Transformation

There is beauty going from the raw cut to what looks like a polished surface or even what a surface looks like when the rock is wet. In this stage the colors are vibrant and revealing as compared to when the rock is dry and “dull”. Many people bring beautiful rocks from the beach to line their garden beds thinking they will look perfect there; only to find out they look rather dull compared to when they were found wet on the beach. A simple explanation is how the light is scattered when it hits the rock surface. White light hitting a dry rock surface is scattered by the surface roughness making it diffused and dull. The thin layer of water on the surface reduces this scatter because the water fills in the little valleys and chips on the surface that would scatter the light when dry. Now we see more of the light carrying the color from just under the surface of the rock enhancing the color. The photos below show two examples of coasters showing the transformation from the raw cut surface in its dull state to the vibrant colors in the same surface after being treated giving it a “wet” look. The left photo of each pair is the raw cut surface and the right of each pair the treated surface.