[Jewelry making - Article 00812] - Re: [Orchid] [Digest Post] Helenite

[Ton / Ganoksin]

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From: "Karen Seidel" <rocklady AT nucleus.com>

    Hello Karen Helenite is actually a glass made from the ash from Mount
    St. Helens. It is usually a dark green similar to Green Tourmaline or
    Moldavite. 

    Karen Bahr   "the Rocklady"  (rocklady AT nucleus.com) K.I.S. Creations
    May your gems always sparkle. 
 

From: "Susan Lucas" <slucas AT suncountrygems.com>

    Hello all.  I've been lurking for quite a while and admiring all of
    your knowledge and talent with not much to offer of my own until now.
    Someone asked about helenite, and since I was living in the area at
    the time of the Mt. St. Helen's volcanic eruption know a little bit
    about it.  It is volcanic glass (obsidian.)  It is quite beautiful,
    and can be faceted to look as good as any gemstone.  In fact, I have
    a pair of earrings made from it that my mother faceted.  However, it
    is glass (even if it is made by mother nature.)  So keep in mind that
    it is somewhat soft and will show wear with time. 

    Susan Sun Country Gems www.suncountrygems.com 


From: Peter W.Rowe <PWRowe1 AT attbi.com>

    Well, after writing a reply to the Helenite question, and reading
    responses here, I bothered to get off my butt and do some Google
    searching. 

    There's quite a bit of info, some from people who obviously don't
    know beans, but some that's likely more reliable.  Here are some key
    points I didn't recall in my previous posting... 

    Producers claim this is NOT made from actual ASH, but from
    pulverized rock found as a crust or local deposits, sometimes near or
    on top of the ash layer. It differs chemically from the ash.  My
    understanding (which might be wrong) is that the ash itself is of
    basaltic composition, which means really low silica content, and thus
    not so good for making glass.  

    But rocks destroyed by the blast might be anything, and several
    sources, including some little hand out cards about the stuff at a
    local "made in washington" store that sells the things, suggest that
    this contains about 62 percent silica, and 17 percent alumina, and
    then a bunch of other stuff. actually, that might have been intended
    to read silicon, the element, rather than silica.  Dont' know.  The
    web site I saw that on said silicone (with an e on the end), which I
    know has to be a misprint.   Anyway, that might indeed make a glass
    without additions of other materials.   Helenite seems to be
    available in several colors, the usual bright green, a more muted
    bluish green, and red. I don't know the degree to which these are
    genuine or not, of course, but one source suggested that the original
    stocks of the pulverized rock found after the big eruption gave a
    color that was more olivine/peridot like, while the stuff used for
    the brighter colors came from one or more much smaller
    eruptions/events in '81 (the original eruption was '80), and then
    again a small event in the '90s.   Such detail, along with the
    detailed printed chemical analysis printed on those hand out cards,
    by the manufacturer, not just the local dealer, suggests to me that
    the likelyhood of these being what they say they are, is good.  After
    all, once it's in print, if it's false, they can be sued, and so far,
    I don't think anyone has suggested doing that. 

    But keep in mind that no matter what, this IS still just man made
    glass. And the source material, while geographically associated with
    Mt. St. Helens, not only has to come from outside the park boundaries
    to be legal, but is represented as being a material related to the
    eruption, but not actual ash. The stuff could be just from rocks that
    were already just surface rocks in the area of the eruption, rather
    than anything actually volcanic in origin.  That, in fact, seems
    likely to me... 

    cheers Peter 


From: "M. Osedo" <musubigirl AT studiocute.com>

>     Folks, I've recently seen a spate of faceted gems marketed as
>     "Helenite" and described as gems created in the eruption of Mt.
>     St. Helens in Washington State.  Can any of you shed any light on
>     this? 

    I think I bought one of those as a souvenir for a friend once, when
    I went to Seattle. According to the little card that came with the
    one I bought, it sounded essentially like processed volcanic glass
    that was made clear and enhanced with trace metal to give it color,
    then faceted. Yeah, it was silly to buy it if I knew that, but it was
    a prettier gift than getting something large and gaudy, and plastic
    (and made in China). If that's the same thing as what you're talking
    about, then I don't know if it has any value outside of
    sentimental... 

    -- M. Osedo http://www.studiocute.com 


From: RING14K AT aol.com

    Hi I have seen helenite and to my knowledge it isa stone created
    with some of the ash from mt st. helens eruption. i have seen mt. st.
    helens glass and that has about a hundreth of a gram of ash in a
    hundred pound glass pot. So my thoughts are gimick and thats about
    it!.... ringman 

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