[Jewelry making - Article 01528] - Re: [Orchid] Making artificial stones

[Peter]

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Hello Rishi:

    I am interested in learning more about building stones at this time
    rather than jewelry stones though those are very nice looking gems on
    your web site. And of course I have no objection if the moderator
    wishes to develop either thread. 

    What intrigues me is, as I posted earlier, that the building stones
    used for home and office sidings, walls etc. seem to be surpassing
    natural stones by just about every criterion. 

    I suppose the same can be said of diamonds, rubies and emeralds
    these days too. Would you call these simulant stones or synthetic
    stones? 

    Your third category is acrylic stones and I understand it, acrylic
    polymer may be used for the bonding of artificial building stones, eg
    http://www.rockandwater.com 

    We may call these building stones "artificial" but they seem to use
    much the same ingredients and processes of natural stone: (1)
    rock/mineral powder, grit or gravel (loose sediments as they are
    called in geology) ; (2) bonding chemicals like lime; (3) pressure to
    add to the bonding; (4) heat 

    I guess with synthetic diamonds etc. the temperatures and pressures
    are extreme. 

    There is an interesting historic web site on the making of Toronto
    bricks since the 1800s from clays, then shales (crushed) at
    http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/Brickmaking.html 

    I no longer live in Toronto but I have relatives living in those
    nice looking red brick houses. 

    Dare we call what is underway now a "revolution" in stonemaking?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick 

    The wiki tells us that in 2007 a new type of brick made from fly ash
    was invented. I googled around and found that actually others had
    been building fly ash bricks a few years earlier. Here in BC I have
    prospected a number of volcanic ash deposits. The volcanic ash may be
    as fine as fly ash so naturally I wonder how it would do in making
    these new bricks. 

    The multi-coloured artificial stone sidings we see more and more on
    "upscale" homes are impressive. In addition to meeting high
    aesthetic standards we read about the new artificial building stones
    and bricks being lighter and stronger than natural stones. Why not?
    The cracks (faults) which are ubiquitous in natural stones can be
    eliminated. 

    So I wonder if we are seeing the beginning of the end for natural
    stones in fireplaces, walls etc. unless of course they are abundant,
    close at hand and free. 

PtP
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