Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Thursday, Dec. 02, 2004 - 12:47 a.m.

Why, why, WHY do I go into stores I love when I have no money to spend?

::sigh::

I took this strand of stuff into my favorite beadstore of all time, Beads of Paradise, today, because it was unidentified, and I needed to find out what it was before I can make stuff of it and sell it. It turned out to be new jade, which is what I figured, but it's really insanely clean new jade, so I thought maybe I was wrong and it was something else. As it turns out, I'm getting pretty good at identifying rocks nowadays, but that's not the important part. The important part is that I saw something insanely sparkly with the Swarovski and made the mistake of asking "what is that?" because the man behind the counter - who has an unnatural obsession with young girls in frilly socks, high heels and lingerie who suddenly spring into pillow fights - got it down and put it in my hands...no fool, is he. I, like all women everywhere, suddenly went all ooo, sparkly... and immediately bought four strands.

And it's cubic zirconia.

I am a gem snob. I do not do cubic zirconia.

But this stuff was all "oooo", and, "aaaah", and, "priiiiitty!" I'm tellin' you, you woulda bought some too.

So now I have 4 strands of oval cubic zirconia, and because I am a freak for information, I had to know how it's made.

Have you ever tried to find out how cubic zirconia are made?

It's not easy. It took quite a bit of searching on the web to find out how CZ for jewelry is made - because, it also serves a wide variety of industrial uses. Like lining jet engine compartments or something, because it has a really low instance of thermal conduction, probably on accounta the fact that you have to heat it to the insane temperature of 2543 degrees centigrade (that's 4609.4 degrees normal or Fahrenheit) to get the stuff to melt. In fact, zirconia melts at such a high temperature (2750 C), that it was some time before it could be fully utilized, on accounta there wasn't a crucible in existence that wouldn't melt before *it* would.

Ah yes, my friends, I am a veritable font of useless cubic zirconia knowledge at this time. Verily, thou art dazzled.

Oh yes, you are; shut up.

But I think I was able to finally understand the process well enough to put it in one very brief paragraph in layman's terms on my website, so all is well. It's really pretty complicated, and frankly, I never did find out where the hell they actually get "simulated zirconia" - or what it actually is - but at this point, I don't care. I put down the Cliff's Notes version and moved the heck on. The point is the damn things are sparkly, and boy, they really are. They should make some really killer jewelry, and I have discovered that while many, many people have a hankerin' for the aesthetic goodness of natural, semi-precious stones, some women are all about the bling, and this stuff has bling for days, so I think a little of it in moderation is not exactly a bad thing.

But I spent way more than I meant to, on stuff I don't need to have, and that was my adventure for the day.

Peace out,
Katie

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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008