puprocks

you have some very nice looking rocks in there puppy. you didn't say where in the process you are on these.

kim

Alice made a similar comment. Boohoo, sad to say, these are in fact polished. In real life they are gorgeous, but in these photos the only one that looks very shiny is the close up of the big rocks. Yesterdays pictures just didn't do well.

I am about to check the camera settings and try again. Sunny day today, yesterday those were taken in late afternoon, not too bright out.
I thought that would be okay. Really bright days in my experience are more of a problem, often.

Our weather is the total opposite today. It's been raining all day. My pictures were taken next to the kitchen window in early afternoon, with a higher "light" setting on the camera.
Still the colors didn't come out.
I just got a comment that my garnets look grey
when actually they're purple.

When you took your pictures, did you take them in an open area? meaning nothing on top of you like an eavesdrop? Sometimes the shade can make polish appear to be nonexistent.

RS, too bad these shots are such crapola. Not good detail.

In the first picture, on the left side there are a couple interesting ones from the petwood standpoint. The large flat one is half tan and half sort of off-white, with what looks like a grain, and the one just below it to the left has those interesting black markings/inclusions. Then just off the bottom right corner of that one (its triangular) there's a flat oval shaped rock with brown around the edge and markings in the middle. I wondered about those, as well as towards the center of the photo there are a couple with really cool looking stripes. The far right has one that has what looks like bark around the outside.

My take on this rock? It is just stunning. You wouldn't believe the trays and trays of this stuff I've got, and some of it is really big rocks that polished. We were just discussing this yesterday...I'm getting overrun with it, and so many of them are much too pretty to just toss in a bowl full of rocks, but what to do with them? I also have some pieces that are definitely jewelry quality and everyone who looks at them comments on what beautiful pendants they would make.

The rock is also endlessly fascinating. Every batch seems to turn up a few that I haven't seen before. In the rough rocks I've got in the vibe right now, there's the usual banding but with the addition of a high contrast white stripe like a Laker (we do supposedly have them here). The biggest knock on the stuff -- other than those pesky vugs -- is that I wish it had more color variety. It tends to come in the gold/yellow/brown combos or the blue/gray/white usually with a little red or pink in there somewhere. It's unusual to get any of the darker reds and blacks, that was why the photo of my faves includes those, they are not the usual thing but very beautiful, in there is some black and gold combo stuff that's really cool. I'm talking about the last thread, it isn't in this thread. On the far right of the third picture in this thread, there's a dark rock that didn't show well in this photo, but the whole surface is all eyes that are red circles sometimes with a blue circle too. It's really very striking.

Kim and Alice, about the photo technique, yes, I did try moving around to get the reflection right. Last summer I would often take them outdoors in shade on a sunny day and that seemed to work okay. Yesterday I was in full sun with nothing overhead. The shine didn't come out well in the photos, but yesterday the colors came through pretty true, which isn't always the case. I use the photo editor to try to adjust them, but I'm not real good at it.

Thank you for the comments, advice, etc.

What the heck am I gonna do with all these? We were talking about this yesterday, even wondering how many people would pay a buck or two for one of the good ones. That presupposes that I could bear to part with any. I don't believe I've ever seen a collection of MO polished rock that compares to mine, I actually wonder whether there might be a museum or other collection somewhere in the state that would be interested in some of them. At one of the local shows, I did see a collection of MO agate cabs that was very nice and shows some of the other and brighter varieties in the state. Those I believe come more from the western areas.

I really want to find the time to take a geology class or two. Washington U has a great geology department, but it is pretty darn pricey to take a class there just for kicks and grins!