Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #57

Not all stones will accept a polish.
The five small pieces in the center ring of this photo are actually pieces of Labradorite: While they are indeed polished: they lack the characteristic sheen, they are a by-product of a request I received to take a photo with a snake in shed displaying iridescence surrounded by high sheen Labradorite.

[Hugsplox]

Not all stones will accept a polish.
The five small pieces in the center ring of this photo are actually pieces of Labradorite: While they are indeed polished: they lack the characteristic sheen, they are a by-product of a request I received to take a photo with a snake in shed displaying iridescence surrounded by high sheen Labradorite.

Maybe a silly question Sorril but just to clarify, when you say not all stones will accept a polish, are you just talking about the sheen look of a polish? What I mean is, do the stones still have the smooth feel of a polished stone just without the shine, or do they still feel a little rough? I guess maybe a better way of asking is do different stones end up with different textures even using the same technique to polish them?

Hopefully that makes sense, it should be obvious that I have no idea what I'm talking about, just curious

[Lord Sorril]

Maybe a silly question Sorril but just to clarify, when you say not all stones will accept a polish, are you just talking about the sheen look of a polish? What I mean is, do the stones still have the smooth feel of a polished stone just without the shine, or do they still feel a little rough? I guess maybe a better way of asking is do different stones end up with different textures even using the same technique to polish them?

Those are good questions.
The difference between polish and sheen, and how texture effects polish using different methods.

Polish - verb - To make something smooth or shiny by rubbing it.
Sheen - noun - A soft luster on a surface.

It is a fast rule (not 100% accurate) in rock tumbling that harder stones will accept a better polish, the tighter the grains/crystal formation the easier it is to get a shine on it and make it feel 'smooth'. Likewise: the larger the grains and pores--the more 'texture' a stone has and the harder it is to smooth out and thus acquire a polish (using tumblers that is). Some people who make jewelry have access to diamond grinding wheels and saws and can effectively grind down and polish many types of stones that would be impossible otherwise.

With regards to the term 'sheen': I used this because certain stones like Labradorite and Obsidian can have an embedded luster on their surface that does not rely on a polish. It is clearly more visible when wet.
Once a stone with a sheen is polished: it will usually keep its color.

For Example Gold Sheen Obsidian:

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #58


Labradorite can be a tricky stone to tumble.
It can be even trickier to photograph in a group.
I had to figure out a different technique to take this photo.
The material pictured is from Madagascar.
Took me a while to wait for a snake to reach the right point of shed to capture the iridescence with the labradorescence.

[Bogertophis]

Wowza! That's a really cool photo!

[richardhind1972]

That labrodite is an amazing colour, really brings the colour out on the python
Amazing photo too

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[Kam]

Awesome photos.


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[Daniel_Effler]

10/10 beautiful picture!


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[Lord Sorril]

Thank you all for the compliments, they are appreciated!

Fun fact: I used 11 separate light sources for this photo.

Due to the fact that Labradorite is triclinic (three planes in which it can cleave-it has only two angles in which the sheen is brightly displayed): it took over 2500 photo attempts to capture all of these stones in the proper position/lighting while trying to hit the iridescence of the snake simultaneously.

As #58 is the most difficult I have taken to date...I do have more Labradorite, but, I am not eager to repeat the process.

[Lord Sorril]

There is an abandoned town near me that has been turned into a state park.



They built several roads into the park for utility vehicles.



I found these odd brown textured rocks by the side of the road.



I totally wasn't expecting them to look like this when polished:

Photo #59


Kinda looks like asbestos to me lol