Barytes 257

When selecting the 12 designs for the first set of Glowing Edges Designs Crepe de Chine silk scarves, from the hundreds of scanned photomicrographs at my fingertips, I decided to mainly use those that essentially retained the original colours and textures of the rocks – as seen using a petrological microscope.

To my eye, all of them would look good when worn around the neck or head but, at the end of the day, it is the customer that makes this decision. It was therefore interesting to note that my first two customers – from Italy – both chose Barytes 257, where I highlighted some of the natural flaws in the mineral structure using Photoshop.

This particular image was selected from a dozen photomicrographs of the mineral barytes - the main source of the metallic element barium - taken during my third visit to the Department of Geography at Sheffield University, and I particularly like the vivid magenta, yellow and blue colouration that can be seen here.

I had previously only seen this mineral in its white, massive form in the Peak District National Park, where it is usually found in the lead-zinc veins in the Carboniferous limestones – in association with galena, fluorite and calcite.