Fordite beads & cabs from DVHdesigns! Great for car loving guys....

Hey folks!  I'm still cutting lots of unusual focal beads and cabs.  These piece were cut from one of the LAST pieces I have of what I call "Classic Fordite".   Because I first cut Fordite as a kid in the rock club in Michigan back in the 1970's I was originally exposed to ONLY original, American made, genuine Fordite that came from Michigan based car manufacturing plants.  While I don't think this came from rough that was made in Michigan in the 60's or 70's, it's definitely American car paint overspray and it has great, sparkly colors of American classic cars!  Great banding in various layers, not to mention LOTS of bullseyes!  These are the largest ones I was able to make...

Here are some medium wedge shaped pieces.  Two of these have already sold....

and here are some cabochons....

The heart shaped cabochon is made out of "boat paintite" and made up of the overspray of layers of marine paint from a boat manufacturer. 

Last time I was in Tucson at the 2011 gem shows there was VERY LITTLE fordite available and what small amount of rough I saw was actually selling for $1 a gram while others sell this material for $10 to $25 a CARAT for cut material! Honest to God!  I've saw 3 booths that each had a small tray of small cabs, one booth with larger cabs and rough, and that's it!  NO ONE IS MAKING BEADS out of this and certainly not the sizes I'm working in. Get them now, while I still got the little bit of rough!

About two years ago, I was down to my very last thin scraps of Fordite from my many years of collecting when a box came in the mail with a birthday present for me!  It was a number of nice CHUNKS of fordite of various types and provenance.  My brother collected these chunks off of eBay and a few other sources, so for a limited time I'm once again able to offer custom cut cabs and BEADS in this wonderful, weird, fabulous, faux gemstone!  Check out other fordite items on eBay and compare!  eBay seems to be the only place to find a small but regular amount of this great stuff and I'm glad to be selling it again.    There is definitely a niche demand for this stuff.  It was even been featured in the London Times Magazine in December 2006.    I've never known of anyone else who makes beads out of it such as the ones I have in my eBay store.

I grew up in a rock club in Michigan back in the 1970's and there were a few old, wise guy  rock hounds who worked in the auto industry and who would collect chunks of dried, layered car paint from the paint sheds at the car factories back in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  The paint was overspray that had been baked repeatedly making it relatively hard and solid. This was occasionally sold at local rock and gem shows as "Fordite, Chryslerite, Buickite or Detroit Agate."   Fordite was by far the most common and popular nomenclature.  I collected chunks of it here and there and then didn’t see any for twenty years.  I've only seen rough for sale from dealers on the rarest of occasions.  Very rarely a piece of rough will come up on eBay or at a local show from some old timers estate collection that's being sold.  Evidently they started painting cars electrostatically in the 1970’s sometime.  This prevented overspray , saved money, and kept paint scraps out of landfills,  but it was the death knell for Fordite and its relations.