elisem: ArtLog: BotMo info sheet comments request

Lioness (

elisem) wrote,
@ 2008-05-05 10:14:00

ArtLog: BotMo info sheet comments request
Might I please troll for comments to the BotMo info sheets I just posted last night? I'd love to hear what stuff you already knew about and what is new information, because it will help me know what to expand on for next time.

(And now I am going to try to post those scans, which Daniel said worked. So yay for that.)

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affreca
2008-05-05 04:06 pm UTC (link)

I knew most of what you posted. I was interested in the turquoise part because I want to be able to ID natural turquoise, and the info sheet plus samples will help me with that.

I didn't know much about fake hematites. Real hematite can be slightly magnetic, though usually due to some magnetite in the material (Fe3O4 vs Fe2O3). Going to experiment with streaking the beads you sent, as hematite is known for its red streak. On a side note, I'd love to see specular hematite made into a bead, but I expect it would be to flaky.

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elisem
2008-05-05 04:24 pm UTC (link)

Hemetine and hemalyke, being a simulant and a synthetic respectively, allegedly leave grey or black streaks. (The etsyWiki had a link about mislabelings, and at least half of it -- including that bit -- looks reasonably accurate to me at first glance, at least right now. No telling what'll get edited in the future, though, like any other Wiki....)

(I love the sales site I found that said the hemalyke "has been magnetically charged" as if that's a feature. I am amused.)

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	affreca 2008-05-05 04:32 pm UTC (link)
	The magnetic charge can be a feature. The magnetic necklaces are fun for fidgeting. And I've had a friend use them in a costume in order to make it tearaway. (Reply to this)(Parent)

melusinehr
2008-05-05 04:39 pm UTC (link)

Interesting--I had thought the real stuff was magnetic and the fake stuff usually wasn't--which means the string I bought at a bead show a few years ago (which was labeled hematite, though I didn't assume that to be automatically true) has a good chance of being for real, and the old necklace my grandmother gave me to reuse, with big, heavy, beautiful rounds, might not be.

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	elisem 2008-05-05 05:11 pm UTC (link)
	Well, some of the real stuff is indeed magnetic, though not usually strongly so. So it's not a reliable diagnostic if the magnetism is not fierce. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	elisem 2008-05-05 04:30 pm UTC (link)
	Specular hematite would indeed be cool. And flaky. Possibly if protected it could be a pendant.... (Reply to this)(Parent)

firecat
2008-05-05 09:09 pm UTC (link)

I know basically that if something is inexpensive it probably isn't natural or unenhanced unless it's a very common mineral, and that most of what gets sold as beads for the craft market is not the highest quality stuff.

I haven't kept track of exactly what is dyed or heat treated and then passed off as what else (e.g., dyed howlite => turquoise).

I knew how fire-polished crystal and swarovski are different.

I knew that what's sold as hematite is almost never natural but I didn't know the details.

I didn't know about "rocks in a blender." Do you think the flat shaped things that were sold to you as tourmaline and moldavite were rocks in a blender?

I knew about "fruit flavor quartz" being glass.

Somewhat tangential to the Trickster theme, but related to the larger theme of "what and how to buy":

I'm concerned about the environmental effects of mining rare minerals and of shipping raw materials all over the place for processing umpteen times before they show up in my local bead store (or my BOTMO source). So at some point I'd love to get some insight into what beading materials are the least environmentally damaging. (Common on the North American continent, not processed in China, that sort of thing.) Or if I were going to be working with less-processed materials to make my jewelry (e.g., polishing my own rough) what would be the best tool investments to start with?

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elisem
2008-05-05 09:35 pm UTC (link)

Do you think the flat shaped things that were sold to you as tourmaline and moldavite were rocks in a blender?

No, those flat things are glass, I believe.

I'm concerned about the environmental effects of mining rare minerals and of shipping raw materials all over the place for processing umpteen times before they show up in my local bead store (or my BOTMO source). So at some point I'd love to get some insight into what beading materials are the least environmentally damaging. (Common on the North American continent, not processed in China, that sort of thing.) Or if I were going to be working with less-processed materials to make my jewelry (e.g., polishing my own rough) what would be the best tool investments to start with?

Good set of questions there!

First answer, at least as far as BotMo is concerned, is that I've already started buying more material collected or manufactured on the North American continent and processed here, preferably by small shops or individual artists. In the May packages, "Oooh, Shiny!!", the featured dichroic glass is by an artist in the US from whom I bought directly, and she graciously provided lots of business cards when I asked her to so I can send them out in every package. In last year's Jasper package, a considerable number of the beads were US-sourced and were drilled and polished by a small operation in the western US that I have become rather fond of. There will be more beads from them in upcoming Beads of the Month packages, I hope, and I'll let you know more about them if they tell me they're open to retail customers.

What beading materials are common to the North American continent? Well, I recently put up a link to a wonderful mineralogy database, mndat.org, which has a lot of information on each mineral, including maps showing where around the world it is found. Naturally, it's easier to get a detailed answer about source if you're dealing with the supplier who does the processing, and especially if it's a small shop (which I like to support anyway, because they do quirky cool things that I like). A while ago I heard from someone trying to do a Fair Trade source list and shop for beads, but I didn't hear any more of it and I don't think they succeeded.

Polishing your own rough is tricky, from a low-impact standpoint, though it is reportedly very satisfying work. (It'll eat your life, though, everybody tells me.) That's because if you're only doing a few pieces a year, and yet you buy the tools and the equipment and the polishing compounds and lubricants and buffing materials and so on, you're quite possibly making a bigger impact environmentally, per finished piece, than some operator who's doing a lot of pieces at once in a more efficient manner. I do not know this for sure, but it's my initial guess. We need somebody who does this sort of thing to give real answers, though; I will try to find somebody and see if they'll do a guest interview on the BotMo LJ, OK?

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	firecat 2008-05-05 09:53 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks for all this useful info! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	elisem 2008-05-05 10:26 pm UTC (link)
	I got a bunch of it from my ace bead scout, tnh. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	glinda_w 2008-05-06 06:24 am UTC (link)
	I knew a good bit of it. Still wouldn't trust my judgment as to whether turquoise is dyed/stabilized/whatever, though. And it may be a fake, but the "blueberry quartz" is a pretty thing. So is that green-chalcedony-looking glass; I can see myself trying to find a supplier, just for the color... (yes, you know my weaknesses... wry) (Reply to this)

coraa
2008-05-06 07:54 pm UTC (link)

I knew almost none of it, so it was an excellent education. I knew enough to be suspicious of anything that's going for a lot cheaper than I'd expect for that stone. I knew to look for bubbles to detect glass, and that fruit-flavored "quartzes" aren't quartz. I knew that stone could be dyed and coated to change its appearance. But most of it was new information, and I'm grateful for it.

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