UNEARTHED RUSSIAN MINERALS BRING RICHES TO SPHERE ENTHUSIASTS
 
 

It used to be only Russian royalty that could enjoy the beauty, richness and rarity of Russian minerals, but today any sphere collector with a discerning eye can build a collection worthy of a Czar.

Probably the most prized stone to emerge from Russia in the past 20 years is the strikingly beautiful charoite. Only discovered in l976 in the Chary River Basin of Siberia, it presents a vivid lavendar-purple, oftentimes mixed with black aegirine-auguite and clear microline. A very pretty variation is lilac charoite, which also features the metallic orange tikaksite and black aegirine-auguite.

However, the most in-demand spheres are those which are mostly pure charoite. Clearly, the stone is well-named; it means charming or magical in Russian.

Another very unique and rare mineral which has recently appeared is rhodusite, a glaucophane variation from Kazachstan. It is a dark blue color, with fibrous crystals that have a touch of pearlized flash.

A similar stone with interesting optical properties is clinochlore, commonly known as seraphenite in the metaphysical realm. It’s rich olive green color is also embeded in a fibrous matrix that has an opalized quality like mica. Clinochlore comes from Korschunovskal in Siberia and is a rodingite, which derives from chemically altered granitic dikes intruded into metamorphosed oceanic crustal rocks scraped off a techtonic plate during a continental collision.

 Lastly, there is the beautiful red eudialite from the Kola Penninsula,which boasts a rich cystalized ruby sheen.

"White vinegar is an excellent cleaner for crystal spheres. Use a soft all-cotton cloth, like a diaper to wipe it clean, any material that does not conduct electricity."..reader Doris Dietermann.
 
 

GUEST COLUMNIST: FRED BERGER

Fred Berger of Great Bend, Kansas, has created or collected spheres from all but three of the nation’s 50 states and 25 other countries. He still retains nearly 230 after selling, trading or giving gifts of more than 400 in the past three years. Today, he no longer makes spheres, but still enjoys collecting.

The mineral kingdom offers a visual feast with all the brilliant colors and distinctive patterns found in a rock. Rocks are all around us but their real beauty is concealed until its internal part is exposed. As a fourth grader once said, "Rocks are like people—it’s what’s inside that counts."

 As my good friend Ed Junker, a sphere maker in Wood River, Nebraska, says, "It takes a patient person to see a rock as a thing of beauty." Patient, because of the great deal of time and energy it takes to bring out a rock’s hidden beauty. I believe that hidden beauty is best exposed in the process of making a sphere.

 Getting Started

 First you start with a rough rock and cut it with a diamond blade. It is very important when you select a rock to choose one that is free of fractures. It takes from 35 to 100 hours to complete a sphere. The size and the hardness of the rock determines the time factor.

 My particular saw had a 24-inch blade. I also had a jig mounted in front of the saw blade called a "sphere performer." Made by C.R. Sprague of Vancouver, Washington, this jig held the rock and was indexed so the rock could be turned to make the proper cuts, 26 in all, to form a spherical cube. A diamond saw will cut about an inch of rock in approximately five minutes.

 Second Step

 Use an 8-inch grinder with a 35 grit diamond wheel to knock off the sharp edges of the spherical cube. I also had a jig to set the spherical cube right in front of the 8-inch diamond wheel. When you are finished knocking off the sharp edges, the cube should be symmetrical in shape and ready to go to a sphere machine.

 The sphere machine I used was made by Harold Hillman of Ellis, Kansas, a premier sphere maker who sold spheres to the U.S. Space Center. The machine was a two-headed grinder. Each individual grinder was powered by its own motor.

Cones, made of reducer pipe couplings held the rock in place on a round platform that was turned by a separate motor and helped rotate the rock in a pool of abrasive paste. When the rock was properly adjusted, it would turn down to a perfect spherical shape. I used 60/80 grit for the first grinding process. I also used antifreeze along with water to help keep grit on the rock. This machine possessed an automatic grit dispenser, which kept adding grit to the paste.

 Polishing

 Now you move to a small three-headed sphere machine to pre-polish the sphere. This could be a two or three step process depending on how many scratches are on the rock. The process works the same as before, only you use 100, 200, 400, 600 or 1,000 grit to remove the scratches and get the rock ready to polish. Each grit you use will take approximately one hour. It is always important to remember when you change grit to make sure there is no contamination from the previous grit or you will scratch the sphere. I had two machines: one was used for 200 and the other for 600 grit. This eliminated the contamination problem.

The pre-polish is a very important aspect of the sphere process and shouldn’t be taken lightly. The better the pre-polish, the better the final product will be.In polishing the sphere, you use a three-headed machine, but instead of grit, you use various polishing substances, including cerium oxide, chrome oxide, tin oxide, Rapid 61, Raybrite, Linde A and Zam, to name a few. The polishing cups can be made of wood, carpet, felt or leather.

Certain polishes work better on particular rocks. Tin oxide, for example, is the best for obsidian. The same is true of applicators—leather might work better than carpet on a specific rock.

 I have visited with sphere makers and collectors all over the USA. Each craftsman has his own special way to treat a sphere. Although making a sphere can be messy, tedium and expensive, the finished product makes it all worthwhile.

o o oo o oo o oo o oo o oo o o

 SUBMISSIONS ARE WELCOME! Letters, columns, instructional stories, information on new and unique spheres, etc. The editor reserves the right to edit any material for publication.
 
 

Match the sphere to what it was before nature fossilized it into rock and modern society gave it a new name:

1. 1. Copralite
2. 2. Ammonite
3. 3. Teredo
6. 4. Coquina
7. 5. Stromatolite
8. 6. Script

A. Snail-like creature
B. Seashells
C. Dinosaur dung
D. Clams
E. Algea
F. Shipworm
Answer: 1(C), 2 (A), 3 (F), 4(B) 5 (E), 6(D)
 
 

Looking to Add Something Special to Your Collection?

Spheres To You will send a merchandise list upon request.

PrOfile

Wolfgang Mueller

 Wolfgang Mueller is one of the leading sphere specialty cutters in America. He works with unusual materials and frequently cuts on consignment for dealers.

 His career in sphering began almost accidentally. As a youngster, he only occasionally collected rocks and says, "I still have the first collected specimen that I gathered as a kid." After finding physics not for him, a college advisor suggested geology. Wolfgang worked as a geologist and metallurgist for Magma Copper and minerologist for Newmont for nearly 12 years. Simultaneously he became an avid collector and somewhere along the line "got the crazy notion" to duplicate a ulexite cabachon that he had seen. He set out to cut it, but wasn’t sure how to ensure the cat’s eye positioning. "I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that if I sphered it, I’d know best how to orient it." The finished sphere was so beautiful, it began his career in sphering and that sphere is still on its appropriate dop stick.

 Today, Wolfgang cuts such unique materials as ulexite, Canadian eudialite, gaespaeite, datolite, flourescent minerals from the Franklin area mines, clear calcite, turitella agate, copper and silver-included minerals. The favorites in his own collection are ore minerals such as galena, chalcopyrite and covelite. "I won’t cut minerals that have already been established in the marketplace," he explains. Wolfgang and his wife Diana, who also makes spheres and jewelry, live in a remote corner of Arizona and are building a house in which they will have a work studio.

WANT TO ADVERTISE?

Sphere’s To You will accept advertisements in the next issue at a rate of $35/ column inch. Please send camera ready art or copy and check.
 
 

Spheres To You’s Spring Price List Is Ready!

 If you’d like to receive our merchandise list, which includes spheres, marbles and stands, please call, fax, email or mail your request.

Editor: Jackie Lapin

Published By: