Marvelous Minerals

The Exhibition

There's so many amazing gems and minerals in here. Lets check them out!

Woa! The very first thing to see once entering the room. This is one of the largest amethysts in the world! Almost looks like a cool sleep pod for a DND earth gensai. Just saying.

This is a cool room. It shows all the ways light interacts with minerals, gems, and stones. This giant sterling sheet rock is being lit up with various lights displaying a bunch of cool details in the rock.

Here's a glass case in the Historical Gem room with some carved jade figures. A lovely lady in lavendar jadeite jade from the Jade Mine Tract in China, about late Qing Dynasty. This figure represents Guan Yin, a buddhist goddess.

Ohhh this one is my favorite! This combination of azurite and malachite caught my eye because of the variety of colors and the details it has on its face. It makes me think of an ocean held inside such a beautiful stone.

Huh, this educational corner talks about what crystals and rocks are made of and their compositions. This atom disply shows how crystals are formed.

I don't know about you, but I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw this gypsum mineral. I thought it as a cluster of BarBQ Lays chips stuck together! Kind of feeling snackish right now. We could go down to the museum's cafeteria later.

Oooh! This stone has bits of iridescence when you move around it! It looks muddy and dark at first, but when you move, there are teals, blues, and pale greens. Makes me think of a magical totem of some kind.

Ok I admit, I'm not a Game of Thrones fan. I've only seen bits and pieces of the show. However, this stibnite mineral makes me think of the throne formation once I saw it.

Observing Data

Walking around the exhibit, I can't help but notice a few things about some of the items that are in the room. Let's play some observation games to see what info we can analyze with some of the items that catch our interest.

Original to Fashioned

There are a lot of minerals and gems that are in their unique and original state. Then there are the gems and minerals that are cut, polished, and fashioned into slpendid creations.

Figuring Fun Textures

It's so much fun to see all of the unique textures from every gem and mineral. There are some that look like needles sticking out and some with pretty, smooth surfaces.

Interesting Interviews

That was fun doing the observation games; and collecting and compairing the data. I do admit, while looking at the gems and minerals, I was also doing a bit of people watching. I'm curious about what they all think about the room and its treasures. Let's talk to a few of them.

I saw this really cool-looking woman walking around. She and I had a lovely conversation before I asked her what about the exhibition caught her interests. She replied, "I've always been interested in gems and minerals. They're like a combination of art and science. The redesigning of the exhibit is amazing because it groups the minerals and displays them well."

While walking nearby the Light Room of the exhibition, I noticed a little girl with her father. She was looking at the gems with curious and bright eyes. I was curious to know what she found intriguing about the gems she was looking at. She shyly piped up, "I like them. I think they're facinating and I like taking pictures of them. I have a kit at home where I put water inside a box and dig for the minerals. I also have a rock collection!"

I saw this girl's earrings and complemented her. We ended up talking and found out she was just here to kill time with her friend due to a delayed flight. As we spoke, she shared her honest opinion about the exhibition, "They're beautiful, but it's actually kind of sad to be honest. We're basically pillaging these minerals from their ecosystems and destroying the earth. It's very capitalistic to even have them here."

I saw this pair in the Historic Gems room of the exhibition. I thought it was cool that these guys were checking out the beautiful gems, it was even more intereesting to hear their reasons why they liked them also, "We like the gem's visual factors. The way they're cut, fashioned, and marked. How the light refracts off of them, their coloring, and how they create value."

What caught my attention was the blue hair and fabric sachel. He looked like he was in another world (mentally) as he gazed at the gems and minerals. While talking with him, he was very sweet and shared how this was his very first visit to the exhibtion, "I haven't really been here before, so I wanted to chech it out. I find these gems aesthetically pleasing. Plus, learning about these minerals can help us understand the universe."

I thought this was so sweeet. A mother and child looking at the mineral case so intently and discussing the components of every other mineral. WHile we spoke, it was amazing to here all the geology terms and topics both mother and son talked about. I found myself learning a lot of cool things! Mother smiled, "I used to be a rock scientist, and now he's gotten into it. I personally like the various metamorphosis and sedimentary. Like the coral and minerals." Then the son piped up, "I like the geology and formation of the minerals. it's cool to see how the rocks interact with each other. Especially when they result in color, shape, and size."