My budding petrologist.
- The geode after Emeraude had enlarged the whole a bit.
During our visit to Pukaskwa National Park late this summer, Emeraude bought a geode (with her own money earned at Anishnawbe Keeshigun in Thunder Bay– part of her honorarium) and earlier in the same trip she had mined amethyst (Ontario’s Gemstone for our homeschooling friends)as well so, Wednesday afternoon we decided it was time begin to putting them to good use.
Never heard of or seen a geode? They are kind of like a surprise gift from God in that you can never be certain what you’ll find inside. To read more about one of the few natural wonders that scientists are still uncertain and not completely in agreement regarding the origins of, you can visit this page where Emeraude and I found some easy to read and undestand information in regards to geodes – http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/geode/Geodes.htm
Emeraude works on opening her geode a little more.
We read and discussed the information there and then collected the tools we would need,
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our geode
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safety glasses
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a paper bag (this was suggested for smashing the rock though we didn’t not need to smash ours)
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a hammer (again, we didn’t nd up using that either)
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a screw (we used this for prying open a hole in the geode)
It was absoluetely beautiful outside! We set up and sat on the deck but Emeraude was really curious about her geode, especially since as I mentioned it had a tiny hole in it (maybe a mm or 1/2 mm in diatmeter) I was just getting myself down to sit next to her (my legs are still giving me big problems, though I now am able to take emedication at home which helps alot, my bones often intefere with tasks and mobility during the day) the whole was already a little biger lol. I explaind to her that once it was opened, the fun for this particular project would be prety much done though this did not deter her :). I suggested that we manipulate it with the paper bag underneathe t avoid loosing any peices of crystal which we were now beginning to see a little.
I was quite surprised at the fragility of the stone. I think that perhaps it ws like an egg is as far as strength… Because of it’s spherical shape, as long as it was whole, it was quite strong until punctured than it became more delicate. I helped Emeraude use a scew to carefully pry another few peices off and ta-dah! our geode was open and we were admiring the crystals within it. Had Emeraude been alone, she might have handled it until every last peice was broken off but I explained that if it was nothing more than powdered crystal we would have to through it out. She then decided to keep it intact and call it a Memory Stone having found the idea from a book with the same title that Grandmaman brought her home from her trip out east this summer {you could buy it here – The Memory Stone – it’s a wonderful read} so after discussing how we thought it might have been formed and plans to get another next summer, we put it aside and turned to our rock polishing project.
Emeraude shows her geode and the crystal pieces.
Emeraude looks through the items in her rock tumbler refill kit.
Lloyd had been given a Rock Tumbler from his Aunt & Uncle one year, when he was younger and Emeraude & I had discussed, when mining for amethyst, that it we would polish it in the tumbler. Earlier, we had gone to the Home Hardware and purchased a refill kit for the tumbler, they only had one option and it was the full refill which included not only the abrasive powders (bags for three stages of processing) but also two bags with a variety of rocks, some jewlery and keychain fittings and some type of rubber belt (not sure what that is for yet).We stayed seated on the deck were we could spread things out without worrying of dropping or loosing anything.We opened up the barrell and Emeraude poured in some of the rocks from the kit as well as some amethyst that she had plans for (thinking of Christmas gifts for family members), next she pourded in the abrasive powder from the bag labelled step one, we returned to the garage (the tumbler is quite noisy and must ber unning for days so having it inside would be rather disruptive). Again, that was Wednesday; on Friday we took a look at how our rooks were doing, added the Step 2 abrasive powder, closed them back up and then started the tumbler again. Tomorrow is Sunday, the power is going out but Lloyd will most likely start the generator up and if so, we’ll plug the tumbler in then as it will have to tumble with Step 3 again for a few days while we’re in Thunder Bay this week.
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- The geode after Emeraude had enlarged the whole a bit.
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- Emeraude works on opening her geode a little more.
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- Emeraude shows her geode and the crystal pieces.
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- Emeraude looks through the items in her rock tumbler refill kit.
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- Emeraude sorts through th elements of her rock tumbler refill kit.
So far, this is a cool project that Emeraude is thouroughly enjoying and I’m definetly looking forward to her seeing the results beofre we get to creating some Christmas gifts. I think while in Thunder Bay I will try to go by Micheal’s and pick up some more jewelery or keychain attachments to encourage her in this new interest. Hopefully I’ll be able t find some instructions some where as well to fit some litteracy practice/education in to the project (with homeschooling, I’m always trying to include as many subjects into a project as possible).
