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Post by knave on Oct 2, 2021 15:05:36 GMT -5
I’m excited we have a small rock shop now 10 minutes from our house! Anyways she is very nice and is gonna let us consign some stuff.
One thing she mentioned is that aura products are really moving at this time, especially aura quartz.
NOT sure if it’s something I wanna do but it does make some colorful stuff. Anybody here have experience where this stuff comes from?
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Post by HankRocks on Oct 2, 2021 15:24:00 GMT -5
I’m excited we have a small rock shop now 10 minutes from our house! Anyways she is very nice and is gonna let us consign some stuff. One thing she mentioned is that aura products are really moving at this time, especially aura quartz. NOT sure if it’s something I wanna do but it does make some colorful stuff. Anybody here have experience where this stuff comes from? It's treated quartz. I seem to remember that it is done somewhere in Washington state. There are 3 or 4 different treatments that give different looks to the quartz. I have seen it in the Rock Shops in the Mt Ida and Hot Springs area. Here's a page with some samples; bluemooncrystals.com/collections/rainbow-aura-opal-aura |
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Post by manofglass on Oct 2, 2021 20:15:51 GMT -5
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Post by Rockindad on Oct 2, 2021 20:24:37 GMT -5
At first glance I'd turn my nose up at it as it is not "natural". Then I remind myself that 1/3 of the volume we've tumbled in the last year or so has been man-made glass and call myself a hypocrite.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Oct 2, 2021 21:11:17 GMT -5
One thing you can't do is cut or tumble it. It's coated, so the coating will be ground away and you'd be left with plain old quartz.
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quartz
Cave Dweller 
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,359
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Post by quartz on Oct 2, 2021 21:52:07 GMT -5
Thinking I'll let someone else enjoy it at their place, not mine. Doctored stuff doesn't fit here. Thanks for the link Henry.
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Post by knave on Oct 2, 2021 22:43:07 GMT -5
Yeah Thanks everyone. Treated stuff isnt my thing either but Im interested in the process. An atoms thick coating of metal oxide is kind of cool.
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Post by HankRocks on Oct 3, 2021 4:31:03 GMT -5
Thinking I'll let someone else enjoy it at their place, not mine. Doctored stuff doesn't fit here. Thanks for the link Henry. It does bring up an interesting point and it reminds me of the "dyed" Brazilian slabs. People like them and they do sell so if you are in the business, it's something to sell. As long as the person selling identifies a rock as being altered, dyed, coated, stabilized, etc then it would seem to me to be ok. It just a tough call. And this topic can quickly slip into the the area of overseas shaped and polished items. One has to wonder about the safety and health conditions of the places producing these things, probably not very good. And yet at the Shows I have been at, 50, 60, even 70% of the items sold fall into this category. Unfortunately many of the folks in the business depend on the income generated so I am hesitant to criticize. Not everyone can be a pure hobbyist and make all their own merchandise, at least not and earn a good living. I do believe that full disclosure is always best. Fortunately for me I enjoy the hobby and limit myself to a few shows a year so my hobby can stay fun, supporting these. Henry |
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Post by Rockindad on Oct 3, 2021 8:23:16 GMT -5
Thinking I'll let someone else enjoy it at their place, not mine. Doctored stuff doesn't fit here. Thanks for the link Henry. It does bring up an interesting point and it reminds me of the "dyed" Brazilian slabs. People like them and they do sell so if you are in the business, it's something to sell. As long as the person selling identifies a rock as being altered, dyed, coated, stabilized, etc then it would seem to me to be ok. It just a tough call. And this topic can quickly slip into the the area of overseas shaped and polished items. One has to wonder about the safety and health conditions of the places producing these things, probably not very good. And yet at the Shows I have been at, 50, 60, even 70% of the items sold fall into this category. Unfortunately many of the folks in the business depend on the income generated so I am hesitant to criticize. Not everyone can be a pure hobbyist and make all their own merchandise, at least not and earn a good living. I do believe that full disclosure is always best. Fortunately for me I enjoy the hobby and limit myself to a few shows a year so my hobby can stay fun, supporting these. Henry Slipping further....If you are actually counting on income from a lapidary endeavor, would you be foolish to only sell what you like? To me those dyed Brazilian slabs are so gaudy they are offensive, but obviously they are popular. Who am I to judge what the public likes? Reminds me of "You can't be the buyer and the seller at the same time". Going down the philosophical approach/ethics road: is it okay to sell/market a product I do not believe in? I am not into reiki/chakra/etc. but looking around the web at some poorly crafted pieces and what they sell for might make someone change their approach if they were in this to make a living. From the prices I have seen on some websites I am apparently sitting on millions of dollars of materials. Personally I could not do it but understand why others would. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Oct 3, 2021 9:43:51 GMT -5
I don't have a problem with Aura Quartz as long as it is labeled as treated. I saw some absolutely gorgeous pieces of druzy at Quartzsite a couple of years ago that was treated and it was stunning. It was 2 guys who had it treated, so it wasn't Aura, but it actually was better. Unfortunately, it was Pow-Wow weekend and they had already sold out of the smaller, jewelry usable pieces so I didn't buy any. The large, display pieces were really expensive.
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Post by knave on Oct 3, 2021 10:24:46 GMT -5
It’s funny. I’m not a chakra guy either but this rock shop sure is and it’s doing well. Not sure there would be one in our little town if it wasn’t for the metaphysical side of it.
Mostly online sales but a very neat tiny little shop. Set along a hallway in a older Main Street building.
She has some stunning spheres and crystals of quartz.
Fun discussion, thanks everyone.
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Post by knave on Oct 3, 2021 10:26:29 GMT -5
Another thing. She says if I can make worry stones she will sell as many as I can make. They sell like hotcakes. Especially the smaller kid-sized ones. Teachers are cracking down on noisy fidget toys so moms are buying them for their kids to take to school.
A rock in your pocket! What an idea! 😂
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Post by Rockindad on Oct 3, 2021 18:15:48 GMT -5
Another thing. She says if I can make worry stones she will sell as many as I can make. They sell like hotcakes. Especially the smaller kid-sized ones. Teachers are cracking down on noisy fidget toys so moms are buying them for their kids to take to school. A rock in your pocket! What an idea! 😂 I believe this 100%. At one show A.J. was selling at I stayed in the background as it was geared more towards kids. Most of the kids didn't care about about perfectly rounded/shaped tumbles. They were rummaging through the big bowl of randoms looking for slices that felt good in their hands- tactile satisfaction. These were not even pieces that we spent time shaping, some we considered castoffs. Pieces with flat sides/sharper corners like you get off of a saw. Well the kids liked them and would say "ooh look a triangle/rectangle/etc. Who knew? Since then we have been running a lot more pieces that are children's palm-sized and even some geometric shapes just to have some variety. |
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Post by knave on Oct 3, 2021 20:29:19 GMT -5
 dino bone worry stone |
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Post by knave on Oct 4, 2021 12:14:02 GMT -5
Well. No way I’m getting into Aura treatment. The equipment looks super expensive and not attainable at a hobbyist level. AND you can get 1 lb of Angel Aura relatively cheaply from Etsy. For 1dave, it’s proper name is vapor deposition and the technology is used in the circuit board/IT industry. The crystal is heated to 1600° while in a vacuum, and then metal is evaporated into that vacuum along with some argon gas, and the metal will coat the crystal. Each metal or metal combo provides its own set of optical properties to the quartz. |
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Post by fernwood on Oct 4, 2021 13:49:45 GMT -5
knave CAn you share the name of the shop?
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Post by knave on Oct 4, 2021 14:25:53 GMT -5
Lingen Tree
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Post by fernwood on Oct 4, 2021 14:49:20 GMT -5
Thanks
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