Anyone know how to make translucent stone?

[AOD2012]

Hey, figured i would post this in this section. i am trying to make a piece of marble tile a little more translucent for a school project, and i have read that you can achieve this with wax, or linseed oil. was just wondering if anyone has done something like this. thanks.


aod

 

[Pseudo]

i dont see how wax would work,if you had a way to mill it thinner it would become more translucent

 

[FirstTracks]

When milled to only a few millimeters, onyx, granite and marble become magnificently translucent materials, creating a palette of colors and variations that only Mother Nature can provide.

from http://www.gpidesign.com/stone-surfaces

...

this thread

http://www.sculpture.net/community/archive/index.php?t-6735.html

Well, here's my 2 cents..

Thinly sliced marble would be best, 3/8 inch if you can manage and lighter colored such as Yule or Carrara as Cantab suggested.. I don't think you can get any transparency per-se, but rather a nice warm translucency, which will allow light to pass through and diffuse/scatter. Using paraffin or wax to impregnate the stone will alter its natural qualities and perhaps turn some very nice stone into some very ugly (greasy looking) stone and I doubt it will do any better than simply cutting it thin and polishing it until the crystals align fully. What I have noticed (although not intentionally geared toward your aims) is that if you soak Yule in Hydrochloric acid for a few minutes it will seep into the stone completely and make it more translucent. What I believe it is actually doing is rounding off the sharp crystalline edges by burning them in a chemical reaction, thus allowing light to pass through the stone/crystal matrix more easily. The problem the way I see it is that it makes the marble less stable and more prone to decay (becoming gritty) and possibly susceptible to fracture. In essence, you want the crystals to be bound strongly for longevity's sake (and because it will be thinner anyway) and the way to do that is to leave the rock alone or Au-natural. I advocate thin slicing like Cantab and then a very high polish.