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Techniques for CollectorsHow to best display large mica

22nd Aug 2014 05:35 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

I recently got this huge mica specimen with included hematite. What I would like to know is how can I best display it without damaging it when I want remove it from a small base or even ways other than a base to display it.

22nd Aug 2014 08:08 UTCA. M.

I've seen mica displayed like a picture - in a frame, protected by glass, laid out on soft white cotton.

22nd Aug 2014 08:11 UTCWayne Corwin

Alex

Use one of those acrylic or wooden stands that they use to display ceramic plates,

22nd Aug 2014 11:37 UTCMaggie Wilson Expert

Is it as two dimensional as it appears in your photo? Perhaps you could frame it with a light-coloured back ground?

22nd Aug 2014 12:16 UTCWayne Corwin

Alex

Could we see a back-lit photo please?

22nd Aug 2014 12:47 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager

How about this?

Just a provisional display...

22nd Aug 2014 15:30 UTCBecky Coulson 🌟 Expert

Josele, you are an artist - that is beautiful!

22nd Aug 2014 16:59 UTCWayne Corwin

Nice José !

:-)

22nd Aug 2014 18:44 UTCGerhard Niklasch Expert

Put it in a frame between glass panes… hang it on a window… and then arrange for the sun and clouds to always stay in the same place behind it in the landscape, as in Josele's wonderful ~~painting~~ picture! :-)

Oh well…

Maybe framed between glass panes with a thin sheet of white paper as the normal (front-lit) background, keeping the option to shine light through it from the rear without having to remove it from the frame.

Do let us know what you come up with!

Enjoy, Gerhard

22nd Aug 2014 19:15 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

I like the idea of mounting it between 2 clear panes, I will for sure do that. I think I will give it a base once I get it in between the panes so I can put it in my display case.

Also, yes it is as 2D as it looks I think it is like .5mm thick at the most, I have had to put it in a very safe place for the moment so it doesn't break.

22nd Aug 2014 20:31 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager

Nice piece, Alex, It looks lovely between two glasses seen backlit.

Hematite inclusions seem to be geometrically oriented in the three directions of mica pseudo hexagonal crystal. There is any type of epitaxy here?

22nd Aug 2014 20:37 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

José, explain what epitaxy is, I am new to the mineral world and I still need to learn slot. I bet I could tell you if I knew what you meant.

22nd Aug 2014 21:24 UTCTomasz Praszkier Manager

Here is my idea ;-) If you find big mica like on first 2 photos? Make sign on your house (third photo)! All photos from Ampandandrava, Madagascar.

22nd Aug 2014 21:55 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager

Alex Earl Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> José, explain what epitaxy is, I am new to the mineral world and I still need to learn slot. I bet I could tell you if I knew what you meant.

Epitaxy is the growth of two different mineral species so that their crystal lattices are coupled following a geometrical pattern determined by certain crystallographic properties.

See: http://www.mindat.org/glossary/epitaxy

22nd Aug 2014 21:59 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

José, thanks for the definition, I can't tell if it is epitaxy but t certainly looks like it. However they also appear to be inclusions as some are not aligned in the lines like most are.

24th Aug 2014 01:21 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

I got it in between 2 panes, it is still drying ( hence the clamps) but I am going to make a base for it, so far it looks wonderful, thanks for all of the suggestions guys!

24th Aug 2014 02:22 UTCWayne Corwin

I've seen radation burns in mica that looks like that pattern.

You sure it's included with hematite Alex ?

24th Aug 2014 02:54 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

Wayne, I am not completely sure but the label says it is hematite.

The locality is probably this http://www.mindat.org/loc-5494.html

But I am not completely sure, I do know it comes from the black mt area.

I am not completely sure about possible radioactivity, but I have placed it in the garage for now.

24th Aug 2014 03:47 UTCWayne Corwin

Alex

I don't see Hematite listed for there, but i do see several radioactive minerals listed.

Even if those are radation burns, you shouldn't have to worry,,, the radioactive minerals

are long dead, and have just left their footprint to say "Hi, I Was Here !" :-D

Bring it back inside and stick it in a window or in front of a light (tu)

24th Aug 2014 04:51 UTCAlex Earl 🌟 Expert

Wayne, thanks for the help, I thought it looked a bit smoky colored in some spots. I will for sure bring it back in the house, it made a lovely display where I had it, especially when the sun shines through it!

24th Aug 2014 09:54 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

I've once read needles like this are rutile. Titanium seems to be a nympho element: if you make it hot, it couples with everything, but when a Ti-bearing mineral cools, there is exsolution: the needles are oriented along the crystallographic directions of the mother mineral, here the mica.

25th Aug 2014 18:50 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

If you observe a distant point source of light through your mica, you might find the point of light asterated. If so, that would be a diffraction pattern due to the oriented inclusions.

26th Aug 2014 14:06 UTCturtledove thrushe

There is really no need in my opinion for a fancy base. Just put it in a display case or on a shelf and display it that way. It's already impressive enough especially with the size.

27th Aug 2014 03:09 UTCMark Heintzelman 🌟 Expert

I can't speak to the causation of orientation or patterning, but it has long been understood at fairly many localities to be Magnetite (Hematite for the red markings often accompanying these occurrences). There need not be a notable presence of these minerals for them to still be present (i.e. they would not necessarily be on the species list at a these localities). One of my daughters friends even found a small example of this on our school field trip to the old Woodlaw Quarry in Delaware, and there is no otherwise notable presence of either of these minerals there either (and they are not ever represented on the species list for that locale).

Here are a few example from the East Coast USA:

27th Aug 2014 09:37 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager

Macroscopically the inclusions are oriented with crystallographic directions of mica host crystal but I wonder if at lattice level they are oriented too, as occurs in epitaxy.

Is this a known case of epitaxy?

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