[Jewelry making - Article 00357] - [Orchid] Copal vs Amber

[Andrew Werby]

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>      I don't know if this will be at all helpful (I know diddly-squat
>     about carving amber), but I noticed while searching for the green
>     amber cabs that www.sweetgemstones.com carries large chunks of
>     Colombian copal amber at what seem to be very reasonable prices.
>     The Baltic amber I found in a Google search was horribly
>     expensive. 

    I'm sure I won't be the only one to point this out, but sorry; copal
    and amber are not the same thing at all. It's like the difference
    between wood and petrified wood, although the constituents of amber
    polymerize over time instead of being replaced with minerals. Calling
    it "copal amber" as you do above, or "new amber", like the site you
    mentioned, just confuses people in my opinion.  Copal is tree sap,
    pretty much unmodified. It mostly comes from Colombia, which doesn't
    produce true amber. "Colombian amber" can be taken as a geographic
    euphemism like "Herkimer diamonds" or "German silver" to denote an
    entirely different material. Copal can have interesting inclusions of
    insects, etc., and it comes in much larger unfractured chunks than
    amber usually does, which are sometimes of remarkable clarity.
    Carving and polishing it is possible, but difficult, as it tends to
    be gummy. Amber originated as tree sap, but it has metamorphosed into
    a different material in the course of eons. Copal is at most some
    hundreds of years old, as opposed to amber which is millions of years
    old.  Amber is easier to work with, its major drawback is
    heat-sensitivity and a tendency to chip and fracture. The color of
    copal is more pale than most amber - a clear light yellow is typical.
    The best test I know of to tell the difference is to swab a piece
    with denatured alcohol. This will have no effect on amber (or most
    simulants), but copal will become sticky.  Let's use each material
    for what it's best suited: amber for making jewelry, and copal for
    burning as incense... 

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

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