Atelier OcularSky Beads @ Blogger

 

Return


I will be returning to blogging about beads and stones.
But have to get myself familiar with Blogger again, as you can see, I haven't been blogging for quite a while.
I don't even have a correct size of image for this post...!

In the next post, I would like to write about how I take the bead photographs you see here (finally!)
And maybe talk about something else.... what I don't know. But will think of something later.

Note: Micro-faceted multi-gemstones rondelle beads in the photo. How many different type of gemstones do you see here?

  What's this really? Part 1


A few months ago on one of the forum I am associated with, a lady named Susan posted a picture of a stone slab which she picked up from a garage sale.
She had no idea what it was therefore asked others on the forum to help her to identify the slab.
After looking at the photo I was intrigued, and of course I also have no idea what it is.
In the following paragraphs I will share part of the exchange and speculation on the identity of the slab, which in the end still remained unconfirmed.

Ron from California suggested that "the orangish dendritic pattern suggest native copper and the chalcedonic areas suggest agate with microsopic chrysocolla coloration. The dendrites may be pseudomorphs after native metal growths. The same form can be observed in native silver. It is entirely possible that it came from the Keewanai Peninsula in Michigan, but may also have come from somewhere in Arizona".
To which Susan replied "yes the green part is translucent - the orange is opaque - some of the dendritic parts look metalic [sic] when polished. I wonder is there such a thing as parrot wing agate" ?
But then Karen from Alberta Canada answered "I have not heard of Parrot wing jasper but parrot wing chrysocolla is a type of agatized chrysocolla that comes from Mexico. It is usually shades of green and turquoise occasionally with a little yellow. I have not seen any with the red/orange you have in your slab".

I personally thought the most confident and comprehensive suggestion for the slab's identity came from Mark in Denver USA that, "it is a bit hard to tell from a photograph, but appears to be a) chrysacolla/w minor calcite over native copper and/or cuprite in quartz, best guess north side of ray arizona pit, about 1965, or b) northern chihuahua, mexico sagenite agate, about 1955".

Well, its identity can not be confirmed without inspection and testing with proper instrument and procedure. But nevertheless it is an unusual and fine piece of specimen.

  Quote of the day 2006.05.26


"Less is more". -- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
"Less is bore". -- Robert Venturi

  New bells and whistles


I am in the middle of writing some simple tips on how to take a decent photograph of beads & jewellery.
But before that, I thought I better get this blog into shape [much like my own physical body...]. Therefore I've spent a whole day adding some of the options which are common to other blogs, such as posting comments, backlinks and emailing the blog; as well as RSS feeds and Google AdSense.

When I first started blogging back in 2002, I found the template which I'm now still using. It was created by Eric Costello, and the original & unmodified version can still be found here.
Over the years, I have made many changes to the template, but none could compare what I have done in the past 2 days....
The template which are now available from Blogger template has simpler codes and since they're Blogger's own, it's easier to make changes by the users simply through selecting different options under the Settings tab.
The problem to have a less-common template or even your own design is that many of the functionalities have to be added manually.
If it were left to be altered automatically by Blogger's system, either the function would not work or an error message would appear on the screen with further instructions.
So far writing simple html codes has been an interesting experience.
As long as I could figure out where to place the new codes, the rest are mainly 'copy & paste'. Sometimes there're quite a few rewriting too.

The only major alteration to the template was done after I decided to put Googles ads on the blog.
Frankly I can't bear to see where the ads would be placed by the system. So I had to figure out something new soon.
And I will admit that I'm a control freak when comes to aesthetics. It might not suit everyone's taste, but I would try very hard to avoid any compromise where I can.... probably that's why I always dislike doing group projects....

Anyway, it was good that I had figured out how to alter the layout a short while ago to create an independent area namely such the footer for containing the 'common creative license'.
It was the same for where the Google ads goes.... less the subtle change of background colour.

And I want to say Costello did a great job in writing this template. All the codes are very well written and easy to read, no problem to follow even for a beginner like me.

  Quote of the day 2006.05.23


"Design is not making beauty, beauty emergesf from selection, affinities, integration, love". -- Louis Kahn
I just thought I would share some quotes from archtects and designers whose works I found inspirational.

 

Saga between eBay and Tiffany & Co.


There's a long legal saga between Tiffany & Co. and eBay in recent years.
As a eBay seller, I'm interested to see the outcome of the long legal battle, whether eBay's business model would be changed or forced to change due to the outcome of the lawsuit.

First, here is an PDF file for those who are interested in what instigated the legal battle.
Here is another very detailed and illuminating article, and the latest development.
Further news will be added to this post when they're available.

Note: Smooth multicolour Tourmaline oval beads in the photo.

 

Does size matter?


I was busy with business registration for my store in the past few weeks, so didn't find much time to update the blog.
Today, I will share a few links to some monster gemstones with all of you.

First it's 'Famous Diamonds'. Among the long list of famous diamonds, these are the ones that you can not miss:

the Cullinan, the Centenary, the De Beers, the Golden Jubilee, the Hope [who can miss the most famous blue diamond in the world?], the Millennium Star [it's on the cover of various books on Tiffany diamonds], and the Star of South Africa.
Ah and how can I miss the Briolette of India??
The various diamonds from Graff are also worth a look.

There's also news of the recent discovery of large size diamonds. So we might see more beautifully designed and cut, as well as very large diamonds in the next few years.

Now it's the time for some really massive stones [in terms of size, not exactly for their monetary value].
First, it's a 21,290 carats Rock Crystal Quartz donated to GIA by it's faceters.
Then there're some other gargantuan stones cut by "The Dare-Devil Faceters" [they're also mentioned in these following articles-- 1, and 2].

Note: Lavender Jade oval in the photo, smooth without any facets for a nice contrast.

Blog content and images © OcularSky and Atelier OcularSky Beads 2004-2006, and unless stated otherwise, are licensed under a Creative Commons Licence Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. This blog expresses only OcularSky's personal opinion, not the views of any other person or organisation with whom OcularSky or Atelier OcularSky Beads may be associated. The blog template was modified based on one which was designed by Eric Costello.