Based on a specimen from Yekaterinburg, Russia

This model is based on an unusual specimen, and there is a story behind it as well.

Most of the time, I model specimens that are in my personal collection. I’m not strict about this rule, but having a guideline in place prevents me from being distracted by all the gorgeous crystal drawings out there, and keeps me from spending all my time modeling beautiful rarities that I’m not likely to see in person. But just this once, I allowed myself to be persuaded by the incredible form of John White’s “Odd Garnet” described in the March/April 2025 issue of Rocks and Minerals magazine.

Based on a specimen from Thomas Range, UT

This model was inspired by a beautifully symmetric but tiny crystal of bixbyite. There are little concavities along the edges of the main crystal, as well as the expected trapezohedral corner modifications. A little investigating convinced me that the faces that made up the concave regions were also trapezohedron faces, but what were they doing in the centers of cube edges, and why were they so nicely symmetrical? And what, if anything, did they have to do with the striations that crossed in the center of every cube face?

Based on a specimen from Amelia Mine, Boleo Dist., Baja California Sur, Mexico

This is one of the iconic shapes in mineralogy - highly symmetrical epitaxial overgrowths of cumengite over boleite. Although my specimen is tiny, its form is good, and finding it was all the encouragement I needed to get started on a model. This was the first model I attempted with nonconvex regions, and I was surprised by how well it worked out. Gluing these models together accurately is difficult, and sanding inside the concave areas is worse yet. But some of the most interesting crystals out there have concave areas, so developing a technique to represent them was clearly necessary!