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Page last updated 01/18/10
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| Small, fragile parts of the sculpture, such as dragon and unicorn horns, are cast in pewter and gold plated. The glass eyes are taxidermy quality and derive their colors from colored glass frit that is fired (melted) onto the back of the clear glass eye. |
| Emerald's Emporium |
| The figurines are not fired ceramic. They are cold cast into rubber molds where the mineral stone casting material sets and hardens by hydration of the mineral molecules. This forms an interlocking crystalline structure which returns the casting slurry to a true stone and gives much finer reproduction of detail than ceramic. Beside being durable and archival, mineral stone is an ecologically sound material that is both safe to use and not toxic to the environment. The painted figurines are finished with a combination of airbrushing and hand-painting by skilled artisans using the highest grades of archival materials available. The iridescent paints they use are not colored with dyes or pigments. Their colors are produced by light-refracting coated mica particles where the particular color is determined by the exact thickness of the refractive coating. They are similar to the colors in butterfly wings and without dyes or pigments they are light-fast and non-fading. |
| Windstones have been produced since 1984, but Emerald's Emporium has only been carrying them since 2005. However, their museum-quality and vibrant colors have won us over and we hope to be selling them for a long time. |