#anatase

Let's start with the fossils this time.

This year I finally tracked down a Tully Monster, which is my state fossil! He's not a complete fossil, but you can see his eyestalk and the bottom of his proboscis very clearly.

A big chunk of dinosaur bone from Utah! Dino bone is easy to ID due to its distinct pattern, where agate and jasper have filled in the porous structure of the bone.

This is a coprolite, a piece of fossilized dinosaur poop! This one is from Madagascar.

This one is a stromatolite, a rock formation created by a colony of bacteria! Stromatolites are some of the oldest fossils on Earth. In fact, the microbes that make them were likely the very first lifeforms on the planet. And they're still around today, mostly unchanged from their ancient ancestors, and still making rock formations! This little stromatolite came from Madagascar.

A giant chunk of Turritella agate, which I won at the silent auction! Turritella agate is made of a bunch of fossilized snail shells all packed together and filled in with agate. (Despite the name, they're not actually Turritella snails, but rather Elimia tenera.) When cut and polished, it reveals beautiful organic patterns. This stuff comes from Wyoming.

That's all the fossils I brought home! Now on to the minerals!

I was very responsible and didn't come home with a million agates this year, but I couldn't resist this gorgeous rain flower agate! Hailing from Nanijing, China, these agates are naturally polished by the Yangtze River and have a unique, frosted finish.

Another cabochon for my cab collection! This is afghanite, a blue mineral that isn't related to the sodalite family, but likes to grow alongside it.

It fluoresces!

Vesuvianite, a mineral that gets its name because it was first discovered on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius! The dark crystals growing on its surface are garnets. This piece is showing off a great example of vesuvianite's crystal habit and terminations.

A huge zircon crystal! Zircon is the oldest mineral on planet Earth. There's a deposit in Australia which has been radiometric dated to be about 4.4 billion years old! Not this guy, though. This one is from Pakistan.

It fluoresces!

An AMAZING specimen of anatase! It's extremely rare for anatase crystals to grow this large. In fact, the only other anatase crystals I've seen in person had to be viewed under a microscope!

Here's the most expensive piece I came home with - a South African diamond! Can you believe I didn't have a diamond in my collection yet? That problem has been remedied.

It fluoresces!

And finally, my friends and I broke open a few geodes at the geode-cracking booth. I picked out some Trancas geodes from Mexico.

This locale produces weird, wavy, wormy crystals! These formations occur when quartz (in the form of chalcedony or hyalite) grows atop hair-thin, curly crystals of anhydrite.

They fluoresce!

Some more of my HnK OCs! Some reference are a litle bit old but nevermind. 

Ok so a brief description for them... 

Fluorite: 

Hardness 4, they are more of a tactitian/scholar, I remember reading somewhere that fluorite is kind of related to telescopes so I though Fluorite could focus on observing the night sky because they want to see if something Lunarian related occurs at nightime. 

Apatite: 

Hardness 5 yet they are an elder gem (like Yellow Diamond), even they are surprised for not being taken to the moon yet. Deppressed gem but is very caring towards younger ones, often patrols nearby the school. 

Onyx: 

Hardness 6, they had an Obsidian partner (not the canon one!) who got taken to the moon. Onyx got Obsidian’s arms in the process as well as their role as a blacksmith. They’re kind of a workaholic and gets grumpu very easily. Likes to hang out with Apatite to mourn their lost partners. Due to the slight hardness difference between theirs and Obsidian’s hardness, their arms get detached from their body if they fight for a long time. 

Brookite: 

Hardness 6, they are one of the youngest gems in this au of mine. Brookite was born almost in the same time as Anatase, adding their same hardness they share a sibling like bond. Brookite is very energetic and a little clumsy, often accidentally running into lower hardness gems. 

Anatase:

Hardness 6, same age as Brookite, they treat each other as siblings. Anatase is better at fighting than Brookite but are terribly shy. Despite being the voice of reason for their sibling, Anatase often gets dragged by Brookite’s impulsiveness. 

Baryte:

Hardness 3.5, their concept came as an idea of “what if Phos actually enjoyed writing the encyclopedia?” Baryte is very shy but clever, they like taking notes on the plants and insects that inhabits the island. They definitely are not built to be a fighter, but they don’t want to be one anyways. Their most close friend is Dolomite. 

Dolomite: 

Anatase concepts they’re a bean.

Also their design is inspired by @starclodd’s labradorite fusion!