Still life #2......

The traveller returned today and has had a very good holiday! I have yet to see the photos. All in good time!

We had lasagne for dinner tonight to keep the spirit of Italy alive!

And I have some more alabaster fruit to add to my bowl and am very pleased with it. Wonder if anyone can spot the additions?

Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum (a hydrous sulfate of calcium) and calcite, acarbonate of calcium, also known as onyx-marble, Egyptian alabaster or Oriental alabaster, in geological terms is "a stalagmitic limestone marked with patterns of swirling bands of cream and brown". In general, but not always, ancient Alabaster in Egypt and the Near & Middle East is calcite. Alabaster in medieval Europe is gypsum. Modern Alabaster is probably calcite, but may be either. Both are easy to 'work' and as both are slightly water soluble, have been used for making a variety of indoor artworks and carvings, as they will not survive long outdoors.
The two kinds are distinguished from one another readily by differences in their relative hardness. The gypsum kind is so soft as to be readily scratched with a fingernail (Mohs hardness 1.5 to 2), while the calcite kind is too hard to be scratched in this way (Mohs hardness 3), although it does yield readily to a knife. Moreover, the calcite alabaster, being a carbonate, effervesces upon being touched with hydrochloric acid, whereas the gypsum alabaster, when thus treated, remains practically unaffected.
Owing to the characteristic color of white alabaster, the term has entered the vernacular as a metonym for white things, particularly "alabaster skin", which means very light and quite translucent, and possibly derives from the use of alabaster for tomb effigies.


Very interesting I thought!