Lapidaryforum.net
Rock Art => Cabochons, Intarsias, Cameos => Topic started by: adovbs on March 15, 2015, 11:17:16 AM
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I bought a gnarly little end piece of some navy blue sodalite on ebay a couple of weeks ago, and finally carved time out this weekend to slab it and cab it. As I neared the final pre-polish sanding stages, I started noticing a "shimmer" thing going on. To my shock, this sodalite is chatoyant! Here is a natural light pic I took this morning, which shows the lovely colors but not so much of the shimmer. I'll take a better picture if we get some sun later this week. By the way, the streaks you see are reflections from the leafless maple trees outside, not scratches in the finish. It really took a NICE polish!
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/15/fdfabcae1eaf70e6cacd57a778a19f89.jpg)
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The picture doesn't show off the piece well. It comes across as a bit lighter than that with a strong chatoyancy. I'll have to figure out how to capture that photographically. I'm thinking that an animated gif might be sufficiently low bandwidth but still show it off.
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could it be kyanite , a similar rock in color where chatoyantcy is much more expected.
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could it be kyanite , a similar rock in color where chatoyantcy is much more expected.
I don't know, good question! I bought it as "sodalite" from a vendor on ebay, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time something on ebay was mis-identified. :laughing6:
I'll go have a look at some pics and descriptions online and see if that might be the case here.
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So, here is what is left of the piece that cab came from. It doesn't have much crystalline structure to it, it is pretty much like regular dark sodalite in appearance. It even has the typical white streaks and spots (quartz?)
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/15/821cb3d2c75108b51d7ec725ff46471c.jpg)
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/15/325783a5f11227ec157f430ca041ad6e.jpg)
So, my guess at this point is sodalite, but perhaps with something else mixed in?
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Glad to see this post. I cut a stone similar and found it was chatoyant also. One of those stones gifted to me and I hadnt a clue to what it was. Wanted to know since it was very appealing. Thanks.
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Yep that looks like the ones I got.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb340/kainzerkurt/2015%20creations/1005326_10151574242879436_2031024788_n_zps4fibu7ni.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/kainzerkurt/media/2015%20creations/1005326_10151574242879436_2031024788_n_zps4fibu7ni.jpg.html)
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb340/kainzerkurt/2015%20creations/Chatoyancy%20needs%20retry%201_zpscyveidly.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/kainzerkurt/media/2015%20creations/Chatoyancy%20needs%20retry%201_zpscyveidly.jpg.html)
From this rough
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb340/kainzerkurt/2015%20creations/First%20of%20the%20year_zps7lw1twtm.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/kainzerkurt/media/2015%20creations/First%20of%20the%20year_zps7lw1twtm.jpg.html)
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The rough does not look like kyanite. Great stuff!
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Now I want some of that. That is super cool.
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Me, too! I love anything chatoyant! And it's BLUE -- bonus! :headbang: