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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 15, 2024 17:36:03 GMT -5
I've had this for at least 25 years and it was old when I got it. Someone was kind enough to give me a bag of gems that were removed from jewelry by a pawn shop. I used to have 2. I wrapped one years ago and sold it as Mt St Helen's. The guy swore it was tourmaline. I assured him it wasn't, but he bid on tourmaline. I figured I made out. I was going through my stuff today and found it again. I had never taken good care of it- cause it's glass, right? Well, I looked up MSH's today and apparently it either never came in this color or it's an original color. There is now emerald green, rose and a tanzanite color.
I have some difficulty with blues and greens. If I'm right, this looks more blue than green (emerald green) to me. This looks more like a paraiba color. I know it can't be, but that's what it looks like. Is it a deliberate knock off or MSHs. I have never found any bubbles in it, but this close up shows a chip in the top right corner. Never saw that before, but then it's been bouncing around with some other cheap gems for at least 15 years. What say you? I'm willing to concede and pretty much agree that it's glass, but why the nice cut and why mount it in jewelry that was expensive enough to pawn?
Excuse the dust. Would you believe I wiped it off right before I took the picture? I do have a cat sitting next to me, though.
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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 15, 2024 17:52:03 GMT -5
The MSH stuff was all glass, some claiming they melted the silica rich ash and made a glass from it, total BS, others said they added a little ash when melting the colored glass. Colors clearly did not come from the material which was gray, and harder than the windshield glass on the 1970 duster I had in 1980. My brothers MIL, at the time, sold a crapload of that stuff from her gift shop on Spirit lake highway, who knows, yours may have passed through the shop.
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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 15, 2024 18:03:09 GMT -5
Well, I had to look it up and the Wiki article reads like the fabricated BS sales story you would find by the display in the gift shops in the area.
Good news is the color of the photo in the article looks like a reasonable color match to your piece, so I'm guessing it is the same art glass they were selling, so calling it MSH is reasonable.
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 15, 2024 18:03:13 GMT -5
The MSH stuff was all glass, some claiming they melted the silica rich ash and made a glass from it, total BS, others said they added a little ash when melting the colored glass. Colors clearly did not come from the material which was gray, and harder than the windshield glass on the 1970 duster I had in 1980. My brothers MIL, at the time, sold a crapload of that stuff from her gift shop on Spirit lake highway, who knows, yours may have passed through the shop. Yup, I know it is all glass, but what about the color. I can't find any MSHs that color. Do you remember that color from the earlier days? |
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 15, 2024 18:04:10 GMT -5
Well, I had to look it up and the Wiki article reads like the fabricated BS sales story you would find by the display in the gift shops in the area. Good news is the color of the photo in the article looks like a reasonable color match to your piece, so I'm guessing it is the same art glass they were selling, so calling it MSH is reasonable. Funny, I looked everywhere EXCEPT for wiki. Thanks! |
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 15, 2024 23:22:00 GMT -5
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 16, 2024 6:08:30 GMT -5
Thanks James. I didn't look for Helenite. Those blue/green ones are spot on! |
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,167
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Post by rockbrain on Oct 16, 2024 9:21:20 GMT -5
I think that might be an Andara Crystal!  |
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,167
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Post by rockbrain on Oct 16, 2024 14:35:20 GMT -5
I thought it was funny, someone is selling Andara Crystals on ebay and they have this disclaimer at the beginning of their listing. "WARNING: China does not sell Andara. China is the counterfeit capital of the world. Some sellers mimic Tektite Superstore listing titles to confuse collectors. Only you can protect your collection."
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Post by liveoak on Oct 18, 2024 7:37:53 GMT -5
You have me thinking if I could melt some MSH ash I have, and make some ? !  Like I need another project 
Patty
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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 18, 2024 10:28:55 GMT -5
You have me thinking if I could melt some MSH ash I have, and make some ? ! Like I need another project Patty
It would be fun to attempt for someone with a furnace that is suitable for glass production, but as I said I'm pretty sure it was never done the way the opportunistic glass trinket sellers claimed. The eruption was a major turning point in my life, lost a couple friends and moved away from my home town permanently that year. If it doesn't interfere with the Oregon rock shows I'll be up there for my 50th HS reunion next summer. |
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Post by liveoak on Oct 18, 2024 11:22:37 GMT -5
I was thinking Lee, Rockoonz that my kiln gets hot enough to melt enamel, which is just powered glass after all. But I guess I'd need to use a mold or crucible to melt it in. Maybe as the weather gets colder, and I could use the extra heat from the kiln in the house. My friends in Seattle sent it recently, been in the cookie container, in their basement, all these years. Patty |
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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 18, 2024 12:04:32 GMT -5
liveoak the wiki said it takes like 2700F if I recall. There are literal huge mounds of it still around Longview/Kelso, probably clean enough down a few feet. I cleaned some out of my MIL's house gutters in the 90's. Will your kiln pull a vacuum or allow for an inert gas to be added to eliminate oxygen and bubbles? Seems like that would be necessary like with some metals, but other than aluminum sand casting as a child and some lost wax with sterling, I have never melted much in the way of non food items, at least not intentionally.
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Post by liveoak on Oct 18, 2024 12:17:30 GMT -5
Nope, no fancy kiln with gas or vacuum Rockoonz . You got me wondering if I should ask jamesp next time he has that urge to melt glass, if I could send it to him, to melt for me ? But then he doesn't have that fancy kiln either-so likely I'm on my own, with no one to blame the bubbles on, but myself
Patty
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 18, 2024 14:36:29 GMT -5
I was thinking Lee, Rockoonz that my kiln gets hot enough to melt enamel, which is just powered glass after all. But I guess I'd need to use a mold or crucible to melt it in. Maybe as the weather gets colder, and I could use the extra heat from the kiln in the house. My friends in Seattle sent it recently, been in the cookie container, in their basement, all these years. Patty Fluxes, such as borax, fluorspar, etc. are used to lower the melting point of the silica. |
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 18, 2024 14:42:29 GMT -5
Nope, no fancy kiln with gas or vacuum Rockoonz . You got me wondering if I should ask jamesp next time he has that urge to melt glass, if I could send it to him, to melt for me ? But then he doesn't have that fancy kiln either-so likely I'm on my own, with no one to blame the bubbles on, but myself
Patty
Bubbles can form for a variety of reasons, such as if melting a feldspathic sand, the high aluminum oxide content can make the melt the too viscous to allow the bubbles to escape.
Certain other impurities can also decompose leading to bubble formation as can pouring the melt.
Best to flux the material to make it fluid (hopefully not a lot of aluminum oxide present), then when molten, put in some type of heated mold and keep in the furnace to again allow the bubbles to escape, then remove and cool.
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Post by liveoak on Oct 18, 2024 19:06:05 GMT -5
Thank you, vegasjames . Obviously, I need to do some further research before even attempting - lots to learn Thank you,
Patty |
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Oct 18, 2024 19:56:04 GMT -5
Rockoonz Hells bells, that gave me pause. We are sat on the other side of the world, and of course it was major news at the time, but as life goes the news cycle is short and the world moved on to the next big news pretty rapidly. Very sorry to hear about your mates, and the impact on your life.
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 18, 2024 20:56:05 GMT -5
Thank you, vegasjames . Obviously, I need to do some further research before even attempting - lots to learn Thank you,
Patty I learned the hard way. Tried using sand in a project and added so much flux and it never did melt, just fused. Finally researched the sand I used and found it it was feldspathic sand, which explained the problem. So, I bought quartz powder to use in the next attempt.
Also need to watch fluxing. Decided to see what would happen if I fluxed chalcedony. Had everything in stainless steel crucible and put in the kiln. When I opened the kiln many hours later there was just the rim of the crucible left from above the liquid line, and the very bottom with a puddle of glass and the partially dissolved chalcedony. Also ate a hole right through the bottom of my kiln.
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Post by liveoak on Oct 19, 2024 6:25:30 GMT -5
Definitely more research needed on my part  Not a spur of the moment project-although it was a spur of the moment idea
Patty
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