Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics!

LCARS
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Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 4:06:49 GMT -5

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Post by LCARS on Dec 13, 2005 4:06:49 GMT -5

My snow quartz (& a few other quartzy stones I threw in) just came out of TO.

Obviously there are pics for Cher to look at so I'll get to those right away...

Some came out white with little clear bits.

Some came out with alot of clear sections.

I added some cobalt blue veins to these.
I'm sure I will be asked how I did this...

I started on this batch back in September after I returned from my trip to Penticton. I picked up about 8lbs of this stuff for free but only about 40% of it was tumble quality so I sorted it out back at home. (Also picked up some Princeton Coal & a few really cheap amethyst geode slices large enough to make book ends out of).

Alot of pieces in this batch suffered damage during the tumbling stages so many of them have pock marks & "bruises". Despite liberal use of pellets after the grinding stage, some still managed to split & chip along the natural cleavage planes. Like I said, this wasn't high grade stuff & the price was right!

I had some fun with a few of the more fractured white stones by freezing them right out of the wash cycle & then dumping them in boiling cobalt blue dye.
See, all you had to do was keep reading! ;D

When the water in the veins freezes it expands the cracks a bit & the hot dye seeps into the cracks as the rock heats up, then I put them back into cold dye & froze them again so the rocks would shrink & open up the cracks a bit more. Rinse & repeat & done! Only one of them "exploded"

Well, it actually only split on one end.

The tin oxide really did a great job polishing these as well!
These were in grit until late October, then I used 1000 AO for two weeks & 5000 AO for another 1.5 weeks, then CO for one week & TO for four more days. If it werent' for the chipping & cracking these babies would have all come out flawless!

Still, i'm not complaining considering the circumstances.
Now I have some more seasonal appropriate stocking stuffers & geocache trade goodies for Christmas!

Last Edit: Dec 13, 2005 4:08:51 GMT -5 by LCARS

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rollingstone starting to spend too much on rocks Member since July 2009 Posts: 236	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 5:44:26 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by rollingstone on Dec 13, 2005 5:44:26 GMT -5 Hey, those came out really great! I'm not a big fan of the cobalt treatment, but the untreated snow quartz came out fantastic!! I even like it better than the clear stuff! Nice batch!

rockyraccoon no longer being taken for granite Member since December 2003 Posts: 7,980	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 6:01:36 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by rockyraccoon on Dec 13, 2005 6:01:36 GMT -5 lcars those came out great. now where did you learn this trick with the dye? like that look and i have lots and lots of quartz from arkansas to try this on. thanks for this tip! kim

Cher
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Tumbling is addictive - Resistance is futile - You will be assimilated

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Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 8:02:56 GMT -5

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Post by Cher on Dec 13, 2005 8:02:56 GMT -5

Ooooooooooo cool! I like them blue lines. Kim, toss some dye right in the coarse barrel and let it go. That's the way my quartz looked after tumbling it with hematite, only it was red instead of blue. Might be an easier way to get the color.

Why do you call it snow quartz? It looks like regular quartz that I find up here, is there a difference? Love the clear stuff, now that's something I've never found up here, maybe someday. Thanks LCARS great pics!

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone
said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm
just not close enough to get the job done.
George Carlin

creativeminded still telling self it's just a hobby I am a crazy crafter. Member since January 2004 Posts: 4,524	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 9:45:42 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by creativeminded on Dec 13, 2005 9:45:42 GMT -5 That is really neat, you did a great job dying those. Tami
	Necessity is the mother of invention

rockds
still telling self it's just a hobby

Member since September 2005
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Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 11:48:46 GMT -5

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Post by rockds on Dec 13, 2005 11:48:46 GMT -5

Lcars, the stones look great, great job on the dying process. Would have loved to see the dy in with some of the clear ones too but I guess you didn't know what they would lokk like until after you tumbled. Thanks for the tip and the who-to

Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and Prejudice and fear walk hand-in-hand.

stefan Cave Dweller Member since January 2005 Posts: 14,113	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 12:50:01 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by stefan on Dec 13, 2005 12:50:01 GMT -5 Very nicely done-
	I can't tell if thats some Gneiss Schist, or that Schist is Gneiss. All I know is don't take it for Granite

LCARS
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Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 17:06:37 GMT -5

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Post by LCARS on Dec 13, 2005 17:06:37 GMT -5

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

To the best of my limitted knowledge it's called snow quartz because it has a snowy pattern to it. The photo's don't always do them justice but when you are holding them you can see snowy patterns in them. A few of them even look like they have snowflakes trapped inside! Of course i'm keeping those ones in my personal stash

For all taxonimc purposes, this is just plain Jane low quality tumble grade white quartz.

As far as the dying goes, i've done quite a bit of type II alluminum anodizing, where the color is achieved using a dye after the porous anodic layer is formed on the metal. (I will have to dig up some pics). I came across dyed quartz before at a rock shop & haven't been able to dig that much up on how it is done professionally. It wans't too hard to transfer those skills over to rocks.

I used a FG liquid dye for the ones above but you can use any color of RIT or Dylon fabric dye. If you are using concentrated RIT liquid dye, you mix it down 3:1 with water first. If you are using powdered RIT or Dylon, then use one teaspoon of powder dye to a liter of water or just triple the strength for dying fabric.

Just a warning that some dyes will work better than others. I've had good results in the past with the FG cobalt blue so I decided to try it first. I still have enough tumble quality quartz to do another full batch so next time I will try dying a few different colors.

The dye will only permeate an existing crack but the freezing/boiling helps to get it in there deep enough so it won't wash out. After the second time being boiled in dye & then plopped back into cold dye, you should rinse in cold, dry them & bake them at about 250ºF for 20min. This sets the dye permanently so it won't wash out. I don't recommend trying to color them while they are still in the tumbler, that could get messy.

Personally, I go for the natural look of stone myself & I only dyed a bit to try something different with a few. Afterall, I had a batch that was 90% white quartz so there was room for experimentation. I plan to put most of them in geocaches as "blue frosted snow quartz" but I will keep some for my archives of "things tried"...

Last Edit: Dec 13, 2005 17:09:11 GMT -5 by LCARS

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rollingstone starting to spend too much on rocks Member since July 2009 Posts: 236	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 17:09:11 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by rollingstone on Dec 13, 2005 17:09:11 GMT -5 You could call it "glacier quartz" to make it sound more exotic

LCARS has started giving rock gifts Keep Rollin'! Member since September 2005 Posts: 3,839	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 17:13:03 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by LCARS on Dec 13, 2005 17:13:03 GMT -5 Mmmmm, glacier fresh Kokanee quartz with that clean smooth refreshing taste.
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rockds still telling self it's just a hobby Member since September 2005 Posts: 4,130	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 17:14:10 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by rockds on Dec 13, 2005 17:14:10 GMT -5 ooh, like the glacier name RS
	Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand. Ignorance and Prejudice and fear walk hand-in-hand.

SteveHolmes
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Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 17:14:55 GMT -5

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Post by SteveHolmes on Dec 13, 2005 17:14:55 GMT -5

LCARS,
That is a fantastic looking bunch of rocks there! I really like the dyed Quartz. That does look mighty cool. Thanks for sharing the how-to's on accomplishing this. Another thing I'm gonna have to try. I'm getting quite behind on things I need to attempt.
Steve

krazydiamond Global Moderator Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far. Member since June 2004 Posts: 9,636	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 19:06:35 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by krazydiamond on Dec 13, 2005 19:06:35 GMT -5 ;D stunning, LCARS, that first pic almost looks like opal.........great shine! KD
	Come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!

LCARS has started giving rock gifts Keep Rollin'! Member since September 2005 Posts: 3,839	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 20:04:38 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by LCARS on Dec 13, 2005 20:04:38 GMT -5 KD, Some of them do have an opaline flash in them but this is due to internal fracturing (mostly from me whacking them to break them up)
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g0too starting to spend too much on rocks Member since October 2005 Posts: 198	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 21:01:21 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by g0too on Dec 13, 2005 21:01:21 GMT -5 And there was me thinking that it was the reflection of a strip light. I particularly like the dyed ones they look so unusual. Cheers Chris
	<h2>Cheers Chris</h2>

parfive no longer being taken for granite Member since August 2005 Posts: 9,615	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 13, 2005 23:34:29 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by parfive on Dec 13, 2005 23:34:29 GMT -5 Nice stones, LCARS. Especially liked the clear ones. Keep working on your tie-dyed technique. We need some red, white and blue ones by July. Rich
	Consider the Earth’s history as the old measure of the English yard, the distance from the King’s nose to the tip of his outstretched hand. One stroke of a nail file on his middle finger erases human history. John McPhee - Basin and Range

Alice has started giving rock gifts Member since February 2005 Posts: 3,931	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 14, 2005 0:51:50 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Alice on Dec 14, 2005 0:51:50 GMT -5 LCars, the blue dye is really neat! When you run your finger over the fractures, do you feel them? particularly the center one on the top... does it feel rough?

LCARS has started giving rock gifts Keep Rollin'! Member since September 2005 Posts: 3,839	Snow quartz just out & yes Cher there's pics! Dec 14, 2005 2:01:04 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by LCARS on Dec 14, 2005 2:01:04 GMT -5 Most of the fractures feel seamless but some of them had chipping. Next time I will load the barrel a bit higher & use a bit more pellets & tumble them on the slower rails after 60/90...
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