Ammonium Sulphate melt yields some impressive bifiringence: Two new pics. And one more...

[billben74]

Hello all,
Still on the crystals at the mo. A micscape article from sometime ago tipped me off about ammonium sulphate.

I'm not disappointed but I'm still on my "abstract" phase



Just the one for now.
At x 200, crossed polaroids

[JimT]

Looks like bats flying out of a super nova in a Super Hero movie

Like it very much and I never get tired of polarized images.

JimT

[billbillt]

I am with Jim T... I love all of these...
BillT

[gekko]

Beautiful! I like JimT's bat imagery. Nice work.

[billben74]

Thanks guys.
An ent following some bats in some interplanar space?

[billben74]

More from the same crazy ammonium sulphate.

If the first pic was a crystal tree then here is the Queen of The Crystal Trees.
Its a stack/stitch job.




And just some crazy colours in vaguely radial pattern.

[75RR]

Like your Queen of The Crystal Trees. Very attractive

[billben74]

Thanks 75RR.

[billbillt]

Beautiful photos of "fractal" images..
BillT

[billben74]

Thanks BillT.
Crystals are quite wonderful viewing but transient.

[vasselle]

Bonjour
Very nice photo
J'aime beaucoup
Cordialement seb

[billben74]

Merci beaucoup

[ChrisR]

Are these "just" crossed polars or do you dibble with retarders and/or wedges?

....and are you using fertilizer, or a lab chemical?!

[billben74]

Hi Chris. Just crossed polars. Its lab grade ammonium sulphate, but you can buy a bag for 5-10 pounds (10-20 dollars). I have far too much...

I have plans to try retarders but the ammonium suphate is pretty amazing all by itself.

I do clean up the images, improve the colours a bit using the levels thing on gimp but nothing too drastic.

On the "Queen" one I had to do a bit of creative editing around the edges of the images as I messed up taking all the photos for the stitch and there were a few "holes" and the crystal slides change so your stuck with your mistakes, or in this case you cheat a little.

But that is only about 5% of the image, and I didn't want to loose the whole compostion.

Thanks for you interest.

[rnabholz]

Excellent stuff!

It is always fun to let the mind run wild and hear what people see.

Very unique color palette with this substance. Those light greens are unusual.

Thanks for posting

Rod

[gekko]

Very nice, especially the "plant" in the first image of the second set.

[mrsonchus]

Amazing images, the thought of this being the only one, unique, and beautiful - superbly creative. I too see a hint of fractal about them. You really do have a feel for these crystals old chap - very nice and totally original to-boot!

The 'Queen Tree..' - I love it - well done Bill.

p.s. - definitely see the bats!

[billben74]

Hello all.
I've been on my summer hols. Next time I'm going to take samples.
Got back and finally finished cleaning up the last in this series.
Rainbow mountain. Same slide.
x200 8 stack and slight stitch.

[gekko]

Nice one.

[rnabholz]

Very nice colors.

I haven't done melts, you make me want to give it a try.

[billben74]

Thanks guys.

[c-krebs]

Really nice. First thing that popped into my head on the first image was Aurora Borealis

[billben74]

Thanks Charles.

I can see what you mean about the northern lights.
That slide was an amazing colour show, that lasted only a few days, then there was too much crystalisation and it just went white noise.
I was up late, and in fact early, madly taking photos, which took a long time to work through and process.
Worth it though.