Weredyke

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Here’s the general art style Chinese mountains are drawn in:

And here’s how some of them actually look:

Splendid color zoned fluorite cluster with scalenohedral calcite from the Cave in Rock District, Hardin Co, Illinois, USA.

I’ve been making jewelry for a number of years now. Pretty early on I was directed to a company called Fire Mountain Gems as a potential supplier. They sent a copy of their catalog with my first order, which introduced me to a *lot* of stones I’d never heard of… more than a few of which had trade names.

Now, understand, humanity has only relatively recently become fussy about how accurately they name their stones. For a big stretch of history, if it was reasonably hard and red OR dark red OR black with red highlights when you tilted it right, they’d probably call it a ruby. (Example: the Black Prince’s Ruby in the state crown of England, which is a completely different gemstone called a spinel, but they named it before the 1780s which is when we started being able to actually identify rubies as rubies. So… yeah.) Some kinds of gem have had lots and lots of different names all historically referring to the same stone. It makes for interesting reading of historic accounts of this or that piece of jewelry. I can excuse it, it was the past, really formal gemology is only a moderately recent thing.

But these days I go to the store and I see yellow gemmy-looking beads hanging on the rack, and I look at the sticker, and it says ‘yellow jade’, only the price is way less than that much actual jade would cost online. Or I go to look for smaller beads to match a few pieces of actual turquoise that I have on hand, and I realize that I have no idea whether African turquoise is actually turquoise or not. It gets… irritating. I want to actually know what the hell I’m paying for and whether it’s hard enough to risk putting it in a bracelet or ring, or whether it’s a softer stone that should be kept in earrings and necklaces, away from possible scratching or impact. If you’re buying jewelry, or if you’re looking for stones for jewelry work, or if you’re someone who believes in the metaphysical properties of stones and crystals, you’re going to want an accurate understanding of whatever it is you’ve got in front of you, right? Right.

So, yeah. Here’s a few of the trade names I’ve been stumbling over since I got started in jewelry making.

New jade - This is serpentine. It’s a pretty rock but it’s not jadeite or nephrite; it’s not actually jade. Serpentine’s way common, since it’s basically a form of one of the most common minerals in the earth’s crust.

Mountain jade - A kind of dolomite marble. Also not jade.

Ching Hai jade - Dolomite plus a couple of other minerals. Pretty, but not jade. Let me put it like this: on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, nephrite jade is 6 to 6.5 and jadeite is 6.5 to 7. Ching Hai jade is 3.5 to 4. This stuff is softer than the outer coating of human teeth (Mohs 5, same as a basic knife blade and most kinds of everyday glass). You want a stone you can put in a ring where it’ll get whacked or bounced off hard surfaces or otherwise stand a chance of impact, you’re gonna want real jade. Ching Hai jade will get scratched clear to kingdom come with a Mohs score like that.

Yellow jade - It’s quartz. Nephrite jade comes in a lot of colors including yellow, but if they’ve labeled it ‘yellow jade’ rather than saying ‘jade’ or ‘nephrite jade’ then it’s quartz. Same deal for ‘golden jade’.

Malaysia jade - Also quartz.

African jade - yep, still quartz.

Black jade - Both nephrite and jadeite come in black forms, but if a stone is being sold with the name ‘black jade’, it’s 90% likely to be serpentine. Actual jade gets labeled as jadeite or nephrite. I don’t do metaphysical stone foo, but man, if you’re buying a stone because you want to use its mojo, seems to me you’d want to get the actual stone associated with what you’re trying to do, not a stone that’s the same color and level of shiny.

Peace jade - Serpentine plus white quartz. I don’t even know where they came up with this name. It’s pretty but it’s jade the way a pommel horse is a horse.

Yellow turquoise - Serpentine again. Or rather, serpentine and quartz. At least this stuff comes from the same mines as turquoise.

African turquoise - Jasper. It’s turquoise colored, but it’s actually harder than real turquoise, for whatever that’s worth.

Italian onyx - They also call this one onyx marble. It’s a kind of calcite. Takes dye really well so they use it in different color forms.

African bloodstone / Indian bloodstone - Legit name for the actual stone, for once! These are both names for the same thing. They also call it heliotrope. So any of those names all refer to the same thing.

Tigerskin jasper - And we’re back to the malarkey; this is limestone. With pretty stripes, but seriously, it’s not even jasper and jasper gets used as a substitute for other stones so wtf.

Bumblebee jasper - Sometimes they call this bumblebee agate. It’s not jasper. It’s not agate. Bumblebee jasper is volcano lava and sediment that’s resulted in swirly yellow and black layers. I mean, it’s pretty, sell it as much as you want, but IT ISN’T EVEN CLOSE TO BEING JASPER.

Aqua terra jasper - Onyx marble. They also call it impression stone, but it’s marble, and it’s on the soft side as stones go. Marble’s around Mohs 3 on a good day. That’s another stone you can scratch with your teeth.

Green Earth jasper - NOPE. Serpentine. Sorry.

Peridot jasper - Serpentine. Seriously, do you have any idea how many stones with pretty pretty names are actually just pretty pretty names for different colors of serpentine?

Zebra jasper - onyx marble.

Chinese chrysoprase- Oh look it’s serpentine again

Lemon chrysoprase - This is magnesite. Not dyed, which is a little unusual. Magnesite takes dye really well and gets sold in a lot of colors as a substitute for other stones. Selling it as lemon chrysoprase means someone managed to get hold of a yellowish color of the stuff.

Mosaic turquoise - If it’s labeled mosaic anything, it’s almost always fragments of a stone bound together with resin, and probably not even the stone it claims to be. Mosaic turquoise is ittybitty chips of magnesite that’s been dyed to match turquoise color, then stabilized together as a single piece. It’s not even close to being turquoise.

Green opal - okay, quick lesson: there are different kinds of opal, and not all of them have the flashy color changing fire you get with precious stones like Welo opal or Australian opal. Mexican fire opal and Oregon fire opal are good examples of other forms. The actual stone we call opal is a specific kind of silica with a certain level of water content, not just the pretty flashiness. And opals of both the flashy kind and the non-flashy kind do come in green. But if they’re selling it as ‘green opal’, they are selling you chalcedony. Chemically similar, but not as pretty, and a distinctly harder stone.

Red malachite - This is marble. They find marble with banding that resembles malachite banding and they cut it and polish it to look like malachite, just in a different color. Malachite is green; this isn’t even a thing like jade coming in different colors. There isn’t actual red malachite.

Opaline - this isn’t even a stone. This is glass. Same deal with ‘sea opal’. Sorry. Sometimes they sell chalcedony as opaline but whatever it is you’ve found it’s not opal.

Fused quartz - Glass. This is glass. Fancypants glass, but it’s glass.

Goldstone, or blue goldstone: Also glass. With bits of copper in it to produce really nice sparkly effects, but it’s still a kind of glass.

Sand stone or blue sand stone: I only found out recently that some people sell goldstone as ‘sandstone’, so… this one’s glass too. Actual sandstone is a sorta brown sedimentary rock.

Black moss quartz - This is glass. Worth noting, there’s a vaguely similar product out there called rutilated quartz. That’s actual quartz with spindly intrusions of a different mineral, rutile. Difference is, the quartz has a Mohs hardness of 7 and will scratch the ‘black moss quartz's’ soft bitch ass six ways from Sunday as a result.

Fordite - This is paint. Fordite is automotive enamel that’s dripped onto the same spot on factory floors for so many years that it’s built up to the point where it can be cut and polished and made into jewelry elements. Unlike a lot of trade names, this one isn’t a form of bullshit to pass one thing off as another. People who go looking for fordite are specifically looking for gemstone quality layered automobile paint. Sometimes they call it Detroit agate or motor agate, but that’s more of a joke than an attempt to sell the stuff to people looking for actual agate. I can live with this trade name.

Rainbow calsilica: Apparently there’s just a huge amount of argument about this and some people say ‘this is natural and we found it and it’s got pretty pretty stripes of all different colors just naturally and it’s a totally awesome metaphysical marvel of a totally natural gemstone’, but the Journal of the Gemological Institute of America says ’dude, you powdered carbonated rock and added paint and stabilized it with resin, wtf’. So yeah, be warned. I mean, it’s pretty and all, and you’ll probably pay way less for it than for chrysocolla (a natural stone with somewhat similar striping), but… be aware it’s probably something a guy in a factory or a lab put together, okay?

And citrine: Okay, this isn’t exactly a case of trade name bullshittery, but, uh. Natural citrine is stupid rare. Most citrine these days used to be amethyst. Take a crappy piece of amethyst with faint color or gray tones and heat the hell out of it long enough, and it turns yellow, and you can legally sell it as citrine. If you’ve got citrine crystals and the yellow color is most intense up in the tips, you’ve almost certainly got former amethyst there. Fair warning.

An ebay warning: when you search for stone on ebay- eliminate international sellers. 

1. amber is almost always fake. like really FAKE. If you can afford it- its fake. (if it has a bug in it its fake sorry) 

2. half those “crystals” are glass or at a minimum they are chunks of quartz that have been cut into crystal shapes and polished. which like- ok. but its not a crystal you know? 

3. those colorful geodes are dyed

4. Fordite is awesome i agree with OP there- the name is not to deceive, its a genuinely cool and silly thing but it makes REALLY cool “stones” 

5. If is says Jade, be really really skeptical. Real Jadeite from Asia is expensive. Nephrite Jade from wherever is not as expensive but quality can vary. it can be gorgeous- im not knocking it- but it is not the same as jadeite from Myanmar.

“I’m baaaack!” A very familiar voice to the main resident of the apartment chimed out. Truly, it wouldn’t be the same without Rinne in the apartment. Placing the knife he was using to cut some vegetables, Niki headed over to the front door. Crossing his arms, Niki looked at the older man before complaining, “Rinne! You’ve been out basically all day! Where have you even been?! And with my wallet too!” The redhead flashed a quick grin before handing the missing wallet to its rightful owner. “Don’t worry honeybee, I haven’t emptied it~ Just a little bit is gone for what I’ve got planned this evening.” Niki let out a sigh, putting his wallet in the same pocket as he usually did. He really should get a new place for where his wallet goes, but that wasn’t his main focus. A look of suspicion was casted towards Rinne, mainly due to the fact that whilst the redhead could be quite sweet, Rinne’s plans usually weren’t. Not on the surface anyways, much like another certain someone in their lives. It had been quite some time since the two had last seen the solo idol, perhaps a couple of weeks or a month ago? Who knows. Rinne, upon noticing Niki’s suspicion, quickly reassured the younger of the two. “Don’t worry, it isn’t gonna be too flashy, not to mention, a certain someone might be appearing.” 

“If you say so, but how are you so sure Madara’s gonna come? Sure, the three of us have texted a few times, but usually when we make plans, it’s kinda difficult to get Madara to come, mainly due to his schedule.”

“Would ya believe me if I said Kohaku had a part in making sure that there was a much higher probability in making sure Madara would be available?”

“I’d believe that Hiiro and Aira finally helped Tatsumi and Mayoi get together rather than play family with them as the parents more than that.”

“Heyy! Give me a little bit of faith, will ya? Little ol’ Rinne can sometimes get the little bee to listen!” Rinne pouted, almost as if he were the same age as Niki, and not two years older. Niki let out a quiet laugh. “Alright, I’ll give you a bit of faith, but not too much! ...I don’t need to do anything in this plan though, right?” The two had begun to walk towards the kitchen, as if it were second nature. “Weellll…” Rinne’s voice trailed off, looking at the carrots that were being cut into matchsticks. “If our dearest chef wouldn’t mind preparing the actual meal, then would it count as you having a role in the plan?” A sheepish smile spread across the redhead’s face. The chef let out a quiet sigh before nodding. “Yes, Rinne. It does count. You’re lucky I hadn’t started on dinner yet so I can easily swap what I planned for a more picnic style dinner! And also include things that Madara would enjoy too!” Niki would’ve continued with his little rant, but he didn’t merely due to the fact that he had to quickly come up with a picnic style dinner with what he had already taken out and prepped. A salad would be a nice and quick option, perhaps some simple sandwiches to go with it, or even a soup. He could also quickly make some lemonade, or even a strawberry lemonade! Actually, the lemonade, soup, sandwiches, and salad would be just fine. Easy to make, transport, and eat with little to no complaints. The chef’s train of thought quickly was stopped by him hearing a rustling of a bag, to which he turned around to look at. It was Rinne placing a plastic bag onto the counter next to two wooden picnic style baskets. Niki couldn’t help but smile at Rinne’s somewhat childish antics as the elder of the two began folding two typical picnic-themed blankets and setting them on top of the baskets. Niki took that as his unofficial cue to quickly get the dinner ready, which, knowing his own skill, would only take an hour and a half to two hours. 

It didn’t take long for Niki to get caught up in making the simple ham and cheese sandwiches whilst applying the right amount of lettuce, tomato, and even mayonnaise on certain ones as well as making sure that the egg drop soup wouldn’t get messed up, especially the egg ribbons. Honestly, he was more focused on the soup compared to the sandwiches, and the simple salad was already finished with a squeeze bottle of some store bought dressing sat next to it. Rinne had been oddly quiet, something uncharacteristic for him. Well, that was until Niki heard the redhead quietly whisper, “Shit… It’s seriously raining? Now?” His voice seemed to have a pout to it. A knock soon came from the door. It could’ve been either HiMERU, Kohaku, or Madara knocking, though Madara was the most probable culprit of the knocking. There was no reason for the other two bees to be in the area at this point in the evening. “Rinne! Could you get the door?” Niki called out, which garnered no verbal response but the chef could hear the redhead going towards the door and opening it.

Conversation could be heard, but it was mainly Rinne doing the talking. By the time Niki heard the door to the apartment close, he was already putting the egg drop soup and the sandwiches into their respective containers. Peering into the living room, the chef smiled a bit. The person who had knocked on the door was Madara, and quite honestly, he looked like a sopping wet cat due to the rain. A small laugh must’ve escaped Niki as he heard Madara call out, “Nikiii! What’s so funny, you can always tell Mama ya know?” Niki let out another small laugh before replying, “You look like a sopping wet cat, Madara, and besides, you know you don’t have to keep up with the whole ‘Mama’ thing whilst you’re here.” As Niki spoke, he had been putting the dinner into the baskets Rinne had bought, but judging based off of Madara’s appearance, it was unlikely they’d be going outside to have the picnic that Rinne had planned. The brunette looked at the baskets, seemingly in confusion before asking, “Eh? What’s with the picnic baskets? It is raining quite heavily out there, as you can clearly tell.” Niki just vaguely gestured towards Rinne. “It was Rinne’s idea, but I guess plans are cancelled, which would explain why he’s sulking.” Thunder was heard not long after Niki spoke, only confirming his assumption. “It was supposed to be nice today too, which is why I chose today to have it! Now it’s all gone to waste cause Mother Nature or whatever decided to ruin my plans.” Rinne mumbled, leaning onto Madara. Madara merely hummed, thinking for a moment. “Perhaps we could have it indoors? Nothing dictates that a picnic has to be inside, plus, we’ll still be spending time with each other.” Rinne excitedly gasped, a smile bright on his face once more, only for him to pout yet again.

Madara looked at Rinne, confused, “How come you’re pouting again?” 

“Cause I wasn’t the one who thought of that even though the answer was obvious.”Rinne replied, sitting back up due to Madara still being wet.

Niki quickly retrieved some towels as well as some of Rinne’s clothes for Madara to borrow for the night in order to be dry, offering them to the brunette who took them and headed to the bathroom. The chef hummed as he began to move the furniture out of the way in order to put one of the picnic blankets on the floor. Madara ended up returning about as quickly as he had left, now wearing some of Rinne’s clothes that were too big on the redhead. Rinne had gotten up from the couch and grabbed the two baskets, bringing them into the living room. His mood seemed to have improved from before, his usual smile back on his face. Madara took one of the blankets and unfolded it, letting it sway in the air for a bit before setting it onto the hardwood floor. It wasn’t perfectly straight on the floor, but to be fair, neither were the three of them. Rinne quickly set the baskets onto the blanket, the other blanket falling off of it. Madara grabbed the fallen blanket and set it off to the side, humming as he sat down. Rinne sat down as well, followed by Niki, who had returned from the kitchen in order to grab some silverware. It’d be difficult to eat salad and soup without some sort of utensils. Well, actually, just the salad since the soup could theoretically be drunk like a liquid. Honestly, an evening like this would’ve occurred, the three of them happily chatting, occasionally leaning onto each other or holding hands, and eating, with or without the rain. All three of them considered themselves lucky that they were able to spend an evening just enjoying each other’s company, not having to worry about too many assumptions about them, and they really were lucky. Not all idols were able to have a relationship like the three of them, even less with part of the relationship unofficially officially out to the public, yet Madara, Rinne, and Niki made it work, and that’s all that mattered.

That means that you are assigned to a stereotypical RPG role inside our new fantasy world. Spin this wheel to find out what you are now doing for a living.