-
Easy, No Fuss Thanksgiving Turkey
Ingredients: For the herb butter: Instructions: Notes Herbs: to substitute dried herbs, use 1 teaspoon dried herbs per 1 tablespoon fresh chopped herbs. Tips for covering with tinfoil: Start with the bird uncovered. Once the skin gets golden brown, tent the bird with a large piece of tinfoil. If you have a roasting pan, you can use…
-
Physical Properties of Amethyst:
The physical properties of amethyst are almost identical to the physical properties of other color varieties of quartz. The only important difference is the color of the material. Physical Properties of Amethyst Chemical Classification Silicate Color By definition, amethyst is purple in color, the most popular color is a reddish purple with rich saturation. Streak…
-
Amethyst Crystals:
The first step in amethyst receiving its purple color begins during crystal growth. That is when trace amounts of iron are incorporated into a growing quartz crystal. After crystallization, gamma rays, emitted by radioactive materials within the host rock, irradiate the iron to produce the purple color. The intensity of amethyst’s purple color can vary…
-
Color in Amethyst
Amethyst is an extremely popular gem because of its attractive purple color. Like the word “turquoise,” the word “amethyst” is now the name of a color as well as the name of a gem material. While the word “amethyst” makes most people think of a dark purple gem, amethyst actually occurs in many purple colors.…
-
What is Amethyst?
Amethyst is the world’s most popular purple gem. It is the purple color variety of quartz that has been used in personal adornment for over 2000 years. Amethyst is the birthstone of February and an important New Age gem. It is used to produce faceted stones, cabochons, beads, tumbled stones, and many other items for jewelry and ornamental use. Amethyst has a Mohs…
-
Imitation Strawberry Quartz:
Strawberry quartz is very popular and abundant, however, material with a superb color and appearance is rare. Nature does not provide enough superb strawberry quartz to meet the demand. So, numerous people have figured out how to make materials that look just like strawberry quartz. The most common imitation is made by melting glass and…
-
Strawberry Quartz Quality Factors:
The most desirable pieces of strawberry quartz have a distinctly pink or red color without traces of other hues. Their color is uniform across the face of the gem. The inclusions should be large enough to be eye-visible but not so large that surface-reaching inclusions leave a noticeable pit on the surface of the gem.…
-
Single-Crystal and Granular Quartz:
Most specimens of strawberry quartz consist of single quartz crystals with included red minerals. However, some specimens consist of granular quartz in the form of quartzite with inclusions of lepidolite or alurgite mica. Quartzite is a metamorphic rock that forms when a sandstone is subjected to heat and pressure. This type of strawberry quartz is often aventurescent…
-
Uses of Strawberry Quartz:
The most popular use of strawberry quartz is in jewelry. Strawberry quartz makes beautiful cabochons, beads, bangles, and faceted gems. Although strawberry quartz is rare, it remains an inexpensive gem. That allows it to be made into inexpensive jewelry using sterling silver or 10 karat gold mountings. The buyer might splurge on a 14 karat…
-
What is Strawberry Quartz ?
“Strawberry quartz” is a novelty gem and a marketing term used for specimens of pink to red quartz or quartzite that receive their color from eye-visible mineral inclusions. Colorless quartz colored pink to red by inclusions of other minerals. The inclusions can be small platelets of hematite, flakes of lepidolite, flakes of alurgite (a orangy red muscovite), crystals of piemontite, or other minerals…