Iolite Sunstone from Tanzania, new lapidary work!

Howdy Folks, lately I've been on YET ANOTHER bit of a spree with phenomenal stones. These are those stones with properties that cause optical phenomena to occur within the stone. The major categories are Asterism in star stones (ruby, sapphire, etc) which is caused by fiber like inclusions in the crystal; Opalescence (opals) a milky to rainbow play of color caused by large spheroid structures of silica in the stone; Labradorescence (labradorites & many feldspars) which is broad multicolor flashing surfaces; Adularescence which is a glowing effect as seen in moonstones; Aventurescence which is a sparkling, more glitter like, effect caused by metal or glassy looking inclusions in the stone; Chatoyance (from the French "Chat Oeil", or "cat eye") which is a gleaming effect all over or in a distinct cat's-eye; Schiller which is a directional sheen or shimmer; and finally Irridescence or Iris effect which is a play of color of rainbow colors often caused by a fracturing within the stone.

I hand cut the lovely freeform, fan shaped, BEAD above which measures 33x39mm and is 9mm thick with a 2mm drill hole that runs through the center of the fan. Great for creative beading. WEIGHT IS 91 CARATS. It has a polished finish all over with low domes on both sides, nicely rounded edges. The stone shows some of the optical effects of schiller, aventurescence, chatoyancy, and iris effects. I carefully oriented this piece when I cut it and multiple optical phenomena are apparent. Most of this iolite has inclusions and healed fractures. In these stones that I have cut, the internal inclusions also create "iris effect" which are little refracted rainbows within the stone. I bought ALL of this rough material that I found available in Tucson this year, which came out to about 7 pounds. That was ALL of the material I saw at all of the shows I went to and I saw NO finished pieces anywhere! There is VERY LITTLE of this material available! If you don't believe me do an internet search for this stone by any of it's various names!

Here's another bead...

I have heard some call this material "Bloodshot Iolite" as well as "iris iolite" and there's even someone in Britain that calls it "starstone". It is a rare and unusual variety of iolite, the gemstone variety of cordierite, which is a magnesium aluminum silicate. This unique variation of iolite has inclusions of small flat platelets of reddish hematite or goethite. This creates the optical phenomena of adventurescence throughout the stone. It is the same mineral and optical effect found in feldspars that are sunstones, so this is also accurately referred to as "sunstone in iolite". Iolite is noted for it's pleasing blue color and is often mistaken for sapphire or tanzanite, which are both much more expensive.

and here's an oval shaped one....

I have never seen ANY of this rough available before my trip to the World's gem & mineral trade shows in Tucson in February of 2009. I saw ONE dealer who had this rough and that first year I bought his 8 nicest pieces, which yielded only 12 to 15 pieces that sold very quickly. Last year, in 2010, I bought only ONE small piece of rough from him. This year, in 2011, I bought ALL that he had, which totaled 7 pounds. That is all I have EVER seen of the rough and if you look around you won't find any other loose beads or custom cut cabs out of this material.

This is another lovely piece of the stuff...

This stone will have the properties of BOTH iolite and sunstone. Here are some of the mystical and healing properties of iolite that I found on the internet,

"As it's soft and gentle nature, iolite is used to help us connect with our souls. It will help us to understand who we are and why we are on the planet at this particular time...use this stone for guidance in difficult areas of your life. What is most unique about working with Iolite is the sense of protection you feel whilst delving into the deepest levels of your self, the comfort and calm it affords you. Iolite gives unconditionally, allow the positive energies of this stone to come into your life. Iolite is one of the best stones to use in psychic, healing, and spiritual activities. It can open one to psychic talents and expand them as well. Iolite is very helpful when dealing with addictions, including alcoholism. It assists in detoxification as well as maintaining sobriety. As well, Iolite is also said to help build relationships whether they be new or old. In the physical realm, iolite is used to help heal sore throat, varicose veins, and blisters, it is also told to aid in diminishing headaches and strengthen the entire system, promoting health on all levels. Iolite is considered a very strong "Shaman" stone, and can stimulate visions."

Here are some of the mystical and healing properties of sunstone that I found on the internet,

"Sunstone has a very positive effect on one's psyche, it promotes good humor, cheerfulness and an even temper. It may provide the necessary stamina and energy to undertake projects and tasks that one may find daunting. It offers self confidence and helps its wearer to discover her own nature and live accordingly. It assists its wearer in maintaining a positive attitude towards her own life and to use inherent strengths while still allowing the sunny side of the personality raise to the forefront. Keep Sunstone with you at all times if you have difficulty saying "no" to people, and you continually make sacrifices for others. Sunstone will detach your feelings of being discriminated against, disadvantaged or abandoned; it will remove inhibitions and hang up, reversing feelings of failure. It will increase feelings of self-worth, and confidence encouraging optimism and enthusiasm. It will switch all feelings to a positive take on any event. Even the most incorrigible pessimist will respond to Sunstone. Sunstone enables and enhances it's wearer with self healing powers. It stimulates the vegetative, autonomic nervous system and enhances the harmonious functioning of all the body's organs. It is quite helpful in cases of exhaustion due to lack of sleep. It will treat chronic sore throats and relieves the pain of stomach ulcers. It is quite successful on Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD), it is also known to relieve cartilage problems, rheumatism and general aches and pains. Sunstone will lift depression and free it's wearer from feelings of discrimination and failure as well as images of an 'evil world'. Sunstone easily increases a sense of self-esteem as well as self-worth. Sunstone is particularly beneficial when used in the sun, sunshine, or sunlight."

Well thanks for letting me share! I'm also cutting some fantastic sunstone-moonstone hybrids, some PHENOMENAL silvery black moonstones, and even some deep earthy red moonstones that I call "Martian Moonstone". Back to the grind! (P.S. my primary venue for my work is my DVHdesigns eBay store. I don't really do custom cutting but I do take suggestions!)

Kyanite, Bloodshot Iolite, Tanzanite, continued

My pieces are completely natural and on this teardrop shaped kyanite I left one side of the bead with the natural face of the crystal which shows the natural surface and sparkles

Here is a piece of the "bloodshot iolite" which is a Tanzanian iolite that has spangles of Aventurescence that make it have a bit of a sunstone effect. This is one of the very last pieces I have of this really rare material.

and finally, a piece of genuine tanzanite, also from Tanzania (naturally!). Iolite is often mistaken for Tanzanite and it can be very challenging for the average bead buyer to be able to tell the difference between blue Brazilian kyanite, iolites, and tanzanites. The best way to know for sure is to buy from a reputable dealer and to learn by comparing verifiable samples next to each other. This particular Tanzanite bead is obviously NOT a gem grade sample, it's specimen grade, but it IS a real gemstone and one doesn't often find a 72 carat genuine Tanzanite. For folks who are interested in the metaphysical properties of the stone, this is a great deal and the healed fractures create little sparkles that create Irridescence or Iris effect witihin the stone.... and here is a picture of the 192 carat rough piece of Tanzanite that I made this shield shaped bead from

SO a 192 carat piece of rough yield only one 72 carat stone! That's over 60% waste, which is one of the reasons I don't like to spend a lot of money on rare and exotic rough gemstones!

Thanks for letting me share. Everything l post is also in my DVHdesigns eBay store and I regularly have 99 cent, no reserve auctions, and other specials.

Woolly Mammoth Ivory Beads & Amulets by DVHdesigns

Hey all! I just finished up this batch of beads and amulets using the very last bits of my woolly mammoth ivory! I used to cut a LOT of mammoth ivory and sold a lot on eBay, but a few years ago eBay ended ALL ivory sales, whether it was LEGAL mammoth ivory or not! I got a great deal on some nice loose little chunks of mammoth ivory when I was in Tucson last February so I decided to do another batch. I CAN sell them in my DVHdesignsBEADS Etsy store and they're all listed there now. Here's a group image of all of them....and here are some close ups of several of the pieces.... this really long piece has the natural outside "bark" of the tusk on it, and two large holes, one at either end, for creative beading!

while this piece shows some bark with the rest of it polished smooth. The buckskin coloring is from the mineral content of the permafrost that the ivory was buried in for thousands of years. Here is a piece of mammoth ivory that is NOT discolored and looks as if it came off a mammoth very recently, not over 10,000 years ago!

This material is collected by Inuits and other native peoples in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia and can only be gathered for a few months every summer during the thaw. Of course that's changing with all the permafrost melting due to climate change, so more Mammoth ivory is being exposed in Arctic regions. The coloration depends on how well it is preserved and what minerals might have been present where it was found. It is anywhere from 10,000 to several million years old. Mammoths and Mastodons died out over 10,000 years ago and using this organic gemstone does not threaten any endangered species. This is sometimes referred to as "fossil ivory" however it has not turned to stone, it is still and organic gemstone and not a rock or mineral.

While this material works and cuts like contemporary elephant ivory, it does NOT harm elephants. I continue to support the worldwide ban on elephant ivory trade. According to wikipedia, "Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal. Mammoth ivory is used today to make handcrafted knives and similar implements. Mammoth ivory is rare and costly, because mammoths have been extinct for millennia and scientists loathe to sell museum-worthy specimens in pieces, but this trade does not threaten any living species." Most mammoth ivory that is found is NOT museum quality pieces but rather broken chunks and this is the majority of the material that is brought to the lapidary market from the Canadian, American, and Siberian mammoth ivory dealers.

People often ask what the difference is between mammoths and mastodons. The main difference is their teeth and their diet! Mammoths had slightly larger, more curved tusks, and they were grazers, eating mostly grasses. Mastodon means "nipple teeth" and they were browsers that mainly ate leaves, tree shoots, and fruits. One can not tell the difference in species from looking at just the ivory of the beast. One would have to see the surface of a molar or more of the skeleton to determine the species.

I have heard said that metaphysically mammoth ivory helps one communicate with the ancestor spirits. According to Melody, in her book, Love Is in the Earth, "Ivory represents purity and promotes vitality directed towards rightness in purpose and direction. It assists in expelling restlessness, anxiety, moodiness and derision, while stimulating initiative, dignity, and serenity. It also helps to eliminate obstructive forces in the physical world, providing for a clear pathway for incoming transactions and resources. It can be used in the treatment of bone disorders and in the regeneration activities required to ameliorate these disorders. It can also be quite useful in diminishing problems associated with soreness and stiffness of joints, flexibility of the limbs," and more!

The mammoth ivory and some other items I've made are in my Etsy store, however I still put almost all of my inventory in my DVHdesigns eBay store. Check it out for more cool one of a kind, custom cut, gemstone beads and genuine jet mourning jewelry!

Thanks for letting me share my work here in this forum.

New Sonora Sunrise custom cut beads

Howdy Folks! Well it's been since April that I last updated you with Sonora Sunrise. I cut up every scrap of that really awesome 4 pound chunk I got in Tucson last February and sold every piece of it! I got some other Sonora Sunrise rough from an internet dealer and it's also lovely stuff, but the colors are more brick red and teal, as opposed to the brilliant turquoise and orange of the stuff I previously listed. The colors and contrasts are still really beautiful, just not quite as "shocking" as the high grade rough I got in Tucson. Of course I only paid a third the price for this quality of rough as I did for what I high graded. It's all beautiful stuff, nonetheless!

I photographed all of these under 4 incandescent light bulbs, so the colors do pop a little more than they would under more subdued lighting, but it really gives one an idea of the incredible color and contrast in this stone. Here's my favorite, a big SWOOSH shaped bead... and here are some smaller shapes made with pieces from the same chunk of rough...

From another piece of rough, I hand cut this "wonkyheart" shaped bead which measures 45x30mm and is 13mm thick with a 3mm drill hole. Low domed faces and a nice polish. Nice contrasted coloring, a little bit more of a red brick color than the pictures show, with a bright crimson vein of cuprite in the center vein, along with some green brochantite, and a reflective vien of a metallic hematite running through it as well!

ANd this color combo came from another different piece of small Sonora Sunrise rough. Such lovely diversity of color, contrast, and patterns in this stone...

Thanks for looking and letting me share. I'll be cutting more of this material soon!

Keweenaw Copper Ore Beads

Hi all, when I was in Tucson and Quartzite last month at the big gem & mineral shows I picked up a nice variety of Michigan Keweenaw copper ores! I love the diversity of the ways that the ore forms. The patterns and matrix colors are so unique, and the copper has such a powerful, energetic, and elemental feel to it. I only got a few pieces, most about the size of a lemon, but each one has very different patterns and matrix. Each stone will only yield a few bead sized pieces, and drilling through the solid copper bits is hard. This copper is up to 5% silver and that little extra silver makes this copper more conductive than your average copper. It;'s Keweenaw copper that was used to make the US TELEGRAPH system in the 19th century, and then the TELEPHONE and ELECTRIC MOTOR industry in this country! While Keweenaw had the purest copper deposits in the world, they weren't the biggest and most of the mines were closed by the late 1960's. This copper tells a story...

These two pieces show copper that seems to have crystallized in place. While there are some blobs, there is also a latticelike pattern in the copper. I believe that the green matrix may be epidote. Only got these two beads out of this piece of rough...

Then there's another piece that has lots of spots in the dark matrix, with globs of copper. It's hard to capture the reflections off the copper in the photo, but they are spread throughout the stone...

and this piece has a nice little vein clearly running through it....

Thanks for letting me share. Back to the wheels, I'm finishing up some Mexican Fire Agate beads....