DVH 86ct Coober Pedy Australian Opal Shield Focal Bead 57x31x8 (7975) Su...

DVH Black Druzy Drusy Quartz Amethyst Large Freeform Teardrop Focal Bead...

Sunstone and Moonstone Hybrid Beads

Black Lightning Moonstone Focal Beads! New Batch of 5

DVH 92ct Arizona Turquoise Heart Focal Bead Mourning Gem with Sunstone I...

3 Black Moonstone Freeform Cabochons

Everything is at DVHDESIGNS.COM now!

Thanks for coming to my blog!  I now have ALL my inventory in my DVHDESIGNS.COM website including new blog posts!  You can see old posts here but if you want to shop, read new blog posts, see what events I'm doing next and sign up for my e-mail list, then go to DVHDESIGNS.COM

Regards, 

David 

Some new beads and a matched pair of genuine jet heart cabs that we  just made.  Top left and 

middle row are pyrite.  Bottom row is a pierced lingam from India, Tanzanian Sunstone, Titanium coating on Druzy Quartz, and Purpurite.  

See all these pieces in my DVHdesignsLAPIDARY store n Etsy.  I also have bargain auctions closing in my eBay store on Sunday evening.   Links to all my sales sites are on my DVHdesigns.com website along with a link to sign up for my mailing list!  

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

New lapidary work by me and my apprentice in our eBay stores bargain auctions closing soon.  http://stores.ebay.com/DVH-Designs  TOP:  Mookaite, Firecracker Obsidian, Print Stone, Chrysocolla, Lingam from India.  BOTTOM:  Firecracker Obsidian, Snakeskin Jasper, Mookaite, Tiger Iron, Dendritic Sonora, Dendritic Sonora.

According to this article link, black on black is back in black!  Looks like it's time for me to make some more jet beads, cut some black druzy quartz, psilomelane, black onyx, and who knows what else.  Do you have any pics to share of black on black jewelry or fashion?  This pic is of a black jet mourning heart I made with a tube set genuine black diamond in 14k gold.  http://www.instoremag.com/homepage/shine-blogs/item/987-black-on-black-is-the-new-black-yes-really#!_7PamelaFromanPFFJ_BlackDiamLeatherWrapBR

Completely natural colors!  New work I've done in "Bumble Bee" a travertine (NOT a jasper) that is mined from a hot springs fumarole at the base of a volcano in Java.  Most of this material has alternating dark stripes in it, hence the name.  I got one small chunk of this all yellow material that has touches of orange orpiment in it.  The yellow comes from sulfur in the water that deposits the layers of travertine in the fumarole.

DVH cuts NEW K2 Blue Jasper, an Orbicular Azurite "Poppy" Granite from Pakistan!

Hey folks!  I haven't posted here in a long time but I keep busy in my lapidary studio.   I think the last time I posted my favorite new stone was Bumble Bee jasper from Java.   I still love that but I'm out of rough for now and my NEW favorite stone is this lovely material that the Pakistani exporter and the American importer of the rough have decided to call "K2 Blue Jasper".     There are very fine micro fissures within the mineral makeup of this granite (it's not a jasper) so that a polished fininsh would look a little mottled.  Thus I have been leaving these with a super satinny, fine, matte finish which feels wonderful!  

Here's some pieces I have recently finished and some are in my DVHdesigns Etsy store...

This new blue orbicular granite  is completely NATURAL and UNTREATED! This material is from Pakistan and the blue spots are from azurite inclusions.   It gets the "K2" in it's named because it's mined within sight of that mountain, the second highest in the world.   I'm not sure why they call it a jasper when it is clearly a granite (and they know this). They say they have had it tested and the blue orbs are azurite and not lazulite or another blue mineral. A true one of a kind. The indigo blue dots are like Himalayan poppies!  Many stones that have orbicular inclusions are called "poppy jasper" but I have never seen a "poppy granite."   Some of these stones have VERY faint lines of light green in them which is malachite (often assoicated with azurite) 

I've got a few cabs done and am working on more that have a "natural face" and will post pics of those next week!  

And here's some more beads...

You won't find any other pieces like this on eBay or Etsy!  

For those interested, here is some metaphysical information on Granite from the book Love Is In The Earth by Melody, ""Granite can be used to enable one to “see the big picture” instead of being in the mind-set to “see the puddle, when there is an ocean awaiting.” It helps to banish the negative traits of skeptism and to train the user in the difference between beliefs and “knowing”. It helps one to maintain balance in relationships and cooperative efforts, facilitating diplomacy and discretion in all matters, while eliminating negativity with ease. It has been revered as a “sacred, magical stone”, affording protection and increase to the user. It has been reported that Granite also brings an increase in money; the mineral inducing recognition of, and generous overtures to, the user while allowing for continuity in modesty by the user. Granite can be used in the treatment of disorders associated with hair, face and head. Astrological Sign of Libra -Vibrates to the number 2"

This stone would also have the metaphysical properties of azurite, and here is some information on that subject that I found on the Shimmerlings website, which is a good resource for such information....

"It is a beautiful deep blue stone that awakens the third eye, increases contact with your spiritual guides and heightens your psychic awareness....The name azurite comes from the Persian work lazhaward meaning blue, it is often used in jewelry and also collected as a beautiful mineral specimen....Azurite is called the "stone of heaven" as it is said to aid in developing psychic awareness, psychic skills and abilities, enhances intuition, and guides you to be accurate in depicting psychic experiences....It is also an excellent stone for meditation, allowing you to enter a meditative state easily, as well as enhancing prophesy and divination. Azurite can help control the flow of energy and bring just the right amount of it to any situation.....Azurite enhances creativity, as well as inspiration and intuition. It aids in building confidence as spiritual cleansing. It is quite useful when studying for exams as it helps one to retain information."

Thanks for letting me share my work and I hope everyone is having a great Summer!  

Regards, 

David V. Horste

DVHdesigns (feel free to like my page on Facebook and check out my DVHdesigns Etsy store!

New Custom Lapidary Work for Spring from DVHdesigns

Hey Folks!  Happy Spring!  It's been a long time since I posted in these forums and thought I would share some of my new lapidary work that I've been doing here at the DVHdesigns studio.   After 13 years of selling almost exclusively on eBay I've done nearly a year with all my inventory in BOTH eBay and Etsy to compare marketplaces for my work.  ETSY is the clear WINNER with twice the sales and half the costs!   I'm only keeping a marginal presence on eBay because I DO still pick up some good international customers there, and I've been there so long I don't want to completely abandon it. 

As the first weekend of Spring begins and I continue with a 15% OFF SALE on everything in my Etsy store with coupon code "SPRING2013".

Here's some new work I've done in Sonora Sunrise, which is an ALL NATURAL, untreated, unstabilized stone found in Mexico and it's a mixture of Chrysocolla (the blue green), Tenorite (the black vein) and Cuprite (the bright orange)...
Bumble Bee Jasper is a poupular new stone that is already in short supply!  It's NOT a jasper, but a travertine that was found in a fumarol at the base of a volcano in Java.   The mine is reportedly closed and I have pictures of the mine and have talked with the guy here in Oregon who imported most of the rough into this country.   There are some tons of it, but that's not a lot when you think about it spread out around cutters and jewelers around the world.   Because of the high sulfur content these stones will increase the rate at which your silver jewelry will oxidize.   The orange color comes from orpiment, which is an arsenic sulfide, so I wouldn't suck on these stones...

I've also been working in some metal minerals like this dendritic silver cobalt ore from Ontario, Canada....
I gave a lecture on the history of ivory and my work with fossil walrus and mammoth ivory to the Portland Bead Society back in January and I will be giving the lecture to the Northern California Bead Society in May.  Here are  some Woolly Mammoth focal beads I did.  On the left you see some of the natural "bark" and exterior of the tusk and the colors from mineralization, and the other sides show the silky ivory look.  Some show great crosshatching....
Another organic gemstone I'm known for but haven't done tooooo much work in recently is jet, like this mourning heart with a circle to show the circle of life....
and I continue to work in fabulous FAUX gemstones like "Fordite" with this material locally sourced here in Portlandia!
AND finally I've done some work in glass.   I did a bunch of hearts for a Valentine's themed trunk show and these hearts are in recycled traffic light lens, fiestaware, and ashtray! 
That's it for now!   Thanks for letting me share and I hope you'll check out my DVHdesigns Etsy Store and remember that I'm having a sale for the next week with coupon code "SPRING2013".   if you're on Facebook feel free to LIKE my DVHdesigns page there as well! 
Time for me to get back to the grind here in my lapidary studio!  Have a great weekend! 
regards,
David at DVHdesigns

NEW Bumble Bee Jasper Beads & Cabs

Howdy folks!  I'm having a 20% off sale in my DVHdesigns Etsy store, coupon code "ROCKTOBERFEST"  

Check out the Bumble Bee jasper rough that I scored at the Portland Regional Gem & Mineral show recently! Sulfur and orpiment are responsible for the brilliant yellows and oranges. It forms in a fumarole at the base of a volcano in Java.  Not a true jasper, actually a travertine, but it's strong, stable, natural, and takes a great polish! Reliable sources say the mining of lapidary rough is closed now (the site filled with hot water from the fumarole!) and nearby material that is mined is ground up and shipped to China for high tech industrial uses.    Here's some of the rough...
and here are some beads I cut from the rough... 
and here are some cabs...
It's been selling well and I have more in process and 2 more pounds of rough on the way!  I'm busy getting inventory ready for the Portland Bead Society Bead Bazaar the weekend after this! 
For folks interested in seeing what the mine site in West Java for this material looks like, here's two images...
Thanks and have a great weekend! 

Sonora Sunrise (Chrysocolla & Cuprite) Custom Beads & Cabs

Howdy folks!  I'm keeping it cool here in the studio in Portland this Summer.  My landlord installed an air conditioner about a month ago and I'm really liking it.  We've FINALLY had some 90 degree days here in Portland and I'm hoping for more.  I know y'all have been baking in the rest of the country, and I shouldn't complain, but it's soooo moist and grey here for 9+ months of the year that I really, really need me 6 weeks of sunshine to dry out my soul and my life, as well as get my natural Vitamin D generators supercharged for the next 9 months!   Whilst in the studio I've taken a quick dive back in to a lovely chunk of Sonora Sunrise.

(quick note:  25% off sale in my DVHdesigns Etsy store through the night of Sunday the 12th.  Coupon code LEOFEST2012  thanks!)

As many of you know, since I've posted some work in this stone before, Sonora Sunrise is one of my favorite materials to work with!  It only showed up on the market about 5 years ago from a small claim in Mexico and I've seen the price range from $40 to $160 a pound.  Most of the material does NOT have such vibrant colors and there is no certainty of how much of the material is still there.  When it's gone, it's gone!  In 35 years of cutting stones, I can honestly say that it's one of my favorite stones and that I have never seen anything that has such a lovely contrast of colors.  The blue-green is chrysocolla, the orange-red is cuprite, and the black is tenorite.  I especially love when I can find a piece that has a nice vein of the cuprite running between nice veins of chrysocolla.  The black tenorite often works as an amazing kind of framing and accent color to the coolness of the turquoise blue colors and the warmth of the orange cuprite. 
Recently I got a good price on this piece of rough in an eBay auction from a dealer I know well.  The weight was 0.9 pounds, or 410 grams....
from one view, and see how different the patterning is on the other side....
from this one chunk, I cut the 22 stones below.  5 large focal beads and then a nice mix of smaller focal beads and creative cabs.  The 410 gram chunk above, once cut up entirely, yielded 150 grams of stones, so about 65% of the material got ground up into dust during the sawing and shaping!  And I'm careful to make interesting shapes that MAXIMIZE the amount of stone I use!  2/3 waste of the rough rock is the price I pay for not making everything right angles and flat faces, but a slightly domed stone with curves is so much more pleasing than flat faced, flat edged, triangles and rectangles, don't you agree?


On a number of pieces I left a partial natural face of the stone.  I did that primarily because I think it's cool, but is also helps to show that this material is natural and has been untreated.  A lot of people mistake this rare, natural, gemstone material for "turquoise & red coral together" which is just CRAZY!  90% or more of the turquoise in the world has been treated and stabilized, if not completely reconstituted and dyed.    When stone are stabilized in the rough state, prior to cutting, it leaves a resiny-plastic like coating on the surface that can't be removed, because it permeates the stone.   So my natural faces are a part of promoting the naturalness of this rarity! 

6 of these pieces have already gone to a collector in Europe and I'm showing the others to a local gem dealer on Monday or Tuesday.   The 16 I have are all in my Etsy store. 

And finally a word on fakes and simulants of this stone.  A quick search on eBay shows 584 items listed under Sonora Sunrise.  Of these, about 180 are the real McCoy and they make up 98% of the items priced over $5.  Of the remaining 400 plus items under $5, ALL of them are fake, dyed, stabilized, mass produced in China fakes.  Take a look for yourself.   For semi-precious stones like this, looking at a large batch on eBay is a good way to see the diversity of the material, compare prices, and see what the fakes clearly look like!    Here's a prime example of a fake "sonora sunrise" that I pulled from a listing on eBay....
and I pulled this image from an eBay listing a while ago.  I don't see anything like it currently listed.  To my experienced eye, I think it should be clear to everyone that this is definitely reconstituted, dyed, stabilized material.  It's a better fake than the one above, but still clearly a fake, although one that could give pause to a person who has not seen much of the real material, or is unfamiliar with all the faked turquoise out there. 
One last thing people.   There are over 700 listings on eBay in loose beads for "orange turquoise".  There's no such thing as orange turquoise.  Nor purple.  Nor emerald green.  Nor white.   Even a lot of the natural stones that look like turquoise aren't necessarily turquoise.  The chrysocolla in the Sonora Sunrise is often mistaken for turquoise. 

Anyhow, that's if for now.   I'm currently working on more fossil walrus and fossil mammoth ivory (available ONLY in my Etsy store or through direct sales, NOT on eBay) and some more fabulous feldspars, along with a nice crystal jelly opal bead.   I've got a lot of cutting to do to get caught up on bills but I head out on a 5 day vacation next Wednesday! 
Have a great weekend and thanks for letting me share.

Fossil Walrus Ivory Focal Beads & Cabs...

Howdy folks!  Some exciting stuff going on here at DVHdesigns (in addition to my 25% off 4th of July week long sale in my eBay store!).   I just got 4+ pounds of fossil walrus ivory delivered to my studio by a little old lady who wants me to cut it and sell it for her!  It belonged to her late husband and he got it years ago (from the same dealer I always get mine) and he dabbled in cutting it, but mostly just sliced up the tusks into 1/4" slices, which is perfect for my work!  About half of it is in slices of tusks and half is polished teeth that I'm going to drill.   I've always loved ivory and have worked a LOT of ivory in the past and I know a lot about it, but I haven't had any rough for several years.  
Fossil ivory from walrus and mammoth is perfectly LEGAL to buy, work, sell, and wear! NO modern mammals are harmed in the collection of this ivory. It is dug up, mined, and collected, in Alaska and Siberia.  It is NOT HUNTED.  You can enjoy this material with confidence that no animal died this millenium to provide us with this beautiful organic gemstone!
So when I got all this stuff,  I was so excited I had to lay it all out and get my picture taken with it! 

Those are the teeth around the top of my head, the slices of tusk around my neck and above my shoulders, and big section of tusk in my mouth!  "I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob!" 
Here's some small beads and dangles I cut from this material,
And here's some larger pieces I cut...
and here are some cabs and a large piece polished with two peg holes for a finial on a piece of jewelry...
This material is available by contacting me directly or in my DVHdesigns Etsy store.   eBay does not allow for the sale of ANY ivory (unless it's part of antique and over 100 years old) and I can't sell my fossil ivory there even though I sold a lot of it on eBay in the past.    While this is called fossil ivory, it is not petrified and it is not actually fossilized either.  It is ancient ivory that has been buried and is dug up, but it has been preserved in the permafrost and also endured due to it's hardness.  It still is ivory and organic in nature.    You don't want to get your ivory wet and dried out repeatedly or it could crack.  Nor do you want to set it in the sun or expose it to extremes of heat.    If ivory becomes dull or scratched up it can be easily repolished by a jeweler or metalsmith with ZAM compound on a clean muslin buffing wheel.  
If you are interested in the metaphysical powers of walrus as an animal spirit guide, here is some information I found online, " Call on Walrus energy when: You feel the need for more physical affection; You need to be more aware of your physical surroundings; You want to relax & feel more positive about a financial situation. Walrus medicine teaches us: To be aware of our surroundings, yet not be so cautious as to push people away; That we, too, are social animals & need others for hugs; comfort & to keep us grounded- in addition to physical protection; To prepare & store for the future."
I'll share more pics as they become available and if you have any questions about walrus ivory, fee free to ask!  I'll start a separate thread when I start cutting the 3+ pounds of Woolly Mammoth ivory that I got as well!   Have a great 4th of July Holiday everyone! 
Regards, David

Gem Dinosaur Bone Biopsy Beads on Mother of Pearl

Hi y'all!  More one of a kinds from DVHdesigns!!! I call this a "dinosaur bone biopsy"! While actual fossilized dinosaur bone isn't as rare as people think, to find specimens where the cells of the marrow have been replaced by clear chalcedony quartz IS RARE. To make this I sliced a gemmy piece of dinosaur bone very thin, then attached it to a mother of pearl backing using a high grade lapidary cement. Then I cut and polished the dinosaur bone even thinner so that it's really only 1 to 2 cells thick. The light passes through the clear quartz in the cells and bounces off the mother of pearl to create a beautiful, glowing effect. M
This one measures 34x27x4mm with one 1.5mm drill hole. An oval shape with very high polished finish. This piece is drilled through the mother of pearl and has a relatively flat back so that a competent jeweler could bezel set it as a cabochon if one doesn't want to string it. 


A very rare and unusual piece. This material is from the area around the border of Colorado & Utah. I made 12 of these and sold half of them to private collectors before I even got them listed in my online store! I only have enough of this quality material to make 4 more of these rarities and I WILL keep one for myself!

Here is one that is more shield shaped, along with a picture of the back so that you can see how some are drilled (others are flat backed and have the drill hole through the first layer of MOP)




Here's another one, and here are two smaller ones I made....
Below I list some of the claimed metaphysical properties of dinosaur bone.

Dinosaur bone has some interesting metaphysical properties, which I will list here. For more geological information on dinosaur bone refer to the information below the image. In her book, Love Is In the Earth, Melody says that, "use of the dinosaur bone can help to diminish the barriers separating the ancient ones and their inherent knowledge from the modern representatives of the human kingdom. It can open avenues of communication and insight, assisting one in understanding the earth changes, the role of evolution, and the issues of dominance and endurance in all situations. It stimulates the adventuresome nature, helping one to proceed from one point to another with both the faith and the strength to understand and to attain the ultimate value of a situation. The dinosaur bone has been used to facilitate mind travel, providing for a stabilizing force to ground the user while allowing the mind to wander toward a pre-set goal."

The rings-things web site has a great gemstone information index that I recommend. The guy who runs it seems real honest and knows a lot. I got this info from his site, "The stone people today call dinosaur bone is more descriptively known as silicified (transformed into silica) fossil of dinosaur bone. The substance is a pseudomorph, the atom-by-atom replacement of one mineral for another without changing the original mineral's external appearance. In this case, bone has been replaced by chalcedony. Although fossilized dinosaur bones are found in many places around the world, from Argentina to Mongolia to Madagascar, the highly silicified and beautifully colored dinosaur remains sometimes called "gem bone" is almost exclusively found in a relatively small area in the U.S.A. called the Colorado Plateau. Most of the areas that produce quality bone are in Colorado and Utah. During the dinosaur period, this was an area that included both land and water, with swamps, lakes and shallow oceans bordered by continental shelf, rising into ancient mountains. The climate changed over time, growing more arid and increasing in volcanic activity. Silica-rich volcanic sediments were then carried by the rivers and deposited as the seas retreated. This environment proved ideal for the burial and subsequent preservation of countless dinosaur remains. "
Thanks for letting me share! 

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.

Wonderstone Focals from the Western US

Howdy Folks! I've been working making some lovely matte finish focal beads out of material called "Wonderstone" from the Great Basin region, mostly Utah. It's NOT a picture jasper and it's not a jasper at all. It's most likely a coarse grained rhyolite that is not very silicated (low quartz levels). I'll put some inquiries out onto the rockhound and lapidary lists I'm on to try and figure out more info on it. Because it's not very silicated it doesn't take a very good polish, so I put these through a 600 grit sanding to get a satin matte finish on them and then I oil them with hand lotion to fill the pores of the stones and deepen the color.

This first batch is called "Salina Wonderstone" I'm told, because it's from near Salina, Utah. It loks a lot like NW picture jaspers but with a dark night sky....

These other Wonderstones have wonderful banding and color in them and are from various, unknown locations in the Western United States...

Thanks for letting me share and I'll be cutting more focal beads and cabs in these materials soon! Feel free to check out my DVHdesigns store on eBay or like my DVHdesigns Custom Cut Beads page on Facebook if you want to follow what I'm doing!