SRI LANKA - FIRE and SAPPHIRES

Dear all, I'm happy to invite you to discover the most recent field video on my new YouTube Channel:

While visiting Sri Lanka in January 2018 to collect reference samples for the Bahrain Institute for Pearls & gemstones (DANAT) we did some experiment about heat treatment of sapphires and I'm happy to invite you to discover that very traditional and very mysterious technique that is practiced for more than 1,000 years people in Sri Lanka. It is called "blow pipe" and it is used remove the blue or yellow color in rubies and sapphires. Nevertheless with modern times new techniques were discovered and the traditional "blow pipe" technique is less used nowadays as the trade is actually more interested in techniques developing the blue color and with technique that enable a more precise control on key factors such as temperature and pressure.
Many thanks for this video to all the people we met in Sri Lanka for their support and more particularly to Master Simon and Mr Punsiri from Ratnapura in Sri Lanka for their welcome and of course to my cameraman Didier Barriere Doleac and my driver Sunil.
Enjoy