Color Challenge Friday Blue - "AMAZONITE" ~ © Tiffany E. Reed
From the areas of the Amazon Basin in South America comes one of the prettiest stones, in my opinion. It is called Amazonite, as that was the first area this stone was purportedly discovered. Wikipedia reports that other deposits have been found in Russia, Colorado, Virginia, Canada, Madagascar, and Brazil. The rock is a microcline variety of feldspar.
Many specimens of this mineral have a green color, but my favorite variety is the soft, pale blue, as shown in these photos of an Amazonite sphere that is in my collection. Wikepedia reports that:
For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery. Naturally, many people assumed the color was due to copper because copper compounds often have blue and green colors. More recent studies suggest that the blue-green color results from small quantities of lead and water in the feldspar.
Besides scientific properties, some people believe that minerals and stones can have metaphysical properties as well, and many sources report such properties for Amazonite. For those interested, one such source is CrystalsAndJewelry.com.
I find the soft, pale color of this specimen of Amazonite to be pretty, calming, and delightful to hold and examine. There are delicate, whitish lines running around the sphere in various patterns which I find fascinating. The whitish streaks are another mineral, albite, that has grown alongside the Amazonite. Thanks for looking at this lovely sphere with me! 😊
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Beautiful, it would make a nice decoration in my garden. LOL #steemsugars
It would, indeed, look lovely nestled on top of the soil in a potted plant container! I've seen some people decorate potted plants with marbles in the same way! Thanks for your lovely observation! 😊
Absolutely love that color, thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! 😊
The rock isn't naturally found in the form of a Sphere right?
This particular stone isn't naturally round, no. Amazonite is usually irregular in shape and is carved, tumbled with other stones to break-down sharp places, and then polished to make round pieces such as this. However, some stones are, indeed, round in nature, such as the Moqui Marble (pronounced: MO' - kee). Good question, thanks for asking! 😊
Thanks a lot for the info! :)
You are welcome! 😊
so what do you do with it? do you display them? or make them into a necklace?
This particular piece is too large and heavy for jewelry, but I do, indeed, make jewelry out of smaller pieces! In fact, I will be sharing photos next week of a necklace I made from Amazonite beads! This particular piece is fun to hold and roll-about in the hand, and also makes a great tool for massaging sore places on one's body. Some of my stones have been on display on a shelf at one point or other. Thanks for your comment and interest! 😊
Wow! I love the color!
Thank you! I am glad someone else loves the color, too! 😊
Thank you for sharing this sphere and yes it looks really unique. I'm always fascinated with these sort of things since young. I went on a field trip before to discover and find rock minerals for a geology study that my class was having. I was fascinated.
Thank you for the comment and generous upvote! That sounds like a fun field trip! Were you able to keep any of the specimens that you found that day? If so, you should consider posting them! 😊
This post is sponsored by @appreciator in collaboration with #steemitbloggers. Keep up the good work
THANK YOU so very much! Your attention to this post is highly regarded, and I am honored to have been selected! I grateful for your upvote and comment! Thank you! 😊
nice color.
what are the white veins made of, running through the sphere?
That is a very good question! It is trace amounts of albite mixed in! I should have mentioned that, and think I will edit the post to add it! THANKS! 😊
That's such a beautiful stone. I've just been getting more into crystals and stones so this is so informative!