In its final state, Egyptian blue consists of rectangular blue crystals together with unreacted quartz and some glass. From the analysis of a number of samples from Egypt and elsewhere, the weight percentage of the materials used to obtain Egyptian blue in antiquity was determined usually to range within these amounts: 60–70% silica (SiO2) 7–15% calcium oxide (CaO) 10–20% copper(II) oxide (CuO) To obtain theoretical cuprorivaite, where only blue crystals occur, with no excess of unreacted quartz or formation of glass, these percentages would need to be used: 64% silica 15% calcium oxide 21% copper oxide However, none of the analyzed samples from antiquity was made of this definitive composition, as all had excesses of silica, together with an excess of either CuO or CaO. This may have been intentional; an increase in the alkali content results in the pigment containing more unreacted quartz embedded in a glass matrix, which in turn results in a harder texture. Lowering the alkali content (less than 1%), though, does not allow glass to form and the resultant Egyptian blue is softer, with a hardness of 1–2 Mohs. In addition to the way the different compositions influenced texture, the way Egyptian blue was processed also had an effect on its texture, in terms of coarseness and fineness. Following a number of experiments, Tite et al. concluded that for fine-textured Egyptian blue, two stages were necessary to obtain uniformly interspersed crystals. First, the ingredients are heated, and the result is a coarse-textured product. This is then ground to a fine powder and water is added. The paste is then reshaped and fired again at temperatures ranging between 850 and 950 °C for one hour. These two stages possibly were needed to produce a paste that was fine enough for the production of small objects. Coarse-textured Egyptian blue, though, would not have gone through the second stage. Since it usually is found in the form of slabs (in the dynastic periods) and balls (in the Greco-Roman period), these either could have been awaiting to be processed through a second stage, where they would be ground and finely textured, or they would have been ground for use as a blue pigment. The shade of blue reached was also related to the coarseness and fineness of Egyptian blue as it was determined by the degree of aggregation of the Egyptian blue crystals. Coarse Egyptian blue was relatively thick