Fossil focal beads from my Tucson trip!

Howdy folks!  When I was in Tucson last February I made an effort to look for very cool, rare, and unique elements that I could bring back to my studio and drill to make unusual, one of a kind focal beads and matched pairs.  In every case I sorted through hundreds of pieces to get just a few dozen pieces total that were good enough quality to be beadified by drilling here at DVHdesigns!

 In the image here you see carnelian colored agatized fossil snails, iridescent ammonites, and a funky agatized fossil pine cone.  Agatized fossils have been petrified, i.e. replaced by quartz, in agate form.  Most fossils are much softer, sedimentary stones like the ammonites.  The iridescent surfaces in the ammonites is the fossilized nacre of the shells!  I'm pretty sure all are from Morocco or somewhere nearby in NW Africa.   These and more like them are available in my DVHdesigns store on Etsy and there are some in my my Sunday bargain auctions on eBay as well! http://dvhdesigns.com/?page_id=2