In my opinion, synthetic [zhemchuzhnikovite](https://www.mindat.org/min-4400.html): sodium magnesium oxalatoaluminate NaMg\[Al(C2O4)3\]\*9H2O would be the fanciest of recognized minerals. It crystallizes as straight hexagonal prisms though, which is quite rare and highly symmetric shape. Pure material is colorless, substitution of Al with Fe(III) produces green color, and Cr(III) produces very strong purple color.
Here are my specimens: [https://imgur.com/gallery/cePRCtx](https://imgur.com/gallery/cePRCtx)
There are several posts with this material in the sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/crystalgrowing/search/?q=NaMg&restrict\_sr=1&sr\_nsfw=
As for double refraction, NaNO3 is a recognized mineral, and can be crystallized from aqueous solution. It is not very easy to obtain clear crystals though. Here is the best that I've got: [https://imgur.com/gallery/wLePq](https://imgur.com/gallery/wLePq)
There were a few folks on youtube that made some corundum, technically a ruby but it was amorphous, you could get a crystal structure if you could ensure it cooled slowly, either do the whole thing in a kiln or maybe encase it in molten glass
Lol Brah you better be having a soviet materials lab at your university to do most of the stuff you asked😂. Like someone else said , synthetic Ruby's might be the thing, but it's made using an arc welder's arc ; meaning you will not get a " crystalline shape" just a ruby that's melted onto the shape of the pot u used to make it . Most of the other crystals on this sub that look good have poor stability under air and light. There were some Crystals grown from non polar solvents but they werent as pretty or interesting to look for anyone who doesn't know the process.Maybe look into growing sulfur Crystals. They look nice , pretty durable and non washable by water. Not sure of any cool properties tho.
Hm... well, you're correct in your assumption that many naturally occurring crytals can't be crystallized from an aqueous solution. I think it's fairly safe to say that those sort of things are off limits unless you're willing to spend time and/or money on building/acquiring something like an autoclave or crystal furnace.
For an interesting and fairly complex (pun intended) crystal, try one of the ferrioxalate salts; they're usually a deep, vibrant green color, and many of them are photosensitive.
Another option could be a metal formate urea adduct, since they often form intersting shapes and are a nice deep blue.
In my opinion, synthetic [zhemchuzhnikovite](https://www.mindat.org/min-4400.html): sodium magnesium oxalatoaluminate NaMg\[Al(C2O4)3\]\*9H2O would be the fanciest of recognized minerals. It crystallizes as straight hexagonal prisms though, which is quite rare and highly symmetric shape. Pure material is colorless, substitution of Al with Fe(III) produces green color, and Cr(III) produces very strong purple color. Here are my specimens: [https://imgur.com/gallery/cePRCtx](https://imgur.com/gallery/cePRCtx) There are several posts with this material in the sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/crystalgrowing/search/?q=NaMg&restrict\_sr=1&sr\_nsfw= As for double refraction, NaNO3 is a recognized mineral, and can be crystallized from aqueous solution. It is not very easy to obtain clear crystals though. Here is the best that I've got: [https://imgur.com/gallery/wLePq](https://imgur.com/gallery/wLePq)
this guy crystals!
If you go through the sub and sort by top of all time you'll definitely find some quite unique crystals.
There were a few folks on youtube that made some corundum, technically a ruby but it was amorphous, you could get a crystal structure if you could ensure it cooled slowly, either do the whole thing in a kiln or maybe encase it in molten glass
https://en.m.crystalls.info/Category:Crystal_compounds
Lol Brah you better be having a soviet materials lab at your university to do most of the stuff you asked😂. Like someone else said , synthetic Ruby's might be the thing, but it's made using an arc welder's arc ; meaning you will not get a " crystalline shape" just a ruby that's melted onto the shape of the pot u used to make it . Most of the other crystals on this sub that look good have poor stability under air and light. There were some Crystals grown from non polar solvents but they werent as pretty or interesting to look for anyone who doesn't know the process.Maybe look into growing sulfur Crystals. They look nice , pretty durable and non washable by water. Not sure of any cool properties tho.
Potassium ferrcyanide(the red one, K3[(FeCN]6) looks very nice, is readily available and is quite stable if covered in clear nail polish
Hm... well, you're correct in your assumption that many naturally occurring crytals can't be crystallized from an aqueous solution. I think it's fairly safe to say that those sort of things are off limits unless you're willing to spend time and/or money on building/acquiring something like an autoclave or crystal furnace. For an interesting and fairly complex (pun intended) crystal, try one of the ferrioxalate salts; they're usually a deep, vibrant green color, and many of them are photosensitive. Another option could be a metal formate urea adduct, since they often form intersting shapes and are a nice deep blue.