular cross-section. Perhaps this is the result of heat treatment, natural or artificial?
Image
Image
Image
My dad found one of his dumortierine-in-quartz samples that had a polished face which made for much happier photography. They really are beautiful crystals!
Image
This is a cool feature inside one of the fine moss agates from Indonesia that have been making a bit of a splash recently. The moss here is surrounded by some visible botryoidal zoning which is reflective for some reason--perhaps there is a layer of opal or something in there with a different refractive index?
[url]Image[/url]
A more classic view showing the nature of the moss, which I assume is made up of chlorite as it usually seems to be.

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 10:14 pm 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
More!
Image
An opal from Shewa. Many Shewa opals show unusual, agate-like banding, which you can see on the edge of this stone. The play of color in this stone is restricted to the surface of the stone, with a beautiful pearly, pastel look.
Image
Image
Two photos of a more classic Welo opal, showing a side-view of honeycomb patterning. You can see multiple 'fingers' in the second photo which is kind of cool.
Image
Image
A little cluster of yellow andradite ("topazolite") from Arizona. Nice little crystals.
Image
Image
Two views of a neat, blocky North Carolina rutile--it is covered with little spheres of something or other, as well as a few small quartz crystals.
Image
A more classic NC rutile from Hiddenite showing the classic color and surface texture.
Image
Even though this inclusion is barely below the surface in this cabochon of sphene, less than a mm, it is already eye-crossingly doubled.
Image
Image
Image
Three views of a polished Indian star sapphire. The rutile is fine, but not as fine as a sharper, better translucent star from Sri Lanka I also looked at (where the silk was too small to get a good photo).
Image
Image
Image
Some views inside a Tanzanian sunstone. The hematite platelets are really irridescent, though they stone just looks orange in the hand. The first image shows the primary orientation, while the smaller more scattered hematites occur on a secondary orientation.
Image
Image
Two views of a druzy cluster of dioptase. Nice green color!
Image
Classic lilypads in an Arizona peridot. Very common, though large and attractive enough in this stone that I cut the cabochon to try and showcase them. It's pretty typical stuf---wait.
Image
What's this? Let's get a closer look.
Image
Oh, you.

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 3:24 am 
Offline
Established Member

Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 1:08 pm
Posts: 41
Location: Bergisches Land
Hello Stephen,very nice Pictures! Since i'm enjoying a recently bought Gemmolite i'd be interrested in the Type of Camera/Setup You Used to Take those Pics.Have so far tried DSLR and Smartphone with Mixed results. Would Love to See a Pic of your approach..
best wishes
gemse

PS.:any advances with your facethead/Dops ?


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:37 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
Holiday 2018 calendar in our future?


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:27 pm 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
Gemse wrote:
Hello Stephen,very nice Pictures! Since i'm enjoying a recently bought Gemmolite i'd be interrested in the Type of Camera/Setup You Used to Take those Pics.Have so far tried DSLR and Smartphone with Mixed results. Would Love to See a Pic of your approach..
best wishes
gemse

PS.:any advances with your facethead/Dops ?

Thanks! I don't have a particularly advanced system--right now I'm just pressing my phone camera's (Galaxy S6) lens into the ocular and holding it in the correct position with my left hand while adjusting the focus with my right and using voice commands to take the photos. I got this directly from my brother who uses the same method for research photography in his lab. I'm using a gemolite V, but the SZ7 head makes a huge difference in what you can see. If you haven't made that upgrade I'd definitely encourage it.

To be honest I did hit a bit of a snag with the faceting machine--neither of my transfer jigs worked with the short dops, and I haven't found one for sale that looked like it would. I was talking with Justin K Prim who suggested it may have been done by hand with this unit, though, so I will either try that or make my own. It is one of those things where I hit the snag at the wrong moment and got carried away by some other things, but I will be trying to get back to it. I really need to just sit down and give it a try again.

@Barbra: Hahahaha, maybe! I'll need to get a bit better but I'm practicing. Hopefully picking up a fiber optic light will help too.

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:45 am 
Offline
Valued Contributor

Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:41 pm
Posts: 172
Stephen Challener wrote:
More!
Image
An opal from Shewa. Many Shewa opals show unusual, agate-like banding, which you can see on the edge of this stone. The play of color in this stone is restricted to the surface of the stone, with a beautiful pearly, pastel look.


Is it just me or is there a t-Rex in that opal? Also, stones are nice, but let’s see the scope!

_________________
Professional Gemologist and Microscopist

The views expressed here are the author's opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of the his employer.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:32 am 
Offline
Gemology Online Veteran
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 1:10 pm
Posts: 850
YES!! First pic - see it too....
Image

Jurassic Park 2.0

Thank you, Barbra!!

_________________
http://www.gemstore-24.com/
gemstones, precision cuts and more...


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:13 pm 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
I'll take some pictures of the scope today (not that there's much to see--it's just a classic gemolite V base with a SZ7 head on).
In the mean time though, more pics!
Image
Image
Image
This is a cabochon of Arizona gem silica in matrix--it needs a recut but I figured I'd photograph it first. It has some neat three-dimensional chrysocolla features inside the chalcedony itself, and the transition between the gem silica and mixed copper mineral matrix has what appear to be a number of quartz crystals with chrysocolla phantoms inside. Nice color anyway!
Image
Image
Some closeup views of Pietersite, tiger eye's cooler, wealthier cousin. The crocidolite fibers do such interesting things in them.
Image
Some interesting agatization inside a cabochon of Morgan Hill poppy jasper from California.
Image
Image
Image
This is a slightly different one, a cabochon of classic Spiderman Jasper from Oregon (the cab pictured is an example from my friend's site since I didn't get a picture of this sample in the hand). This is a really neat rhyolite jasper--black in jasper is often caused by small magnetite inclusions, so it seems like small fractures allowed oxidation to red iron oxides. Up close it looks different from what I'd expected but kind of cool.
Image
Image
Pretty standard views inside a Mexican crazy alce agate, bu tI think it's cool how the individual layers sometimes have complex surfaces.
Image
Image
Image
A triplet opal with bubbles in the epoxy layer. The epoxy seems to be surprisingly thick on this one, though maybe the quartz dome is contributing its own weird lensing.
Image
Image
An association I'd never heard of--pyrite cubes in aventurine quartz. I got this stone while visiting relatives for the eclipse this year. As a rock guy I was asked to help sort through their collection to figure out what was worth keeping and I spotted this weird green tumble. I can't really make out the fuschite crystals individually but the pyrite shows up nicely.
Image
Dust bunnies in a slice of Indian dravite. I posted about these a few years back but I can finally take better pictures of them! they appear to be clusters of bubbles--still no idea what they're doing there or why they take the shape they do.
Image
Image
These tourmalines also show excellent fracture fire, big and stable enough to actually add to the aesthetics of the stone.
Image
Not the best photos but kind of cool material--(slightly tarnished) native silver surrounded by cobaltite in a calcite matrix.
Image
Image
Image
Reflective sheets inside a "fire garnet"--this is material from Idaho that, when heated, develops a bright silvery coating. This includes inside surfaces, so when cut it has a rich orange-red flash.

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:32 am 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
OK, somewhat belated, but here are a few more. I got my fiber optic light in but I'm still learning to use it properly.
We just got a parcel of stones back from the cutter, so I have some fresh stuff to photograph. First up is this unusual rhodolite with a very long emerald cut:
Image
I've never seen another garnet cut like this, and I really like it. as you can see it has some inclusions. In addition to scattered needles of rutile, it has two inclusions which were unusual to my inexperienced eyes. First, what appear to be angular, parallel veils:
Image
Image
(Darkfield, 3mm FoV on both)
Image
And this beautiful insect, fractures nucleated around a murky green inclusion (the translucent rounded thing at the top there--the color doesn't come through so well in the photo). I guess it must be a crystal inclusion but the milkiness is weird. (3mm FoV darkfield)
Image
Also this sugary inclusion--partially healed fracture, I guess? Less striking but kind of interesting. The apparent doubling is introduced by the focus stacking, I didn't spend much time cleaning this one up.
Incidentally, I get some horizontal motion when focusing in and out. Nothing too bad, and it seems to vary from shot to shot, but I'm not sure what that is or what causes it, and I'd love to know if that's a standard thing or if it's my hand slipping on the camera. Hoping to have the final bit of my camera adapter soonish.
Image
Image
Image
Fossilized dino bone! I like the little agate ghosts that form in some of the marrow cells.
Image
Fluorescent hyalite lit with a violet LED. Kind of fun, and a neat surface texture. Can't really zoom in further because it's from an old collection and covered in dust threads so photos look grody.
Image
Image
Classic of the classics, Australian rainbow lattice sunstone. Lots of triangles in this one!
Image
Image
Some cute yellow plumes in a Chinese agate. Sometimes these have very fine details.
Image
Image
Image
Another pietersite, this one showing primarily orange-red fibers. The formation on these is a nice reminder that those are (or were) asbestos fibers--very glad they're encased in chalcedony for safety!

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 2:31 am 
Offline
Gold Member

Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:47 am
Posts: 1350
Location: Pacific Northwest
You know, it sure would make it a lot easier on those of us who have slow connections if you would load your new series of pics as a separate post rather than adding to your original. It has taken well over five minutes for my computer to load all the pics I have already seen just to get to your new one. Thanks for your consideration. Love the images btw.

_________________
I just dreamed that I was a butterfly.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:06 am 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
Hello,
Fair enough--I'd rather not make a bunch of threads since it would kind of flood this forum section, but I can probably put the images in an external album or something like that.
Edit: I did a quick fix by turning the images to thumbnails with links to the main image. Does that make it workable or should I go more extreme?

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:39 am 
Offline
Gold Member

Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:47 am
Posts: 1350
Location: Pacific Northwest
They loaded much faster this time round.

_________________
I just dreamed that I was a butterfly.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Got a new (to me) microscope! Mixed stone pictures.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:35 pm 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:31 pm
Posts: 4015
Location: North Carolina
I got a whole bunch of Peruvian gem silica rough recently, and I just slabbed and polished one piece for microscopy (they'll end up cabbed eventually of course). This is really cool material, with a classic green-blue chalcedony base shot through with chatoyant malachite and a combination of orbs and plumes of some yellow-orange mineral, probably iron oxides/hydroxides but who can say. Some parts also show chrysocolla plumes. There's probably some cuprite mixed in there too?
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

_________________
Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 4 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Gemology Style ported to phpBB3 by Christian Bullock