ÿþ<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 97"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.7 [en] (WinNT; I) [Netscape]"> <title>THE SPHERICAL WORLD</title> </head> <body text="#FFFF00" link="#000FFF" vlink="#FF0000" background="blckmrbl.jpg" <B> <center><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+4>THE SPHERICAL WORLD</font></font> <br><font color="#FFFF00">A Publication of ATMOSPHERE</font> <br><font color="#FFFF00">THE SOCIETY FOR THE APPRECIATION OF MINERAL SPHERES</font></center> <p><br> <br> <br> <br> <p><font color="#FFFF00">&nbsp;<font size=+3>MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER MAKES ITS RETURN AFTER 35 YEARS!</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>One of the most prized sphere materials--Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper--is returning to the market-place after a 35-year absence.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>This unique and varied mineral is only found in one location, near California's Silicon Valley. Orbicular Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper (MHPJ) has a vast array of colors and patterns. An igneous stone with many elements, it is dominated by iron and quartz. The rock's striking palette features up to 30 different colors, most of them brilliant. Its foremost colors include China red, golden yellow, black, gray, hunter green, oranges, browns, translucent quartz, bur-gundies, purple and mustard yellow. A one-pound piece can contain up to 10 separate colors!</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Six different species are being mined currently. Opaque MGPJ features any or all of the 30 colors. An offshoot of this is the remarkable "Pimento" which is in limited supply and can be seen on our website. It's most significant feature is the sparse patterning of cells, each one a little gem. Spiderweb MHPJ is interesting because it's unfinished& the circles are not fully developed. They are red, yellow and brick-colored with&nbsp; hematite around each cell. The Gemmy version is dominated by quartz, with the "orbs" floating gracefully in the quartz. Electric MHPJ contains mass concentric rings and is very rare. Brecciated MHPJ has striations of color with sporadic inclusions of cells.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>The Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper mine, completely on private land, has only recently been re-opened by a young and enthusiastic mine owner. The deposit evolved 500 to 700 million years ago in the Paleozoic Era, in a region showing intense volcanic activity.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Spheres To You is able to take custom orders for&nbsp; spheres in many of these varieties. Contact us if you are interested!</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+2>GUEST COLUMNIST:</font></font> <br><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+2>Ron Kadrmas</font></font> <p><i><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Ron is a sphere enthusiast from Colorado Springs whose secret of success is picking great rough material for sphere making. He shares his knowledge with us.</font></font></i> <p><b><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Selecting Rough</font></font></b> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Let me start out by saying that one never knows precisely how a piece of material will ultimately look when it becomes a sphere. Anyone can be fooled no matter how experienced you are. Minerals are highly unpredictable. Something that looks great from the outside, may have fractures inside. Another piece might look mundane on the outside and be a gem when it's cut and polished. Be that as it may, I'd like to offer some basic suggestions for sphere makers that may help produce the best results.</font></font> <p><b><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Finding Rough</font></font></b> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Research is the key to finding good rough. You have to do your homework. Some of the easiest ways to find good rough include going to mineral swap clubs and to the large mineral shows in the region. You can join your local mineral club, where members often have a longtime store of knowledge about regional resources. Rockhounds' backyards and old collections that are being liquidated are also another good source. The Internet is increasingly becoming a useful tool. Joining the Rocks &amp; Fossils or Rockhounds Mailing Lists online may lead to valuable information.&nbsp; However, my best source is a book called "The Coast to Coast Gem Atlas" published by Cy Johnson &amp; Son of Susanville, CA, a listing of rock shops across the country. If you are looking for a specific material, the local rock shop will almost inevitably know where to find it.</font></font> <p><b><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Being Choosy</font></font></b> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>As a beginner, there is almost no way to intuitively know which is the best material. You must get to know it over time with practice. I suggest starting out with something that is in the softer range--calcites, aragonite, onyx. Avoid petrified wood unless you can determine it is a very solid piece. Obsidian requires a special polish.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>When you meet with the seller of the material, make sure you do it before sundown, so you can view it in sunlight, not in someone's dark garage. Take along a spray bottle of water to wet it. This will bring out some of the material's features. Look for pieces that have no fractures of veins. You're looking for consistency of material, not a lot of matrix or alternating substances. Ask the owner to show you polished pieces from the same batch. Learn the specific locality of origin, because you or someone buying it from you will want to know and you may want to get additional material from another source. Purchase several pieces so that you can experiment with it, but save your most expensive piece for last, when you've gotten a sense of how this particular rough cuts.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Start by cutting the ends off a few pieces of material and polishing it, just to get a feel for it. When you begin preparing it for cutting, you must figure that the cube should be 1/2 inch larger than your intended sphere size. Ultimately, to get a sphere of high quality, all six sides of the cube should clean up to show only the material itself, no matrix or muddy matter. Some matrices polish well and others don't, and only a very experienced sphere maker can judge that in advance.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>A good all around polishing and pre-polishing&nbsp; product is the grades of alumina (sapphire) made by Reynolds, which can be located through the Lapidary Journal Buyer's Guide. This polishes a wide range of materials.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Work with your material. Over time it tell you about itself. It is unlikely you can get the most superior sphere from a material until you know it well.&nbsp; Remem-ber, this is like opal--save the best for last. Even then you might be surprised. Your "worst" rough, may be your best sphere. That's the mystery of sphere making.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; - RK</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00">.</font> <br><u><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+2>The Sphere That Could Have Been 10 Million Integrated Circuit Chips!</font></font></u> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Recently at a rock show I spotted a beautiful 6-inch hematite sphere. At closer examination I discovered the sphere was not hematite at all but rather a piece of pure silicon. After question-ing the owner I learned that the sphere had been cut from a single silicon crystal. The Silicon crystal was grown in a furnace at 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit. One crystal is about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and four feet long. It takes more than fifty complex steps to convert a micro-thin wafer of this pure silicon into integrated circuits. It stag-ers the mind to think of the total technology and man hours it took to make this single silicon sphere. If anyone suggests this is a waste of a natural resource, remind them that Silicone (non-matallic element #14) makes up more than 25% of the earth's crust.</font></font> <br><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>--Paul Elsmore</font></font> <br><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Oceanside, CA</font></font> <br>&nbsp; <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Read our monthly column on spheres in the Eclectic Lapidary online magazine!</font></font> <p><b><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+2>Today'sTip</font></font></b> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;Want to know how to get scratches out of amber spheres? Reader Barbara Allen of Schaumberg IL, suggests polishing them with styrofoam covered in auto wax. She also proposes keeping jet spheres shiny by using a skin moisturizer! She uses a product called Shea Butter, made from African Shea Tree nuts. Used in Africa for various health remedies for thousands of years, this product can now be obtained from Omololu International, PO Box 267, Memphis TN 38101.</font></font> <br>&nbsp; <p><u><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+2>DENVER REPORT</font></font></u> <br><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue& well, we're missing the borrowed part, but everything else was evident in spheres at&nbsp; September's Denver show.</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Here's the old:</font></font> <p><font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>A couple of old favorites made their appearances in new forms:</font></font> <ul> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Tiger eye can now be found in a beautiful red rust color</font></font></li> </ul> <ul> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;There is a new allotment of citrine coming out of Vietnam.</font></font></li> </ul> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>Something new:</font></font> <ul> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;Aquamarine from Brazil is just now coming on the market in sphered form. Also:</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;Lovely purple anhydrite from Madagascar</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;Black and white gabbro</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;A baby blue pectolite from the Dominican Republic (only in small marbles)</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;Dark red magnesite from Brazil</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;A limited supply of gorgeous peach and cream youngite.</font></font></li> </ul> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>And the blue:</font></font> <ul> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;In addition to green and pink, sparkly aventurine is now arriving in a deep royal blue</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;Goldstone is now readily available in midnight blue</font></font></li> <li> <font color="#FFFF00"><font size=+1>&nbsp;A pretty new manifestation of lapis--cobalt blue with minute white snowflakes joins the lapis family of spheres.</font></font></li> </ul> <font color="#FFFF00">.</font> <center><img SRC="vol3ad.gif" height=120 width=230></center> <p><br> </body> </html>