[Jewelry making - Article 00272] - Re: [Orchid] New Colors in Jade?

[coralnut]

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Susan,

    It probably will never end!  It seems the tendency these days, is to
    look for new colors, textures, hues, etc. The guys that own the dye
    making factories love such a market and keep on pumping em out.
    Remember, there are many other stones than serpentine that dye quite
    easily and are hard. Agate comes to mind.  Agate is quite easy to
    dye because, while it is a 7 in hardness, it is also pourous
    (well...most parts are anyway). So, it can be given any color and
    then polished beautifully. There are others as well.  I would
    suggest anyone working in the bead field (if you will) would do well
    to take a basic stone identification course at least so they can do
    their own testing.  Knowing how to determine the hardness of a stone
    is just the beginning.  Doing specific gravity tests will help a lot
    and, on the really tough ones, learn to use a refractometer. etc,
    etc. 

    Sounds like you have come a long way recently, huh? 

    Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where simple
    elegance IS fine jewelry! dcdietz AT comcast.net

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