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Quartz, Natural and Synthetic
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Elise




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PostPosted: Feb 23, 2015 15:45    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

John S. White wrote:
I am one of those who found the repaired amethyst unsettling. It is all well and good to say it is okay if the specimens are appropriately labelled, but we all know that there are those who will not do so.

Our mutual friend mineralogist/gemologist John I. Koivula is finding our discussion very interesting and comments that any mineral which can be grown hydrothermally can also be repaired by regrowth - it is nothing new and has been done with emeralds to heal surface damage and cracks in crystals and gems (discussed and illustrated in his Photoatlas Volume 3 on pages 444 and 474).

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PostPosted: Feb 23, 2015 16:08    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Dear all

By sure, as Mr.White said, all that could be hydrothermally grown could be repaired. But as Mr. White said, do not label it is not exactly ethic in my understanding...
I have diamonds synthetic, and rubies, and a silver and a gold...
Three first sold me as synthetic. Last, as a palladium natural gold, that, things of live, has no palladium (tested) and is man made....and sold in Munich as man-made some years ago...

So, synthetics/man made are nice, no doubt. Just that this work in a honourable world....that, sadly, is not our world.... So many crooks selling synthetic as natural....

Repaired is repaired, cut is cut (some sold so, or so is said to me....), man made is man made... Just that not all those are properly labeled.

By the way, profit is great and not so difficult. Or not so difficult for me (chemist...).
Long time? Yes. But if you only need to wait.....

With best wishes

Lluis
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Jamison Brizendine




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PostPosted: Feb 24, 2015 17:17    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Vladimir and I talked at our club meeting (Mineralogical Society of Cleveland) about his experiences at Tucson, people’s reaction to his case and some more of my observations.

I was aware of the upcoming article in Rocks & Minerals, but I withheld that information, because honestly….I wanted it to be a surprise. I haven’t seen the rough draft of it, but I will mention that it will come out before the end of 2016, probably very soon.

Vlad wanted me to let everyone know that the “Japan Law Twins” are not actual Japan Law twins; they are an attempt to making one. So far he has been unsuccessful at getting the correct angle needed for it be a Japan-law. Our club has dubbed them “Vlad Twins”, but yes these are some of my favorites too. It is still unclear what conditions are needed for a Japan-Law twin to actually occur in nature, and Vlad has never seen a Japan-Law Twin actually grow in the autoclave.

In Elise’s picture 20150220_Syn_Quartz_6613a96, you can see one of the seed crystals very easily, which actually is a very thin plate. It is running diagonally where the top crystals randomly generated across that plane.

In Elise’s picture 20150214_Tucson_6605a96, I believe the green inclusions in the twin are caused by loose acmite. I believe that is caused as a byproduct of the caustic solution and the steel autoclave.

My mother inquired if my specimen (the broken Guerrero), had won any awards. I explained to her that the quartz cases were non-competitive cases, but apparently if “Most scary!!” is an award, I guess it won that. Vlad told me that a lot of dealers (names withheld, but the majority whose names I had recognized) mentioned that they were “afraid”. Are we talking about fear as in walking in a haunted house with fake zombies covered in blood, that pop out at you of every crevice imaginable or fear as in my irrational fear of the leprechauns in “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”?

Wasn’t there, just last month, a thread about gypsum crystals, which I certainly wouldn’t term “natural” (https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=4083). I didn’t see comments that these would instill a new “Age of Fakery”, nor did I see comments that these gypsum clusters could evoke fear and terror into the hearts of mineral collectors. I have no doubt that John White’s example of his “Unscrupulous Mineral Dealer” would try to sell these gypsum crystals as natural ones too. There are just some dealers who will do anything dishonest to get a buck…

Again, I wanted to note here the only other successful attempt at “healing” a broken quartz was an heavily fractured Arkansas quartz. After about five months in the autoclave, the terminations did in fact “regrow”, but it didn’t “repair” or “fill” the fractures.

Vlad also has mentioned to me that any coatings on a crystal, like natural iron stained coatings or those weird looking “Aqua Aura Quartzes” would dissolve in an autoclave. I was massively disappointed that this would happen, as I really wanted to see a half “Aqua-Aura” bottom and a perfectly clear top!

Remember, that you can’t stick any random quartz in and expect it to “regrow”. It must have minimal matrix and it must not have openings or inclusions that could potentially destroy the entire integrity of the specimen, like the majority of rutile included quartz crystals from Brazil.

Here is another synthetic quartz I own, but this one takes the “fakery” and pushed it to the next level, has it has been artificially irradiated to boot.



JKB00767,XC5-99H, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.JPG
 Mineral: Irradiated Synthetic Quartz
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
12.5 x 7.5 x 2.5 cm
This specimen took about a year and a half to neatly crystallize. This specimen shows good crystal growth, but was then irradiated to turn it a smoky color. Finally, the quartz has three small complicated "poof balls". Interestingly, the smoky color is not completely black, like you see similar specimens from Arkansas.
 Viewed:  38943 Time(s)

JKB00767,XC5-99H, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.JPG


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Elise




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PostPosted: Feb 24, 2015 21:03    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Jamison Brizendine wrote:
My mother inquired if my specimen (the broken Guerrero), had won any awards. I explained to her that the quartz cases were non-competitive cases, but apparently if “Most scary!!” is an award, I guess it won that. Vlad told me that a lot of dealers (names withheld, but the majority whose names I had recognized) mentioned that they were “afraid”.

Hi Jamison - I'm so glad you chimed in on this thread. Thank you so much for clarifying about the twins in the display and on the distorted one I have. I have seen synthetic Japan-law twins more than a year ago (and have been since waiting patiently for one which is "on order"...maybe still growing).

I'm perplexed by the reports of some people's reaction to the regrown/repaired specimen in the display - it seems unwarranted and hopefully the upcoming article will dispel these fears, as well as illuminate further this fascinating endeavor. The upcoming article was announced in the display materials, but I hope it will come as a welcome surprise to the majority of the R&M readership.

Gemologist John I. Koivula reminded me earlier today about an example of quartz re-growth in experiments dating back to 1908. This was published in a 1944 paper by Paul F. Kerr and F. Armstrong entitled "Early experiments in quartz growth through about 1940" (Bulletin of Geological Soc. of America, 54, Supplement 1, pp 1-4). In it is a picture showing a natural Japan-law twinned quartz crystal before and after 5 months of re-growth of its two broken terminations (also of its unbroken termination). This picture also appears in Kurt Nassau's book "Gems Made by Man" page 101. As with your specimen, the regrowth is visibly different in both clarity and form from the natural part.

Best wishes,
Elise

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PostPosted: Feb 24, 2015 21:23    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Jamison wrote: "... the “Japan Law Twins” are not actual Japan Law twins; they are an attempt to making one. So far he has been unsuccessful at getting the correct angle needed for it be a Japan-law. Our club has dubbed them “Vlad Twins”, but yes these are some of my favorites too. It is still unclear what conditions are needed for a Japan-Law twin to actually occur in nature, and Vlad has never seen a Japan-Law Twin actually grow in the autoclave."

Confirming what Jamison wrote above, I know a materials scientist in Japan who has spent many years researching synthesized quartz crystals and, from many many thousands examined, he has never seen a single Japan-law twin spontaneously generate in the autoclaves. He does occasionally manufacture true Japan-law twins, up to 5cm or so in size, but always starting with a tiny natural Japan-law twin, around 3mm or so in size, as the seed crystal.
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PostPosted: Mar 10, 2015 13:07    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

For those interested here's a great video that talks about how synthetic quartz crystals are grown, along with many fine examples of the Russian specimens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQOSPwodWY
(link normalized by FMF)

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Pete Richards
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PostPosted: Mar 10, 2015 17:01    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

alfredo wrote:
snip, and a bit of rewording...
A materials scientist in Japan has spent many years researching synthesized quartz crystals and, from many many thousands examined, he has never seen a single Japan-law twin spontaneously generate in the autoclaves. He does occasionally manufacture true Japan-law twins, up to 5cm or so in size, but always starting with a tiny natural Japan-law twin, around 3mm or so in size, as the seed crystal.

Yes, this is exactly what would be expected. Twinning is one consequence of a sudden burst of crystal growth (nucleation) where high crystallization pressures lead to slight but crystallographically systematic "mistakes" in early crystal growth that we later call twins. In a synthetic growth environment, everything is tightly controlled, and the seed makes sure that saturation does not get too high. Regular parallel growth on the seed is to be expected. If one provides a Japan-law twinned seed, then regular growth should follow the established pattern and continue the twin. But spontaneous twinning is very unlikely in this environment.

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PostPosted: May 26, 2015 11:38    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Pete Richards wrote:
I have a quartz specimen that I treasure, made by Vlad. I treasure it because its basic symmetry is all wrong - it is a cube! Actually, I'm sure the symmetry is all right (alright?) because it is controlled by the structure. But the way the seed was cut allowed it to develop into a cube. Fun!


Sharing Pete's enthusiasm for enigmas, here are two of the oriented and etched synthetic quartz cubes; one with the faces, piezoelectric and optical directions labeled. I showed these to Si and Ann Frazier last weekend and they were as fascinated by them as we are!

The optical axis "c" ( Z for piezoelectric) is perpendicular to the pinacoid (0001) faces with triangle etch pits. Axis "a" (X, or electrical axis) is perpendicular to the "c" and both trigonal (positive +X and negative -X) prism faces. Mechanical axis Y is perpendicular to both "c" and "a" axes and to the hexagonal prism "m" faces.

The cube on the left is rotated so the "m" face is facing front, while the cube on the right has the "m" face facing to the right(ish).The red and green arrows mark the rhombohedral faces and the blue one marks the trigonal bipyramid (as I understand it, the yellow arrow points to a contact point in the chamber).



20150505_7924a96b.jpg
 Description:
Synthetic Quartz (oriented and etched)
 Viewed:  37692 Time(s)

20150505_7924a96b.jpg



cubes_sm.jpg
 Description:
For scale
 Viewed:  37639 Time(s)

cubes_sm.jpg



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PostPosted: May 26, 2015 13:14    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Wow, great fun and really interesting. I can see why they liked them. Even though they are synthetic I could give them a home!
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PostPosted: May 26, 2015 13:20    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

It's very beautifull and squares are perfect. Congratulations ! :)
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PostPosted: Jun 20, 2015 08:10    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

These are the crystals which Alfredo speaks of. What is really neat is the Y shape of both. This is my understanding of this "Y" morphology as seen here which is so different from the examples of natural quartz specimens:

When growing more-or-less freely suspended on the wire holding the seed crystal, the larger twin grows faster and in both directions. That is rarely seen in nature because the crystal is attached to the matrix at the apex of the V and so growth is inhibited in that direction (it used to be thought that the V was the other half of an X). At least that is my understanding from studying quartz synthesis: Frondel proposed the X morphology theory, but Dr Sunagawa argued against it based on his experiments with synthetic growth on twinned seed crystals. One of the individuals always outgrows the other, thus inhibiting the other's growth and resulting in a Y.

I proposed that an Y would represent a "perfect crystal," I would think that if an X was not possible, then a Y would be perfect. Apparently natural Ys have been found, but never an X.

As examples of what might be thought of as X morphology, Alfredo referred me to these images of twins from his collection, hosted on mindat

https://www.mindat.org/photo-656770.html

https://www.mindat.org/photo-655849.html

https://www.mindat.org/photo-656771.html

It took me a while to figure these out, but finally with Sunagawa's book and several of his papers in hand, I believe those are what Dr. Sunagawa described as plural twins (he published drawings of several variations of these and stuck with his Y morphology theory to the end).

It is interesting to compare these actual Japan-law synthetic quartz twins to the "Vlad Twins" (link to those shown earlier in this thread: https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=44127&highlight=#44127 )
There is an explanation regarding these in the recent July/Aug 2015 Rocks and Minerals issue which has an indepth article about Vlad's crystals; see R&M article: "A Marriage of Science and Art: Creating Quartz Specimens in the Laboratory by Janet H. Clifford and Vlad A. Klipov" https://www.rocksandminerals.org/Back%20Issues/2015/July-August%202015/Specimens_abstract.html



20150617_quartz_7762a96Sm.jpg
 Description:
Japan Law Twinned Quartz (Synthetic) grown in Japan. The crystal on the left is approximently 5 cm across the top of the Y and the smaller crystal is about 2 cm across the top (photo: Elise Skalwold).
 Viewed:  37212 Time(s)

20150617_quartz_7762a96Sm.jpg



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PostPosted: Jan 08, 2016 14:17    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Congratulations Jamison on the "Photo of the Day" over on Mindat today:
https://www.mindat.org/photo-724266.html
(two closer views: https://www.mindat.org/photo-724264.html and https://www.mindat.org/photo-614942.html)
Best wishes,
Elise

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PostPosted: Jan 11, 2016 16:21    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

I promised Elise that I would start posting some of my hydrothermally grown synthetic quartz specimens on this thread. In February I posted a “smoky quartz” cluster specimen, so I thought it would be natural for me to post some of these types of specimens first. Today I will share four of these “cluster” like specimens.

Please bear in mind that my photography is not great quality. My camera is an older Kodak Z1275 Zoom camera and it has definitely seen better days!

Much of the information that was given was by personal communication with Vlad Klipov. The article cited is from Rocks & Minerals by Janet Clifford and Vlad Klipov (2015).

References cited:
Clifford, J., and V. Klipov, 2015, A marriage of science and art: Creating quartz specimens in the laboratory: Rocks & Minerals, v. 90 (4), p. 379-385



JKB533, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
30 cm x 15 cm x 6 cm
This specimen (JKB533) was probably one of the specimens that took the longest in terms to completely crystallize in its current state and was one of the “early specimens”. Like a similar specimen pictured in Clifford and Klipov (2015), this specimen has masses of randomly oriented crystals and a slight pinkish color at the base of the quartz.

One thing that isn’t obvious unless you look at similar specimens is that the overall shape of the specimen (not the quartz points themselves) follows a rough semi-circular shape. The reason for this shape is because the autoclaves themselves are round.

Like many of Vlad specimens, it takes multiple runs to get a specimen to look like this and then of course there is the time factor. This specimen took approximately five years from start to finish.
 Viewed:  35592 Time(s)

JKB533, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB592, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
6 cm x 5.5 cm x 4.3 cm
This specimen (JKB592) is considered to be a crystal spray. Although these are very attractive, the needlelike quartz crystals are extremely sharp. At first glance this specimen does resemble a mesolite or natrolite specimen from India, but this is actually quartz.
 Viewed:  35714 Time(s)

JKB592, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB643, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
5 cm x 4 cm x 3.5 cm
This specimen (JKB643) is another variation of the crystal spray. This specimen sports longer and slightly thicker crystals than the one above. The specimen also took a considerable time longer in the autoclave to achieve these results. To me the specimen resembles a hermit crab with its two pincers holding a sea anemone on its shell.
 Viewed:  35616 Time(s)

JKB643, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB712_Back, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
9 cm x 7 cm x 7.5 cm
This specimen (JKB712), shows yet another variation of the crystal spray, this time with multiple runs and new seeding sites to achieve this rather unusual shape. I affectionally called this specimen “Superman” because the main quartz crystal resembles the shape of the iconic symbol of the “Man of Steel”
 Viewed:  35512 Time(s)

JKB712_Back, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB712_Front, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
9 cm x 7 cm x 7.5 cm
This specimen (JKB712), shows yet another variation of the crystal spray, this time with multiple runs and new seeding sites to achieve this rather unusual shape. I affectionally called this specimen “Superman” because the main quartz crystal resembles the shape of the iconic symbol of the “Man of Steel”. Reverse Side
 Viewed:  35498 Time(s)

JKB712_Front, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg


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Matt_Zukowski
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PostPosted: Jan 11, 2016 17:11    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Please do not apologize for your photos - they are great. And I love seeing what you guys are able to grow. Very interesting and thanks!
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PostPosted: Jan 12, 2016 14:21    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Thanks Matt for the compliment! My home setup is extremely low cost for photography. I use a cardboard box with either a black cloth or a white poster for a backdrop. Then use a tripod to fix the camera on top. Finally the flash is usually covered with some cheap paper towels to try and reduce glare. It isn’t uncommon for me to go through 15-20 digital shots, before I am somewhat satisfied with at least one.

After this process I use Paint to get rid of unwanted background elements, then autofill with black (usually), white (rarely) or a shade of gray.

Yesterday, I showed several specimens that featured clusters. According to Vlad, the clusters are easier to get desired results, because the crystals are more or less randomly oriented. Another note I forgot to mention is that many of the clusters are also artfully arranged by his wife Mila, who also plays the role of art critic!

Today, I will talk about the “Vlad Twins”, which involve a combination of engineering, art, patience and of course luck. Elise Skalwold and Jesse Fisher kindly provided some really high quality pictures on this thread already of these twins, but I also wanted to share my specimens as well.

“Vlad Twins” are the nickname for the V-shaped twins our club, The Mineralogical Society of Cleveland, came up with. These twins are an attempt at creating the elusive 84°33’, the Japan-law twin. These twins very in angles between 70 and 90 degrees, and some quartz collectors note they also resemble Reichenstein-Grieserntal twins [84°33’] (Clifford and Klipov 2015).

As stated in Clifford and Klipov (2015), twins take approximately 9 months to grow, but the larger ones, of course take more time. Of course the “exact” methods in creating these twins are a complete secret!

One final thing, the citation below should be the correct citation.

References cited:

Clifford, J., and V. Klipov, 2015, A marriage of science and art: Creating quartz specimens in the laboratory: Rocks & Minerals, v. 90 (4), p. 379-385



JKB766, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
4.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 3 cm
This specimen (JKB766) is a classic example of a “Vlad Twin” or “V-Twin”. These twins are thicker than natural Japan-law twin crystals.
 Viewed:  35419 Time(s)

JKB766, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB906, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
3.7 cm x 3.8 cm x 2.4 cm
This specimen (JKB906) is another example of a “Vlad Twin”. This example puts a “twist” to these aesthetic twins; it has another crystal at the back. This “tail” at the backend is rather unique and involves even more calculations and luck in trying to grow three seed crystals at the same time.
 Viewed:  35339 Time(s)

JKB906, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB834, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
4.8 cm x 1.4 cm x 2.8 cm
This specimen (JKB834) was one of the earlier attempts at trying to make a Japan-law twin crystal.
 Viewed:  35519 Time(s)

JKB834, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB907, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
3 cm x 2.8 cm x 2.5 cm
This specimen (JKB907) is actually my personal favorite of all the “twins”. Like any art, whether it is sculpting, shading, photography, etc., trial and error is a big process. Many of the first attempts at creating twins ended up collapsing in on themselves because the angles and calculations were wrong. I call this pair of intergrown quartz crystals an “Oops! Twin” and it is a personal reminder that with perseverance and hard work, some obstacles can be overcome.
 Viewed:  35309 Time(s)

JKB907, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg


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Jamison Brizendine




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PostPosted: Jan 15, 2016 16:54    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Today, I am going to reveal some unusual specimens of synthetic quartz crystals.

References Cited:

Clifford, J., and V. Klipov, 2015, A marriage of science and art: Creating quartz specimens in the laboratory: Rocks & Minerals, v. 90 (4), p. 379-385



JKB710, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
4 cm x 3.2 cm x 4 cm
This specimen (JKB710) is a single crystal of synthetic quartz. The metallic plate is mounted in the canister.
 Viewed:  35009 Time(s)

JKB710, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB662, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
4.5 cm x 3.3 cm x 2.2 cm
This specimen (JKB662) is a single crystal with the metallic plate outside of the canister. The metal is thin enough to string a wire. Makes for a great Christmas tree ornament!
 Viewed:  35009 Time(s)

JKB662, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB905, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
2.8 cm x 2.7 cm x 10 cm
This specimen (JKB0905) is a new development for 2015. In Clifford and Klipov (2015), Vlad revealed that one of his goals was to create scepters. This specimen is one of the many results. Its shape resembles a funnel-shaped scepter. Both ends are terminated.
 Viewed:  35029 Time(s)

JKB905, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg



JKB908, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg
 Mineral: Hydrothermally Grown Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Description:
R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States
5.2 cm x 1.8 cm x 3.6 cm
This specimen (JKB908) is a rather neat example of an enhydro synthetic quartz. The bubble is easily visible toward the bottom of the specimen.
 Viewed:  35013 Time(s)

JKB908, Synthetic Silicon Dioxide, R&D XTALS LLC, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, United States.jpg


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Jamison Brizendine




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PostPosted: Jan 18, 2016 11:59    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Today, I will be showing the last two "synthetic quartz" specimens from my collection.

Both of these specimens were originally broken pieces. Vlad inspected each one to see if it was a good candidate for the autoclave and then placed them in the autoclave over a period of many months.

The first specimen is the amethyst from Guerrero, Mexico, which has been seen on the forum and at the 2015 Tucson Show. The second specimen is a hunk of natural “rock crystal” transparent quartz that was found in Baltimore, Maryland.



JKB274, Amethyst, Guerrero, Mexico, repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide.jpg
 Mineral: Amethyst repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Locality:
Guerrero, Mexico
 Dimensions: Before repair: 5 cm x 5 cm x 3.7 cm, after repair: 9.1 cm x 8.8 cm x 6.6 cm
 Description:
This specimen is the “regrown” amethyst from Guerrero, Mexico (JKB274). This photo is the same photo that was nominated as Mindat’s “Picture of the Day”. The original color has been significantly diminished, but the luster has been improved considerably. Note the small addition of quartz at the front. This was so that the specimen wouldn’t wobble back and forth.
 Viewed:  35214 Time(s)

JKB274, Amethyst, Guerrero, Mexico, repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide.jpg



JKB209, Natural Quartz, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide (2).jpg
 Mineral: Natural quartz repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Locality:
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
 Dimensions: Before repair: 8 cm x 5.5 cm x 3.7 cm, after repair: 13.2 cm x 7.6 cm x 8.8 cm
 Description:
The second specimen (JKB209) is a specimen of natural quartz from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. This specimen was a fairly ordinary chunk of clear quartz, that had been obviously been fractured by tectonic forces and had partially frosted edges. Vlad inspected the piece and informed me he would attempt to try and regrow it. This is the result of this experiment.A rather unusual outcome here is that when I received the specimen back, I noticed under an ultraviolet light that the specimen did actually fluoresce a yellow color. I believe that the original specimen must have had some accessory mineral that did not dissolve in the autoclave! This certainly surprised everyone, because we all assumed that most accessory minerals would have dissolved under those conditions. I believe this mineral may be wollastonite.
 Viewed:  34818 Time(s)

JKB209, Natural Quartz,  Baltimore, Maryland, United States,   repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide (2).jpg



JKB209, Natural Quartz, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide (1).jpg
 Mineral: Natural quartz repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Locality:
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
 Dimensions: Before repair: 8 cm x 5.5 cm x 3.7 cm, after repair: 13.2 cm x 7 cm x 6.6 cm
 Description:
The second specimen (JKB209) is a specimen of natural quartz from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. This specimen was a fairly ordinary chunk of clear quartz, that had been obviously been fractured by tectonic forces and had partially frosted edges. Vlad inspected the piece and informed me he would attempt to try and regrow it. This is the result of this experiment.A rather unusual outcome here is that when I received the specimen back, I noticed under an ultraviolet light that the specimen did actually fluoresce a yellow color. I believe that the original specimen must have had some accessory mineral that did not dissolve in the autoclave! This certainly surprised everyone, because we all assumed that most accessory minerals would have dissolved under those conditions. I believe this mineral may be wollastonite.
 Viewed:  34843 Time(s)

JKB209, Natural Quartz,  Baltimore, Maryland, United States,   repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide (1).jpg



JKB209, Natural Quartz, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide (3).jpg
 Mineral: Natural quartz repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide
 Locality:
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
 Dimensions: Before repair: 8 cm x 5.5 cm x 3.7 cm, after repair: 13.2 cm x 7 cm x 6.6 cm
 Description:
The second specimen (JKB209) is a specimen of natural quartz from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. This specimen was a fairly ordinary chunk of clear quartz, that had been obviously been fractured by tectonic forces and had partially frosted edges. Vlad inspected the piece and informed me he would attempt to try and regrow it. This is the result of this experiment.A rather unusual outcome here is that when I received the specimen back, I noticed under an ultraviolet light that the specimen did actually fluoresce a yellow color. I believe that the original specimen must have had some accessory mineral that did not dissolve in the autoclave! This certainly surprised everyone, because we all assumed that most accessory minerals would have dissolved under those conditions. I believe this mineral may be wollastonite.
 Viewed:  34861 Time(s)

JKB209, Natural Quartz,  Baltimore, Maryland, United States,   repaired by Synthetic Silicon Dioxide (3).jpg


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Indrid_Cold




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PostPosted: Feb 01, 2016 22:49    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Scott LaBorde wrote:
For those interested here's a great video that talks about how synthetic quartz crystals are grown, along with many fine examples of the Russian specimens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQOSPwodWY
(link normalized by FMF)

I'm the producer of the Russian Quartz video.

Do you, or anyone on this board have contact info for Vladimir Klipov and R&D XTALS? I simply must add some of his crystals to my collection. Are you all aware that Vladimir was once the lead engineering scientist at Sawyer Labs?
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Indrid_Cold




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PostPosted: Feb 02, 2016 10:23    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Jamison Brizendine wrote:
Thanks Matt for the compliment! My home setup is extremely low cost for photography. I use a cardboard box with either a black cloth or a white poster for a backdrop. Then use a tripod to fix the camera on top. Finally the flash is usually covered with some cheap paper towels to try and reduce glare. It isn’t uncommon for me to go through 15-20 digital shots, before I am somewhat satisfied with at least one.

After this process I use Paint to get rid of unwanted background elements, then autofill with black (usually), white (rarely) or a shade of gray.

Yesterday, I showed several specimens that featured clusters. According to Vlad, the clusters are easier to get desired results, because the crystals are more or less randomly oriented. Another note I forgot to mention is that many of the clusters are also artfully arranged by his wife Mila, who also plays the role of art critic!

Today, I will talk about the “Vlad Twins”, which involve a combination of engineering, art, patience and of course luck. Elise Skalwold and Jesse Fisher kindly provided some really high quality pictures on this thread already of these twins, but I also wanted to share my specimens as well.

“Vlad Twins” are the nickname for the V-shaped twins our club, The Mineralogical Society of Cleveland, came up with. These twins are an attempt at creating the elusive 84°33’, the Japan-law twin. These twins very in angles between 70 and 90 degrees, and some quartz collectors note they also resemble Reichenstein-Grieserntal twins [84°33’] (Clifford and Klipov 2015).

As stated in Clifford and Klipov (2015), twins take approximately 9 months to grow, but the larger ones, of course take more time. Of course the “exact” methods in creating these twins are a complete secret!

One final thing, the citation below should be the correct citation.

References cited:

Clifford, J., and V. Klipov, 2015, A marriage of science and art: Creating quartz specimens in the laboratory: Rocks & Minerals, v. 90 (4), p. 379-385


I am trying to locate contact info for R&D XTALS. They do not seem to have a web presence or email address that I can fine. Does anyone have info on how to contact and purchase from them???



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Enrique Llorens




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PostPosted: Feb 02, 2016 11:09    Post subject: Re: Quartz, Natural and Synthetic  

Vladimir Klipov 5525 Wilson Mills Highland Heights,oh 44143 Effective Date: 07/11/2005 Contact Status: Active
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