Post by deb193redux on May 21, 2012 20:19:37 GMT -5
Well I am finally moving my batch along.
I had these slabbets soaking in solution for about 8 months because I got distracted. Started them yesterday (Sunday 20May).
I put a little snip of steel wire on each piece and a drop of cupric chloride solution
There is already good growth on some slices in just 24 hours
------------------------
Six days of growth. Only two grew, further growth very slow.
But one look pretty nice.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Some sad results. The ones that looked like duds mostly were. I will see if they work better a 2nd time around.
The two best growing ones also had problems. One got a stress fracture, which I think I can seal with epoxy. Both of them had some of the growth dissolve.
Fischer wrote about this, caling it ghosts, where the infused copper solution seems to reabsorb the copper that was displaced by the iron. Supposedly this did not happen if the growth was in soda soution. But it did.
I've tried to show the ghost area looking form the bottom-side (opposite where the iron wire was). Some of the furtherst growth was reabsorbed any looking carefully you can see a ind of light hazy area on the edge of the copper.
I think this happened because these were the thickest two slices. I had hoped that this would permit growth of larger deeper dendrites, but it somehow allowed ghosts even with soda water.
I think there is a race going on. The copper has to grow while there is still infused copper solution in sufficient concentration, but the soda water needs to be able to penetrate the stone and diffuse the copper solution (so it cannot re-absorb displaced copper) before reasorbtion occures.
It is my hypothesis that the thicker slabs took too long for the soda to penetrate and diffuse the copper.
I will cut the slabs thinner for the next batch, so we will see how these thoughts hold up.
On the brighter side, one of the little duds turned out to be a very striking little cluster of dendrites. I think I can make a little pendent, perhaps minimally set in silver and hung on a small thin silver choaker-length chain.
the view from the bottom. Normally I would dome this side, since the dendrites generally grow up like a crown of broccoli, but I think I will just polish the flat face on the top side.
here is a virtual/photoshop mockup of what the pendant stone might look like. It would be just under 1" tall.
... anyway, I learned a lot. It takes time but is not too hard. I will do more batches, especially this winter when the shop is too cold to work in.
I had these slabbets soaking in solution for about 8 months because I got distracted. Started them yesterday (Sunday 20May).
I put a little snip of steel wire on each piece and a drop of cupric chloride solution
There is already good growth on some slices in just 24 hours
------------------------
Six days of growth. Only two grew, further growth very slow.
But one look pretty nice.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Some sad results. The ones that looked like duds mostly were. I will see if they work better a 2nd time around.
The two best growing ones also had problems. One got a stress fracture, which I think I can seal with epoxy. Both of them had some of the growth dissolve.
Fischer wrote about this, caling it ghosts, where the infused copper solution seems to reabsorb the copper that was displaced by the iron. Supposedly this did not happen if the growth was in soda soution. But it did.
I've tried to show the ghost area looking form the bottom-side (opposite where the iron wire was). Some of the furtherst growth was reabsorbed any looking carefully you can see a ind of light hazy area on the edge of the copper.
I think this happened because these were the thickest two slices. I had hoped that this would permit growth of larger deeper dendrites, but it somehow allowed ghosts even with soda water.
I think there is a race going on. The copper has to grow while there is still infused copper solution in sufficient concentration, but the soda water needs to be able to penetrate the stone and diffuse the copper solution (so it cannot re-absorb displaced copper) before reasorbtion occures.
It is my hypothesis that the thicker slabs took too long for the soda to penetrate and diffuse the copper.
I will cut the slabs thinner for the next batch, so we will see how these thoughts hold up.
On the brighter side, one of the little duds turned out to be a very striking little cluster of dendrites. I think I can make a little pendent, perhaps minimally set in silver and hung on a small thin silver choaker-length chain.
the view from the bottom. Normally I would dome this side, since the dendrites generally grow up like a crown of broccoli, but I think I will just polish the flat face on the top side.
here is a virtual/photoshop mockup of what the pendant stone might look like. It would be just under 1" tall.
... anyway, I learned a lot. It takes time but is not too hard. I will do more batches, especially this winter when the shop is too cold to work in.
That is soooo cool!
