crystalcranium Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 The remarkable aging technique I posted for acrylic crystals last week has an interesting second chapter. As the molecular structure of the irradiated crystal slowly returned to normal.....the crystal began to craze....just a little at first...then large fissures through the dome over a period of a few days. It's amazing that the crystal was absolutely fine for 4-5 days after the exposure to the light but as the molecular structure of the acrylic slowly came down to a lower energy state...it fractured. Anyone trying this method....STOP unless you want fissures as a feature of your aged crystal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 My god Crys! Sorry to hear that Good luck though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leifhaus Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 was that a gen crystal? like $300 gen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalcranium Posted July 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 Can you describe the meothod or link me to it please? Also, do you have pics of the result? Very interesting - and I hope it was no Superdome. Heflands aftermarket...$10 here's the thread http://www.rwg.cc/members/Nanuqthe-acrylic...ked-t37361.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalcranium Posted July 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 It was a high intensity disinfectant UV light in a bio-hazard safety hood...not something everyone has access to!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 Heflands aftermarket...$10 Oh. That is the good news then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyd3 Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 You can also use a UV light that is used to purify aquarium water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalcranium Posted July 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 Well, I have access to that stuff... even to Iodine 131 and other radioactive isotopes we use for radio-pharmacology. So that stuff is not so far away from me... my aging stuff I put on my vintage reps comes from the labs - but of course has nothing to do with radioactive stuff 100%. Man I think I will try this I aged the crystal for 56 straight hours within 12 inches of the source. Perhaps a more gradual exposure would work better....maybe in 3-4 hour runs and then letting it rest for a day or two. The results were remarkable from a cosmetic standpoint but if high intensity/long duration results in a brittle crystal...then it's not going to be a viable methodology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalcranium Posted July 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 That's a great idea to expose it for shorter periods and let it rest to come back down. Takes some time but it probably will be worth it... Do you know - did Tritium do anything to age the crystal in addition to the UV Light? It is hard to believe that a crystal is worn so much in the sunlight where it can get discoloured... well, if nothing works out we can always blow cigarrette smoke in there. Don't know about tritium...but since you mentioned isotopic iodine before....I once put a sealed bottle of iodine (non radioactive) in a lexan box along with other toxic materials and the iodine vapors rapidly discolored the labels of the other reagent bottles as well as the lexan box...only problem is that iodine discolors a reddish brown...not yellow. I might try some yellow dye treatments but any dye coloration is going to fade with time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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