Purple Aventurine

[Art Freas]

I was reading about aventurine in Wikepedia and it mentioned that there was a purple aventurine. Has anyone seen this running around or used it?

[Eben Horton]

I’ve seen blue and worked with it , but I don’t see why purple couldn’t exist.. I have never seen it though.

[Eric Trulson]

I have a vague memory of coming across some big chunks of purple and gold/brown aventurine in a dusty old cardboard box under the color shelves at Snow Farm last summer. (Which is totally unhelpful as far as an original source, but at least confirms it exists.)

To tack on to Art's original question, does anybody know of glass folks who are melting/have melted their own aventurine?

Gaffer makes a nice lime green one, and I know Lino and one or two other old-schoolers from Murano will occasionally use it in their work (not sure if they melt it in-house or get it from someone else on the island). I've never heard of it being melted elsewhere though.

[Pete VanderLaan]

There are two traditional aventurines out there and both are produced by cooling the pot of glass and taking out the chunks. Those are chrome and copper respectively. It would be the case I'd imagine that cobalt could be added to either of those glasses.
It's not to be confused with the glasses where a bunch of mica is getting thrown in. Sparkly but not the same. given their positions on the atomic table, I have to wonder aloud if an aventurine could theoretically be made with either silver or gold. Either would really be pretty expensive if it could work at all.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Originally Posted by Art Freas

I was reading about aventurine in Wikepedia and it mentioned that there was a purple aventurine. Has anyone seen this running around or used it?

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I went to wikipedia and keyed in aventurine and can't find a reference that you might be referring to. Perhaps you could put up the direct link?

[Rich Simmons]

I've played with it, and still have some big chunks. I tried to pickup a piece about the size of a peach pit straight on the pipe and blow it out with two gathers over it. Didn't work out so well, it's incompatible (at least this process was with a large chunk) I'll post a pic of the vase tonight when I get home.

[Eben Horton]

Originally Posted by Rich Simmons

I've played with it, and still have some big chunks. I tried to pickup and piece about the size of a peach pit straight on the pipe and blow it out with two gathers over it. Didn't work out so well, it's incompatible (at least this process was with a large chunk) I'll post a pic of the vase tonight when I get home.

I wil take that incompatable glass off of your hands

[Rich Simmons]

I'll post some pic's first. Compared to other aventurine I've used it doesn't have quite the same bling.

[Rich Simmons]

Originally Posted by Pete VanderLaan

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I went to wikipedia and keyed in aventurine and can't find a reference that you might be referring to. Perhaps you could put up the direct link?

I think he ended up looking at the goldstone wiki - It does mention blue and purple variations.

[Pete VanderLaan]

"goldstone is more marketing, less science and glass historical chemistry."

You gonna believe what you need to believe.

[Rich Simmons]

Just Sayn' - Not making any claims about Wiki's accuracy on any subject..

[Pete VanderLaan]

Really? What a shock!

[Greg Vriethoff]

Yes, Wikipedia is a source that should be approached with caution.

That being said, here you go:

"Cobalt or manganese can be substituted for copper; the resulting crystals have a more silvery appearance and are suspended in a strongly colored matrix of the corresponding ionic color, resulting in blue goldstone or purple goldstone respectively."

Tumble_Polished_Blue_Goldstone_.jpg

I guess the pic shows blue. Maybe you could argue "violet"?

[Greg Vriethoff]

It's worth noting that this blurb about cobalt and manganese does not site a direct source.

I have not reviewed either of the stated sources that the article sites.

Also worth noting is how little is referenced at all.

If anyone wants to go down this rabbit hole please report back with any discoveries gathered in the field. Your input is always appreciated.

[Pete VanderLaan]

I would want to hear from John. Otherwise. it's just junk.

[Art Freas]

Originally Posted by Greg Vriethoff

Yes, Wikipedia is a source that should be approached with caution.

That being said, here you go:

"Cobalt or manganese can be substituted for copper; the resulting crystals have a more silvery appearance and are suspended in a strongly colored matrix of the corresponding ionic color, resulting in blue goldstone or purple goldstone respectively."

Attachment 5441

I guess the pic shows blue. Maybe you could argue "violet"?

This is the sentence that sent me down the rabbit hole.

I googled Purple Aventurine and it came up as rock/stone---
Lapidary stuff

[Rich Simmons]

Here's a pic of the test vase I made as mentioned above. Broken up the stuff works fine but it's not got any wow factor. Oh, and Pete - I was just pointing out where the purple reference came from, no need to be a Dick about it!

[Marty Kremer]

This won't help you blowers but Bullseye's got a cobalt aventurine (that I pushed them to make) in stock. It's come out turquoise-y sometimes but is usually a rich dark cobalt. Fun to play with, for fusers anyway.

[Rich Samuel]

No real chemistry here, but an interesting history.

https://abfabtreasures.wordpress.com...nd-aventurine/

[Kenny Pieper]

We have a mineral and gem festive here in Spruce Pine once a year in august that has venders from all over the U.S.. There is usually a guy there that has a 55 gallon steel drum of the gold aventurine. He sales it for $10lb.
I use to use it a lot in cane goblets. It tricky to work with in that the copper if heated too much will go back into solution especially on the surface. I found that I need to heat it as little as possible before gathering and it doesn't blow out all that well. If it gets thin is looses its effect.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Originally Posted by Rich Simmons

Oh, and Pete - I was just pointing out where the purple reference came from, no need to be a Dick about it!

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You think I was being a Dick about it? Which comment? This one?

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(To Art, directly)"I went to wikipedia and keyed in aventurine and can't find a reference that you might be referring to. Perhaps you could put up the direct link?"
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Or this? (regarding the veracity of Wikipedia)
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"Really, what a shock!"
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"I would want to hear from John. Otherwise. it's just junk."
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So, you haven't really gotten a dose of when I do want to be a dick about something with five posts under your belt. I do spend a lot of my time here correcting misconceptions about glass. I think I spent about two years trying to get people to stop calling it "Adventurine"
The Mica add ons are not aventurines in any true sense and my great adherence is to understanding colored glass and the how and why's of what it does.
Cobalt is an interesting material in that it is a true saturation colorant. It doesn't set up suspensions, or colloidal strands, or crystals. It's more like India Ink on a white carpet. Try getting it out of the carpet. So, cobalt can be used to tint other colors without changing their internal prime directives. Cobalt on top of silver glasses can make blues, greens and occasional streaky purples. Cobalt can taint a copper aventurine from a sparkly gold color into a purple I suppose but it will be really dark and very tough to balance based on thickness as the color will change based on transmissivity. The other references, near as I can see are what Terry Crider saw- lapidary materials and they aren't glasses. I do like rocks though.

I think it's far more fruitful to think about what color the casing gather should be over a true aventurine if you want to present a different color.

[Rich Simmons]

These comments don't contribute anything to the topic and IMO didn't do anything to help Art:

Or this? (regarding the veracity of Wikileaks) Uh, Wikipedia. Wikileaks is a totally different site buddy.
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"Really, what a shock!" Trying to point to the reference, I don't need a litany of posts to see your response to this wasn't helpful.
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"I would want to hear from John. Otherwise. it's just junk." Yeah, really helpful.

You're a moderator, Right? You end the last thread with helpful information.

[Mark Rosenbaum]

Wow, 6 posts and you are slamming the moderator!
You need to start to understand Pete's responses. 23 responses and the topic hasn't completely gone off the rails, that is unusual. Tangents and rabbit holes are very common here.

[Pete VanderLaan]

well, wiki leaks is probably more on my mind than wikipedia so I would apologize for that misdirective. When it comes to glass, Wikipedia is one of the last places I would be inclined to search. I have been to read all about goldstone and it sounds rather fishy to me particularly when it's shown as a finished product in a slick fashion. On the other hand, if I google "Aventurine Glass" I can get to Murano work which is all either chrome green or copper colors as additives to other pieces but nothing I see that says purple or anything to that effect. That is consistent with what I know and the initial question was about purple aventurine.

As to John, John Croucher is who I refer to and is far more versed in the chemistry of glass than I am. If John tells me that Goldstone is actual aventurine, including a purple one, I'll believe it. Otherwise I'll stick to my opening statement asking for a referral on Aventurine, not goldstone. At one point in Wikipedia, it's referred to "as a form of quartz " and that certainly is inaccurate at its best.

I'm not big on misinformation here, subsequently, finding verifiable source is what I look for. Wikipedia certainly didn't cut it as yet another poster tried to point out as being quite likely. But it does sound official.