Hello from the Hill Country

[ChromeCaviar]

Hello! I'm a hobbyist from the Hill Country of Texas. I am interested in RC planes, photography, collecting mineral crystals, flashlights, and lasers!

My interest in lasers started with Star Wars, I loved the movies growing up. I used to drool over the Wicked Lasers website, thinking about which color would look the best on a foggy night. As I got older, I became more interested in light, optics and imaging. I started buying mineral crystal specimens as subject matter for macro photographs, and began to really enjoy collecting crystals. I especially love pronounced geometric features. I think it's amazing how the macroscopic geometry of crystals hints at their microscopic molecular structure. Lasers are of course the coolest application of synthetic crystals, and can be shined thru natural crystals for a great visual effect, so it's natural that I am interested in lasers.

My goal in the laser hobby is to collect lots of wavelengths with a low power output, so I can appreciate all those wonderful wavelengths. And maybe get one high power unit, to feel like a Jedi on a foggy night.

I just started my collection with a 30mw 505nm, and I was surprised by how bright it is at "only" 30mw. I was also surprised by the color, I expected it to be closer to cyan, but it is 100% green to my eyes. It's a deep traffic-light green, very pleasant and relaxing. I'm already thinking about getting a 561nm pointer next, to see the opposite side of the green spectrum.

Hoping to learn lots more about lasers!

 

[Ears and Eggs]

Welcome to the forums! 561nm is a really strange color to see in person, just saw it for the first time a couple months ago. Since it is very difficult to photograph, very few of the pictures out there of 561 really get it quite right.

 

[CurtisOliver]

Hello! I'm a hobbyist from the Hill Country of Texas. I am interested in RC planes, photography, collecting mineral crystals, flashlights, and lasers!

My interest in lasers started with Star Wars, I loved the movies growing up. I used to drool over the Wicked Lasers website, thinking about which color would look the best on a foggy night. As I got older, I became more interested in light, optics and imaging. I started buying mineral crystal specimens as subject matter for macro photographs, and began to really enjoy collecting crystals. I especially love pronounced geometric features. I think it's amazing how the macroscopic geometry of crystals hints at their microscopic molecular structure. Lasers are of course the coolest application of synthetic crystals, and can be shined thru natural crystals for a great visual effect, so it's natural that I am interested in lasers.

My goal in the laser hobby is to collect lots of wavelengths with a low power output, so I can appreciate all those wonderful wavelengths. And maybe get one high power unit, to feel like a Jedi on a foggy night.

I just started my collection with a 30mw 505nm, and I was surprised by how bright it is at "only" 30mw. I was also surprised by the color, I expected it to be closer to cyan, but it is 100% green to my eyes. It's a deep traffic-light green, very pleasant and relaxing. I'm already thinking about getting a 561nm pointer next, to see the opposite side of the green spectrum.
View attachment 77392
Hoping to learn lots more about lasers!

Welcome. You sound like my sort of guy. I also collect crystals and minerals. The crossover of the two hobbies coincides well at times.
What is the extent of your mineral collection?

 

[ChromeCaviar]

I took a quick pic of my small collection. I have Amethyst, couple Fluorites on Quartz, Prehnite, Sulphur, Spessartine Garnet, Vanadinite, Aquamarine, Dioptase, and a few Opals. My favorite specimen is the Spessartine Garnet cluster, because it has deep orange, gemmy crystals with sharp edges and stepped facets. The Dioptase is a close second for its amazingly deep green color. I got them all on eBay except for the opals. What's your favorite from your collection?

 

[CurtisOliver]

I took a quick pic of my small collection. I have Amethyst, couple Fluorites on Quartz, Prehnite, Sulphur, Spessartine Garnet, Vanadinite, Aquamarine, Dioptase, and a few Opals. My favorite specimen is the Spessartine Garnet cluster, because it has deep orange, gemmy crystals with sharp edges and stepped facets. The Dioptase is a close second for its amazingly deep green color. I got them all on eBay except for the opals. What's your favorite from your collection?

View attachment 77393

Those are some nice samples. There's a couple of high quality ones in there. The aquamarine and vanadinite stand out most to me for their terminations. The spessartine is great. I can see why you like it.

I have a relatively large amount of rough specimens as well as faceted gemstones. My favourite mineral atm, probably is my painites. I have two faceted and one sample of painite and ruby on matrix.

I'll see if I can upload a video. A photo doesn't do it justice.

Edit:

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF. I used to collect minerals and crystals, but turned those over to my daughter years ago. I had many garnets, quartz crystals, one large fluorite crystal...still have a nice sample of optical calcite.

 

[ChromeCaviar]

Those are some nice samples. There's a couple of high quality ones in there. The aquamarine and vanadinite stand out most to me for their terminations. The spessartine is great. I can see why you like it.

I have a relatively large amount of rough specimens as well as faceted gemstones. My favourite mineral atm, probably is my painites. I have two faceted and one sample of painite and ruby on matrix.

I'll see if I can upload a video. A photo doesn't do it justice.

Edit:

Thanks, you have an eye for the good ones! I hadn't heard of Painite, but Google tells me it's rare. Do you like collecting the uncommon ones? Mine aren't rare, but I enjoy finding a nice specimen of each species. I was really inspired by the Gems and Minerals Hall at the Perot Museum in Dallas, and I wanted to create my own miniature museum of beautiful specimens. They had the most incredible Beryls I'll probably ever see. I'll have to find my old hard drive with the good macro pictures I took, before all the specimens got dusty. I used the laser to illuminate the Aquamarine for a quick picture

 

[CurtisOliver]

Thanks, you have an eye for the good ones! I hadn't heard of Painite, but Google tells me it's rare. Do you like collecting the uncommon ones? Mine aren't rare, but I enjoy finding a nice specimen of each species. I was really inspired by the Gems and Minerals Hall at the Perot Museum in Dallas, and I wanted to create my own miniature museum of beautiful specimens. They had the most incredible Beryls I'll probably ever see. I'll have to find my old hard drive with the good macro pictures I took, before all the specimens got dusty. I used the laser to illuminate the Aquamarine for a quick picture View attachment 77394

I do like collecting some rare and more exotic minerals from time to time. Money is a huge limiting factor. Painite at one point was the rarest mineral and gemstone on Earth. A discovery of some more knocked it of its title however it still remains incredibly rare and even rarer to have cut stones. It’s also a beautiful mineral too. It changes from red to maroon/brownish red. Something you probably can appreciate is the optical properties of them. One of the reasons I like cut gemstones as you get to appreciate the optical nature of the minerals. I particularly go after gems/roughs that have colour change, pleochroism, fluorescence and phosphorescence etc. I have cut gems and a rough of tanzanite. I have four alexandrite gemstones. Two are Russian. Blue garnet which is pretty special. But then I’m a general hoarder lol. I spent quite a bit of money compiling a suite of cut beryls. Had a to pay quite a lot to get a cut red beryl.

I would love to afford to pay for one off pieces like that aquamarine though. I am lucky to own two quite large samples of aquamarine from Pakistan. One is just an amorphous mass of it. And the other features a huge hexagonal. Just not of the exceptional clarity yours possesses.

This has Schorl, Muscovite, Quartz and a rare from of phosphorescent fluorite called Chlorophane.



This has Spessartine garnet and Muscovite. This sample has over 300g of Aquamarine.

 

[CurtisOliver]

You sparked me to update my collection pics. I hadn’t done that for a while.

My larger specimens:



My hoard of roughs, tumbles and some gemstones:


My fluorescence and special gemstones corner:




My gemstone hoard as well as a pretty special meteorite:



And that Beryl suite I mentioned:

Edit: Added my Alexandrites, Painites, Tanzanites and Blue Garnet:

 

[ChromeCaviar]

@CurtisOliver That's an incredible collection! I love how diverse it is. Your fossils are really cool, I would love to add that category to my collection someday. And your fluorescent minerals are awesome too, what's that bright pink one on the right? I'd love to hear more about that meteorite too. From all those pictures, I think my favorite gem is the Emerald in the lower left corner of the beryls. Tomorrow evening I'll find my good macro pictures and post a few, I ordered a cable to connect the old harddrive via USB so I don't have to open up my computer to hook it up.

 

[paul1598419]

You sparked me to update my collection pics. I hadn’t done that for a while.

My larger specimens:

View attachment 77400

My hoard of roughs, tumbles and some gemstones:

View attachment 77401
My fluorescence and special gemstones corner:
View attachment 77402

View attachment 77406

My gemstone hoard as well as a pretty special meteorite:

View attachment 77403

And that Beryl suite I mentioned:
View attachment 77404
Edit: Added my Alexandrites, Painites, Tanzanites and Blue Garnet:

View attachment 77407

You have far more facetted gems than I held onto. I almost bought a faceting wheel back when I was a teenager, but it was still around $400 complete and I didn't think I would get that much use out of it.

 

[CurtisOliver]

@CurtisOliver That's an incredible collection! I love how diverse it is. Your fossils are really cool, I would love to add that category to my collection someday. And your fluorescent minerals are awesome too, what's that bright pink one on the right? I'd love to hear more about that meteorite too. From all those pictures, I think my favorite gem is the Emerald in the lower left corner of the beryls. Tomorrow evening I'll find my good macro pictures and post a few, I ordered a cable to connect the old harddrive via USB so I don't have to open up my computer to hook it up.

Thank you. Yes, I do like to get a range. The one that’s fluorescing bright pink is a manganoan calcite. The meteorite is a slice from the 1998 Zag. It’s a H3-6 Chrondrite. Slightly magnetic. But the feature that’s special is I was lucky enough to receive a slice with extraterrestrial halite on it. I’ll have to try and upload pics later. This forum is a pain with raw pics from the phone due to file size limits.

That gemstone is the only one I have that’s lab made. That was made by a guy in Ukraine not long after the start of the war. It’s a stunning insight into what emeralds can look like without the inclusions they are plagued with. The one above is my best natural emerald in terms of quality. The massive one however I scored for just £10. It’s highly included but is iirc around 2.5ct.

Please do share more. I would be particularly interested in that Spessartine and vanadinite.

 

[ChromeCaviar]

Here's that Vanadinite!

 

[paul1598419]

Here's that Vanadinite!
View attachment 77412

Nice! What size are the largest crystals? Can't tell at all from your photo.

 

[ChromeCaviar]

Thank you. Yes, I do like to get a range. The one that’s fluorescing bright pink is a manganoan calcite. The meteorite is a slice from the 1998 Zag. It’s a H3-6 Chrondrite. Slightly magnetic. But the feature that’s special is I was lucky enough to receive a slice with extraterrestrial halite on it. I’ll have to try and upload pics later. This forum is a pain with raw pics from the phone due to file size limits.

That gemstone is the only one I have that’s lab made. That was made by a guy in Ukraine not long after the start of the war. It’s a stunning insight into what emeralds can look like without the inclusions they are plagued with. The one above is my best natural emerald in terms of quality. The massive one however I scored for just £10. It’s highly included but is iirc around 2.5ct.

Please do share more. I would be particularly interested in that Spessartine and vanadinite.

Thanks for sharing the info on those specimens! Here's another pic of my vanadinite. Unfortunately I can't find the spessartine pics...

Nice! What size are the largest crystals? Can't tell at all from your photo.

The largest crystal is about 12mm, the other chunky ones are about 5 to 8 mm

 

[CurtisOliver]

Here's that Vanadinite!
View attachment 77412

That's a high quality specimen. Great termination, hue and opacity. I do have two vanadinite samples. But not as good as that.

I still need to send some pics of that meteorite when I get time.