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30 August 2008

Rutilated Quartz?

A couple of weeks ago my family and I went to the Nova Scotia Gem & Mineral Show in Parrsboro, as we have every summer since several years now. There was a fellow there selling finished loose gems and he had a rather pretty piece that was clear with black needle-like inclusions. I was really drawn to it so naturally I asked what it was, and he said that it's rutilated quartz, and specified some other material that's in it; unfortunately I don't remember the name. I did some searching on the net though, and from what I gather, it's only rutilated quartz if the inclusions consist of the mineral rutile. I also am lead to believe that rutile produces gold coloured inclusions rather than black. If only I'd paid better attention to the man...

Now, to get to the good part. I purchased the very pretty stone. I was having a hard time deciding what to do with it, and so, as of yesterday it was still sitting in my bead box...right up until I decided I absolutely had to wear it asap. So, I grabbed my copper, thinking I'd make a temporary wrap just to get it wearable while I figure out what it's final form should take. The construction went so smoothly that I decided I better not tempt the fates by taking it apart and trying something else later! So after I arrived home, having worn the pendant all afternoon on a random necklace I found kicking around my shelf, I made a copper chain on which to hang it. Below are the results photos:



And of course, the close-up:



On a whim, I added 2 red jasper beads, and 2 tiny, so-called "magnetic hematite" beads (just for the colour match).

Update: Some reading since this was originally posted indicates the stone may actually be tourmilated (ie has tourmaline inclusions), but that some folks use the phrase "rutilated quartz" to indicate any quartzy with needle-like inclusions.

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