Just One More Bucket
Some adventures take you into the unknown. This one hands you a mountain of blasted gem gravel and says: go find your treasure.
Read the storySparkle Style® presents
The Crystalverse
Earth · Discovery · Energy · Art
Extraordinary stones. Uncommon stories.
An exploration of minerals, crystals and gemstones through gemology, firsthand adventures, original photography, and the art of crystal connection.
Cover story
In the Field
Chasing Sapphires: An Australian Gemfields Adventure
An adventure through Queensland's Gemfields, from underground mines to independent fossicking.
Explore the StoryEditor's note
Every stone here has a story, whether I dug it up myself, found it at a gem show or picked it up in a little shop along the way. The Crystalverse brings together my adventures, my collection and my photography, from the science of minerals and crystals to the art of connecting with them.
✦ Brittain Cooper, Crystalogist and founder of Sparkle Style®
Meet BritDiscoveries
The latest stories from the field, the cabinet and the studio.
Crater of Diamonds
Three days searching the weathered remains of an ancient volcanic deposit in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.
Read the story
Crystal 101
The science behind the sparkle. What makes a crystal a crystal, the crystal families and systems, and the shapes crystals grow into.
Read the story
Montana Agate
How a macro photograph of Montana agate's natural patterns became wearable art.
Read the storyExplore the Crystalverse
In the Field
Gem-hunting adventures, travel journals, original field photography and discoveries.
Explore In the Field
The Cabinet
Extraordinary specimens from my private mineral collection, their origins, characteristics and personal stories.
Explore The Cabinet
Under the Surface
Mineralogy, gemology, crystallography, remarkable natural phenomena and accessible science.
Explore Under the Surface
From Stone to Style
How my original photographs of minerals and crystals become Sparkle Style wearable art.
Explore From Stone to Style
The Experience
Crystal practices, symbolism, reflection, meditation and the personal perspective behind Crystal Resonance Sessions.
Explore The Experience
Inside the Cabinet
Sulfur
- Classification
- Native element
- Notable characteristics
- Bright yellow crystals. Sulfur burns with a blue flame, which is how it earned its old name, brimstone, or "burning stone."
- How I found it
- Tucson gem show
One of my all-time favorites. I found this brilliant yellow specimen at the Tucson gem show many years ago, and it inspired my sulfur crystal leggings. At Hell's Gate geothermal reserve in New Zealand, I got to see sulfur forming naturally around the steaming vents.
Read the full profileExplore more
Meet the Crystals
The minerals, crystals and meteorites in my collection, A to Z.
Crystal 101
The science behind the sparkle.
The Gem Hunter's Guide
Real adventures. Extraordinary discoveries.
Gem Show Calendar
Gem, mineral and jewelry shows around the world.
Find Your Stone
Six quick questions to meet your Sparkle Style match.
All photography by Brittain Cooper.