May 11th, 2016: Barre Gray

[Snakeadelic]

Beautiful stuff, Barre Gray, at least for that purpose. Most cemeteries, however, don't manage to showcase the astonishing variety of colors found in true granites and their relatives (like hornblende, gneiss, gabbro, and rhyolite). To be dazzled by color, pattern, and variety, check this out: http://wichmanmonuments.com/GraniteColors and then just put "granite colors" into your favorite search engine. So far as I can tell (after about 3 years of intent online study), none of the exemplars at that link are dyed. There are granites that flash blue in their feldspar crystals (often sold as Larvikite or Black Labradorite), and some of the colors coming out of Brazil, Italy, and China are amazing. I routinely find a granite near my home that has coarse peach-colored feldspar with lavender-grey quartz, and tiny skiffles of black biotite mica. Spectacular when wet, just another dull river cobble when dry.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You can see the colors are the result of inclusions, which make it difficult to carve sharp detail and lettering. It also makes the carved stone weather(erode) faster. I noticed a stone in the cemetery up home that was black and gold, very appropriate for the woman beneath it, who was a wild and crazy chick. But in five years it was unreadable, which is maybe a good idea.