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Post #439532 by Tamapoutini on Thu, Mar 12, 2009 2:04 PM

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On 2009-03-12 13:31, timidtiki wrote:
Hello Stone Carvers . . . I NEED HELP!!!

Me too! I figure a large boxful of the above material would be a great help in figuring out what we're dealing with..

Timid, I recently flipped through a book on gemstones and was surprised to see an entire section devoted to synthetic/man-made gemstones. Virtually any/all naturally occuring gems can be synthesised but I believe in many cases the costs are prohibitive which blows the whole 'cheap alternative' idea (although perhaps higher quality crystals are able to be produced?). The basic principle is pure alchemy; combining just the right ingredients and subjecting to just the right heats/pressures via special furnace/kilns to form boules' or formed crystalline 'stones' of the different materials, which are later cut/faceted to suit their particular structure. *Would you believe I was interrupted before getting to the synthetic jade pages!? Have emailed the owner of the book and arranged to view again next week - we're swapping/borrowing each others books actually; he is newly turned on to the history/art of Easter Island and has been raiding my library.

Will add any info found here..