Till the 19^th century black tourmaline was an undesired companion in ore-rich rock layers. As other useless minerals it was named Schorl, which was in German language a synonym for spoil or mining waste. Derived from this word the German name "Schörl" was established for the black tourmaline.

The colorfulness of the schorl crystal was discovered only a few years ago and was largely unknown. In order to uncover this color diversity, the crystals are cut into thin slices and then clued on object slides. After that the pieces are sanded in a complex process, according to the needed requirements down to extreme thinness, which is mostly around a few hundredth millimeters. Under lower magnification and a light intense microscope the schorl crystals disclosing their hidden colors, shapes and patterns in such a richness in diversity which is unique in the mineral kingdom.

From schorl crystals around the world we are mounting various thin sections. In the following you can see a small selection of our work.

An extensive elaboration of our work with various thin section photos, include an evaluation of our previous work can be purchased as book here