Why The Steven Universe Crew (Crewniverse) Does Not Understand Color Theory
Think about it. Fusions are a combination of the component gems' colors. Garnet: blue + red = purple. Malachite: orange + blue =, well, brown, but Jasper's close enough to yellow for the green to work. But SUNSTONE. The only Steven Universe character I actually dislike. Smoky Quartz also has...unusual color choices, but Sunstone gets on my nerves the most. Rose Quartz: pink. Pink = red + white. Garnet: Ruby (red) + Sapphire (blue).
Red + white + red + blue =...orange?
Orange = red + YELLOW. Where, dear crew, did the yellow come from?
Shall we look at the other Steven + Gem fusions?
Rainbow Quartz, pinky rainbow white. About accurate for Steven/Rose + Pearl (although it does bug me that their fusion is a quartz when Pearl isn't a quartz. I think they should have been some kind of opal, but at least the crew got the colors right). But Smoky Quartz. Brown. Rose Quartz, again, pink = red + white. Amethyst, purple. Purple = red + blue. So again, we have red + white + red + blue, only this time it equals brown. For some reason. The reason, probably, is so it could be some sort of quartz that isn't just color + quartz like a lot of the headcanon Steven + Gem fusion names were, but why sacrifice logical color for that?
In my view, both Sunstone and Smoky Quartz (as much as I love Smoky) should be some sort of pink-red or fuchsia gem. As much as I can be annoyed by the "color + gem name" fusion naming convention when overused and/or mineralogically inaccurate (thankfully it's just a fandom thing and not something the crew ever resorted to), I would enjoy these characters a lot more if the crew had gone with more logical colors and names. Amethyst is a quartz. Rose Quartz is a quartz. (Yes, Rose Quartz isn't really a quartz, but as she was pretending to be one her fusions are named as if she was one.) Obviously their fusion should be some sort of quartz, and since quartz comes in most if not all colors, this is indeed a time to break out the color + gem name format. Pick any name for a blend of pink and purple, stick quartz on the end, and you've got their fusion name! What do you think of Magenta Quartz?
Now, the fusion of Steven/Rose and Garnet isn't as easy. Cherry Quartz was something I saw in a couple places in the way back when, but I dislike that, because their fusion wouldn't be a quartz when neither Ruby nor Sapphire is one. Also, the colors don't make sense, because cherry quartz is red or pink, which forgets about Sapphire's blue.
What I like to do first when coming up with fusion names is think: do we have a precedent? Ruby + sapphire + quartz. Sound familiar? Yes! We do, in fact have a precedent for ruby + sapphire + quartz. Garnet and Amethyst's fusion, Sugilite.
Since calling the Garnet + Rose/Steven fusion Sugilite would be confusing, this also seems like it calls for the color + gem name format. Lilac Sugilite, anyone? What about Fuchsia Sugilite, Fuchsia for short? Or we could go with one of the few alternate names for sugilite--Lavulite! Or howe bout Royal Azel! That's a name that EXUDES Steven + Garnet vibes! Or, another option--Wikipedia tells me that sugilite belongs to a category of gems called cyclosilicates. Could pick one of the other cyclosilicates! Personally, though, I'd go with Royal Azel, since their fusion being a sugilite makes a lot of sense and the name has serious cool vibes. I have to draw this now.
Cordierite or iolite. If this sample is authentic cordierite, it appears to be altered by mica, as it is behaving like mica. I received 100 grams of this mineral yesterday from Ali Express. The individual stones look beautiful in the sunlight, though they are fragile. I haven't washed them yet. #cordierite #iolite #cyclosilicates #silicates #crystals #rocks #minerals #stones #aliexpress #china (at Hines Park Place)
Sugilite is a rarish purple cyclosilicate mineral with the chemical formula KNa2(Fe,Mn,Al)2Li3Si12O30. It is in fact more commonly light brownish yellow in colour and fairly unattractive. It is named after the Japanese petrologist Ken-ichi Sugi (pronounced with a hard g), although English-speakers frequently mispronounce the name of the mineral, particularly after it became well-known after large quantities of more attractive purple specimens were discovered in South Africa.
It has a Mohs hardness of 6-6.5. It occurs in intrusive syenite rock in its type locality in Japan, in Quebec, Canada, but in its locality at the Wessels Mine in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa it occurs in a metamorphed manganese deposit. Both accompanying images are from the Wessels Mine locality.
Sources:
Wikipedia | Mindat | Webmineral
Images by Rob Lavinsky via Wikimedia Commons. Links here and here.
Dioptase is an emerald green to blue-green copper cyclosilicate, with the chemical formula CuSiO3 · H2O. It has a green streak and a Mohs hardness of 5. Its crystals are six sided, terminated by rhombohedra, and are usually quite small, less than 0.75cm in size. It may form massively as well. Its name comes from the Greek words "dia", meaning "through", and "optima", meaning "to see", alluding to the visibility of internal cleavage planes. Dioptase is quite rare, forming in oxidised zones of copper deposits in desert regions, yet, along with chrysocolla, is one of the commonest copper silicate.
Dioptase's structure consists of rings of six water molecules sandwiched between rings of six silicate tetrahedrons, with copper atoms gluing silicate rings together and water molecules hydrogen-bonded to each other (to form the rings) and to the oxygen atoms of neighbouring silicate rings. Dioptase begins to dehydrate when heated to around 100°C, with complete water loss occurring at ~700°C. This process causes dioptase to turn grey black in colour. Dioptase will not rehydrate.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Mindat
"A refinement of the structure of dioptase, Cu6[Si8O18]·H2O." Ribbe et al, 1977. American Mineralogist [PDF]
Image 1: Gemmy, emerald green dioptase from Kimbedi, Pool Region, Republic of Congo. Source: irocks.com
Image 2: Dioptase crystals in matrix, with some measuring up to 1.1cm, from same locality as above. Source: irocks.com, as usual.
Benitoite is a rare barium titanium silicate with the chemical formula BaTiSi3O9. It takes its name from its type locality near the San Benito River headwaters in California, USA. It is in fact California’s state gem. At its type locality, benitoite occurs in natrolite veins within schist and serpentinite.
It is usually blue but more rarely may be colourless, white, pink, or purple. The blue variety fluoresces blue under shortwave UV. Clear to white benitoite fluoresces red under long-wave UV. It has a Mohs hardness of 6-6.5.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Webmineral
Images: 1, 2, 3
All three are from Dallas Mine, San Benito headwaters area, California and (c) irocks.com
