Gemstone of the Month: Apatite

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apatite, blue, bone, creativity, fertilizer, gem, gemstone, jewelry, medicine, mineral, rainbow

Rough apatite. Item for sale through prettyrock.com

I think the approaching spring has made me seek out cheerful pastels again, and I found an interesting story in apatite, a mineral that is literally part of all of us and linked to maintaining life on this planet.

Collectors like apatite because it likes to form large, impressive crystals. Apatite’s color range also does not disappoint as it fills the spectrum, from rusty reddish browns to striking, electric blues.  This is in part because apatite refers to a group of related minerals.  The most common of these is fluorapatite, which has a chemical formula of Ca₅(PO₄)₃F.  I was actually having trouble finding images that were clearly apatite, and that is part of its story as well.  Apatite comes from the Greek word for “deceit” because it can look like so many other minerals.

Tumbled apatite. Item for sale at Illuminations Crystals Jewelry and Gifts.

Apatite can be found in igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock, and is the most common phosphate-bearing mineral.  Apatite is essentially calcium phosphate, with different trace elements tacked on.  While reading about apatite’s different species, I kept having the word “hydroxyapatite” pop up in my head.  It took me a while to realize it was my medical knowledge tapping at the back of my consciousness: hydroxyapatite forms the inorganic component of our bones, which makes up half of the weight of bone.  This means we are all carrying around 10 lbs of hydroxyapatite (or similar calcium phosphate species).  It is neat to think our foundations are made of microscopic crystals.

In addition to our personal needs for the stone, apatite has historically been mined to make fertilizer, on account of its high phosphorous and calcium levels.  Apatite is brittle and soft at 5 Mohs, meaning it is best suited to earrings and jewelry pieces that do not take a lot of wear.  Major gem sources of apatite include Mexico, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, but the stone is found worldwide.

Due to its connection with our bones, apatite is believed to alleviate pain from arthritis, and is thought to give heightened clarity and creativity, as well as a communicative, humanitarian spirit to its bearer.

Masonry and Mercantilism

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art, bakery, basketweave, brick, brickwork, crafts, dollhouse, miniature, shop, shop window, Tudor, Undersized Urbanize, Victorian, woodwork

It took me a while to get up the gumption, but I knew I had to get the bricks on the house to move on.

The mortar between the bricks is a concoction of wood filler, acrylic paint, white glue, and water (another big thank you to Karen Corbin!).  It has the look of a melting Wendy’s Frosty with the nebulous consistency of that corn starch slime you make in second grade, but I have to say it dries hard and looks a good deal like cement up close.  I spread it on thick, such that when I pushed in the bricks it gushed up between the crevasses.  I waited until the mortar was nearly dry to shape it a bit more, making tiny trowel marks.  Since I was starting with old-looking bricks and had to eyeball their placement in the mortar, I ended up with a very rustic wall.

The sides of the mill tower are a double basketweave pattern, the rest of the backside of the building is called a running bond (what you see everywhere nowadays).  I am still trying to decide the brickwork on the front of the tower, since the dimensions are a bit odd.

I had also been putting off making the shop window because I did not have a clear idea of what it should look like.  But, as another bottleneck in the building process (after all, you can’t put wallpaper or trim on something that isn’t there), I finally sat down for an hour with a scrap of gatorboard and came up with this.

From there, I think I started channeling my inner Charles Dickens, and in the span of another evening I had a shop front I was proud of.  My evolving story for this Tudor-style cottage is that has been in use for quite some time as a mill, and only more recently had the bakery addition.  As such, the shop window and its more ornate, Victorian façade was added later.

No bakery would be complete without a place to sit and sample the wares before returning home with “what you came for.”  The interior of the bay-style window will be home to a little bench seat with cushion.

A coat of thinned gesso as primer, and I am ready to paint!