[CortezPearls]

Just came back from my vacation. Spent a week in a beautiful, small little colonial town called Alamos...and they had poultry (turkeys, hens, ducks and peackocks) and yes, I tried...and succeded.

Feed the animals a mixture of grain and (reject) keshi pearls (3-5 mm). They ate it all up in a jiffy. No questions asked. I could not perform the second part of the experiment tough Never inspected the faeces either (no time, was just having fun and relaxing).

So: the first part is definitively not hard. I can envision using this method to clean the smaller, lower quality natural pearls...but not for the big ones (larger than 6 mm). Maybe it is the way Manuel de Osio intended. But, as I said before...he is no longer here to answer these questions.

[Caitlin]

Well thanks for the gesture. I am currently without any hens for the first time in many years, so I haven't been able to experiment either.

[Valeria101]

Resurrecting and old tread with some unusual examples of iridescence in something that isn't nearly close to being a pearl but... but seems to show something close to the 'fish eye' effect so defining of those very, very highly praised black pearls. Of course, 'close' here merely refers to a physical phenomenon - potentially.

I'll add the proper label and link tomorrow. Now, sure you can guess what these things are

[knotty panda]

Marbles?

Hmm, it appears the software doesn't like one word answers and I must talk more.

Marbles?

[GemGeek]

Only here can we be free to seriously discuss chicken entrails and the "input" of pearls therin. For the pearlized Mexican chickens, it brings new meaning to the saying "it sticks in my craw"

[Ashley]

Originally Posted by CortezPearls

Sorry I forgot to mention I am incredibly MIOPIC. This is like having an incorporated Microscope (which comes really handy when you work with pearls, but at a terrible disadvantage when trying to find a soap bar in your bathtub) so I can SEE more...does anyone else that works with pearls (on this forum) have the same "advantage"?? Have you seen that this is true for you as well?? Maybe a person with normal eyesight needs more help.

I am as well and I find that it's particularly helpful; especially in my old position at ABC Gems where I would sort and grade millimeter or less sized Emeralds, Alexandrites, Sapphires and Rubies, etc. I even requested that my optomestrist temper my ************ contacts to retain my ability to see the teeny details in the stones! I find that trying to set stones or grade their inclusions with my contacts in was doubling my vision and giving me a headache. I tried taking my contacts out before a client came to the office but then you need to wait for your eyes to adjust and so on... so mostly I just left them out

Sorry for throwing the conversation back a couple of frames, but somehow I'd missed this thread previously and am just now able to add my thoughts...

The first page had some absolutely fascinating images- has anybody gotten a chance to flip through Dr. Gubelin's photo atlas of gemstone inclusions?

http://photoatlas.microworldofgems.com/

[Ashley]

Valeria

Those are some very pretty glass balls! I dont' know if I should call them marbles (isn't that what marbles are- glass balls?)

I really like the way the light penetrates the upper layers of color and allows us to see inside.

[Valeria101]

Glass, right!... translucent, natural... the granulation and internal structure dictate color in Rainbow Obsidian spheres

LINK to source at Mineralminers

[knotty panda]

What do I win?

[knotty panda]

My sister-in-law sent me this picture this evening of a Rainbow Fire. I can't download it, but I'm sure Valeria can! She can do anything! It's an amazing photo.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/firerainbow.asp

[Valeria101]

The page seems to come from a free refference service of sorts with a scary copyright warning. Otherwise ...

However, there is this corner of the web with a mother lode of atmospheric irridescence: The Cloud Appreciation Society ! (kidding you not ) Most Amazing pictures! Although, nothing quite like that. Since those guys do not have scary warnings against sharing their content, I am posting one from one source of theirs.

Never heard about 'Nacreous Clouds' before either... just a scroll away. What a befitting name!

[Ashley]

Those are just gorgeous pictures!! There are times when I fancy seeing a rainbow in the clouds but it's never been as intense as that! My my my...

Once upon a time I watched an Aurora Borealis in Ketchikan, Alaska... it was mostly a lime green wash in the night sky, nothing as brilliant as some of the pictures here.

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/auror...s/janc_001.jpg


This site here is REALLY cool- nothing to do with pearls, but also probably something that a few people haven't seen before either...
http://www.exploratorium.edu/learnin...fromspace.html

[jerin]

Thanks for the beautiful pictures in both of the last posts.

BTW - here in Northern Sweden but also far south You can see beautiful auroras in autumn - mostly they are shifting in different green colours - beautiful! Come ande see....

[GemGeek]

My favorites list is filling up and it's all your fault! I keep getting all these great web sites. Who knew there was a cloud appreciation society? They're probably over there saying "Who knew there would be a pearl-guide society"? Ha!

Thanks
Blaire

[knotty panda]

Nacreous clouds! Mother of Pearl Clouds!

You have to see these!

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/nacr1.htm