Help me build a quartz forest

December 4, 2023 3:32 PM

Looking for help building an exhibit of quartz crystals inside of a planter box, in a museum setting. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out what to fill the planter with that will support the large crystals and crystal clusters.

(largest is slightly less than 2' x 2' and several hundred pounds) The medium will hopefully support the crystals at the angle we want them displayed. We are a science/children's museum so any substance inside the planter box will likely be scooped out and collected or thrown on the floor at times. (Although we would like to avoid this!) Sand would be my ideal material, but I think it would lead to digging and sand on the museum floor. What material would you use? Have you done something like this before?


The planter box is a built-in part of the museum, and currently is filled with red cinder and green calcite pieces. When the quartz pieces are added to the box, visitors will be invited to touch gently- the exhibit will not be enclosed. There will be small LED lights installed at the base of the crystals to light them up. I've been internally calling this new exhibit the "quartz forest" or the "quartz garden".

posted by Secretariat to Science & Nature (7 answers total)

Could you use your sand idea, or something similar like gravel, and then put a piece of Plexiglas or something similar over the top of the planter, with holes cut in it to let the crystals stick up through for touching? That would at least reduce the surface area exposed for digging.

Otherwise, maybe big chunks of foam, like floral foam or Styrofoam? Could get crumbly though which may not be desired.
posted by sigmagalator at 4:21 PM on December 4, 2023

Plaster of Paris , prop and place the collection , then pour the plaster, keep the calcite and cinder,
posted by hortense at 5:10 PM on December 4, 2023

People have been making terrarium moss walls out of bentonite clay (obtained from completely natural, unused, additive-free cat litter, moistened into clay).
posted by amtho at 5:14 PM on December 4, 2023

How about using a mix of reflective glass beads with salt or sugar? If you use salt or sugar and some water, the glass beads would be bound in salt or sugar crystals, and would fuse into a single environment with the crystals. Every bit of the environment would bounce light. You could also choose different types of colored salt or sugar to create different colors. The reflective glass beads can be purchased in large bags and would make a nice construction base for the finer salt or sugar crystals, and you could have control over the exact weight. Salt especially would crystalize really fast.
posted by effluvia at 5:21 PM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

If you want something more clay like, acrylic modeling paste should hold the crystals, and some acrylic lines like Golden acrylics offer acrylic texture mediums with different substances embedded in them including glass beads and metal bits.
posted by effluvia at 5:24 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

For something that weighs several hundred pounds we’d use a structural mount. Something made of welded steel. You don’t want to mess around with unsecured heavy objects and children. Then the filler can be whatever you want.
posted by sizeable beetle at 5:28 PM on December 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

When I need to do something like this at a trade/garden show, or a waterfeature with rocks - I've done some variant of sand (a heavy gritty sand is probably best for you case) or crushed aggregate base with a cover of heavy-duty filter fabric e.g. Bidim over the top (usually obtainable through a building store - and usually available by the metre), that way the rocks / heavy objects can be smooshed into the surface and become immovable (and they stay clean) - in this case I'd probably spraypaint the textile black before placing the crystals.
posted by unearthed at 6:25 PM on December 5, 2023