explore | Grilled Cheese

@daverodland.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 10:43 AM

Good morning butterflies, it's #MineralMonday again! Of quartz, we're still celebrating the winner of #MinCup26!
🧪⚒️💎

Qurtz exhibit, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

@salvaterra.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 3:07 PM

BW version of the minerals.

I'll be uploading these as stock art on my Patreon next year, 4 minerals per bimester.

But the entire set is already available for purchase if you don't want to wait: salvaterra.itch.io

Also, art prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/salv...

#mincup #mincup26 #minerals

black and white illustration of 32 minerals competing in the 2026 mineral cup. we have here rocks, crystals and metallic minerals. azurite, cuprite, quartz, talc, halite, vesuvianite, graphite, pyromorphite, julianite, andalusite are just some of the minerals that compose the list.

@salvaterra.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 2:01 PM

💎 the stages of the cup 🏆

#mincup #mincup26 #minerals #sciart

colourful illustration of 16 minerals eliminated in the first round of the 2026 mineral cup. smithsonite, erythrite, anorthite, bournoite, orpiment, asagiite, monazite, talc, hafnon, gypsum, calcite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, riebeckite, xocolatite and cassiterite. blues, grees, yellow, silver hues.

colourful illustration of 8 minerals eliminated in the second round of the 2026 mineral cup: azurite, vesuvianite, andalusite, stichitte, putsinite, cylindrite, chrysocolla and gadolinite.

colourful illustration of 4 minerals eliminated in the quarterfinals of mineral cup 2026: sphalerite, skutterudite, julienite and pyromorphite.

colourful illustration of the four minerals in the semifinals and final match of the mineral cup 2026: quartz, the champion, cuprite, second place, halite and graphite.

@salvaterra.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 1:29 PM

This year, the champion is Quartz! 🏆

Here is my 2026 bracket.

#mincup26 #mincup #minerals #sciart

a cup bracket of the 32 minerals competing in the 2026 mineral cup. they from deep red, greem, to blue, white and grey, as we have here rocks, crystals and metallic minerals. azurite, cuprite, quartz, talc, halite, vesuvianite, graphite, pyromorphite, julianite, andalusite are just some of the minerals that compose the list. the champion is quartz, who beat cuprite in the final.

@salvaterra.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 1:26 PM

💎 Here is the final art of all the minerals competing in the Mineral Cup 2026, at last. 🧵

#mincup26 #mincup #minerals #sciart

colourful illustration of 32 minerals competing in the 2026 mineral cup. they from deep red, greem, to blue, white and grey, as we have here rocks, crystals and metallic minerals. azurite, cuprite, quartz, talc, halite, vesuvianite, graphite, pyromorphite, julianite, andalusite are just some of the minerals that compose the list.

@elwynrain.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 4:19 PM

New stone witch !

The (synthetic) quartz is absolutely vital to all our electronics devices, pacing all processors and watches, and that's what I wanted to represent here !

And also congrats to quartz for winning #MinCup26 !

#art #stonewitch

A drawing of a woman in cyberpunk clothes, sitting on a coil a a giant electronic circuit. In the background : another coils, a green lighting watch screen and a flat battery

@naturaelapides.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 5:54 AM

For this #MineralMonday, I’m continuing to celebrate Quartz’s victory at #MinCup26, and to photograph the quartz specimens in the collection.

Here is a prase flower, a leek-green variety of quartz, with its characteristic slender crystals.

#mineral #crystal #macrophotography #focusstacking

fleur de quartz dit prase de couleur verte

@ninadavtian.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 8:48 PM

This is how I celebrated the #MinCup26 champion. Congrats #Quartz!
Names of the shown quartz varieties in the ALT text.

Selfie (Nina Davtian) taken on 3rd October 2026. In addition to a pink top, Nina wears a necklace with amethyst stones and a silver ring with a smoked quartz stone on her right ring finger.

@vickyveritas.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 7:48 PM

#MinCup26 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology #geosky #GIS 🍎 🪐 🔭 🌋 📚 🌿

@mikamckinnon.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 7:20 PM

That’s a wrap for #MinCup26!

This year was brought to you by a glorious team of volunteers contributing their favourite mineral facts, drafting blurbs on the side of playgrounds, and debating exactly which photo is both representative and beautiful.

@mineralcup.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 7:02 PM

Congratulations to our Mineral Cup 2026 Champion Quartz!

For #MinCup26, we collectively chose a nostalgic beauty of resilience as persistence as our champion. Please celebrate #Quartz, a friend to humans since time immemorial!

www.mineralcup.org/about/2026-q...

A single quartz point, deep violet in its core and entirely clear around the outside, with ghostly traces of the crystal's former shape inside, as well as a few tiny bubbles.

@vickyveritas.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 10:23 AM

#MinCup26 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology #geosky #GIS 🍎 🪐 🔭 🌋 📚 🌿

@paleosol.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 4:00 PM

I'd like to congratulate #Quartz on winning #MinCup26. ⚒️

Reliable without flare.
Will travel long distances, but only at moderate speeds.
Can be many colors but often isn't.

You truly are the 1999 Toyota Corolla of minerals.

A photography of a gray 1999 Toyota Corolla, the most boring car ever conceived, lacking hub caps and parked in from of a very simple playground on an autumn day. Even the parking lot lines have faded out of resignation to a long life of boredom.
Photograph by Brian Reider.

@lesuper.bsky.uy Oct 2, 2026, 1:59 PM

In order to celebrate #Quartz' victory in #MinCup26 a 3D model is in the making (promised during round 1).
It gets more complex by the unit and failing one connection will make it glass 😖.
At this point very careful steps are being taken so progress is slow. Hopefully I will finish it on Sunday!
🤞🏻

@clairecopperman.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 1:37 PM

Hooray! About time too.
And boo to the cheaters. Thank you to the team for keeping it honest, and to everyone for sharing wonderful facts and opinions about the minerals.
#MinCup26

@minouette.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 12:18 PM

I’m really pleased to see that FINALLY in its 10th year, Quartz has won the Mineral Cup! #MinCup26

Huge thanks to the tireless @mineralcup.bsky.social team who managed the yearly tournament with their usual flair & aplomb, including having to cope with some ridiculous cheating! Take a moment to

@barrygoldman1.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 12:12 PM

#MinCup26 Yay quartz. Here r some tiny 'herkimers' growing with calcite in a seam. Helderberg formation Coeymans NY, usa

@tanterei.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 7:22 AM

Habemus Winner!

Glad to see #Quartz get the laurels it deserves from #MinCup26!

@andromedaphoenix.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 6:23 AM

TEAM QUARTZ WINS BABY

I hope the mineral cup goes on for enough years that we can have a winner's only bracket and truly determine what is the Best Mineral...

#MinCup26 #TeamQuartz

@crystallised-cricket.com Oct 2, 2026, 5:54 AM

Congrats to #Quartz, the literal bedrock of all minerals on Earth, after 10 years on the campaign trail it has got the #MinCup26 title.

But a bigger congrats and thanks go to the @mineralcup.bsky.social team, for providing the sparkle we all needed to our social media feeds.