Solar Quartz

The photo shows a single, roughly round slice in bright teal. In the middle there is a dark circle, and around it small sparkling crystals radiate outward to the edges, like a sun someone drew, or a flower. According to Fire Mountain Gems, solar quartz is cut from clear quartz stalactites, and the name comes from the pattern: crystals radiating from a center, like sunrays.

A quartz stalactite, according to Rock Your World, grows layer after layer of quartz into a kind of "mineralized icicle". Slice it across, and you see the growth rings and the core where it all began, and sometimes pockets of tiny sparkling crystals, called druzy. That is what the slice in the photo shows: a cross-section of a stalactite, from the center outward.

Now for the color. According to Fire Mountain Gems, natural solar quartz is white, sometimes with green or brown moss-like inclusions, and sometimes in sunset shades: yellow, orange, red and pink. Teal is not on the list. Dyed solar quartz slices are sold openly, for example by Crystal River Gems. We have not tested our stone, but this shade is most likely dyed. This sun got a color the real one has never heard of.

According to Fire Mountain Gems, solar quartz is mined in Brazil, Madagascar, India, Mozambique, Namibia, Sri Lanka and the United States. And one cleaning tip: because of the tiny crystals, better not to use an ultrasonic cleaner. Water and a soft cloth will do.