The Heating Process of Cambodian Zircon
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Here's something interesting!⠀
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These 3 stones are all the same thing- Cambodian Zircon⠀
The stone on the left is how they look out of the ground - a dark coffee color with very little consumer interest.⠀
The middle stone is the deep ocean blue this material is famous for and is why it is considered the "king of zircon."⠀
This blue color is achieved by starving the rough of oxygen during the heating process- something called a "reduced oxygen burn." It is done by grinding up charcoal (or other mediums) and then placing the rough and the charcoal into a crucible for heating. ⠀
Scroll down to see some short videos of this material being heated in Cambodia- it's pretty wild!
⠀
These 3 stones are all the same thing- Cambodian Zircon⠀
The stone on the left is how they look out of the ground - a dark coffee color with very little consumer interest.⠀
The middle stone is the deep ocean blue this material is famous for and is why it is considered the "king of zircon."⠀
This blue color is achieved by starving the rough of oxygen during the heating process- something called a "reduced oxygen burn." It is done by grinding up charcoal (or other mediums) and then placing the rough and the charcoal into a crucible for heating. ⠀
Scroll down to see some short videos of this material being heated in Cambodia- it's pretty wild!
Sometimes the reduced oxygen burn doesn't achieve the desired results. On occasion, a stone doesn't change color or the color it changes to isn't much better than what it started out as. When this happens, the zircon is heated like any regular zircon- in an oxygen rich environment. This is to say in a regular kiln or even over an open flame. The point is oxygen is allowed to mix with the stone's trace elements and the resulting color is completely different.
Thanks for reading!