Gemstone Skull Jewelry

WOW! Dior has some HOT gemstone Skull Jewelry rich with diamonds and platinum. Very cool, by Victoire de Castellane. More images at the link. It's way out of my league, but I really appreciate it!

"Geologists: 'We May Be Slowly Running Out Of Rocks'"

Hello to all the rock, gem, mineral, and stone appreciating people out there,

Nobody really loves rocks the way I love rocks. So after reading this article, "Geologists: 'We May Be Slowly Running Out Of Rocks'" online at America's Finest New Source, I felt compelled to share it with others who also care about rocks and our natural environment. Once you've read this article I'm sure you'll understand why we here at DVHdesigns always consider the natural life cycle of all rocks through every step of the lapidary refinery and stone upcycling process.

I want all customers of DVHdesigns to know that all of the rough rock that I work with in order to make my one of a kind, custom cut, gemstone bead pendants is 100% certifiable, free range rock that has been ethically harvested from it's mother lode and father formations. My solid rock gemstone pendants are then released via either my DVHdesigns eBay store or Etsy store using sustainable pricing. The unique, hand made, drill hole makes these upcycled rocks easily tagged, leashed, and able to be incorporated into human adornment, while never losing or diminishing their life cycle status as a genuine rock. The polished, matte, or natural finishes that are individually chosen for each of my stone beads increase their desirability to humans while not in any way hampering the stones ultimate return to it's rock flock of origin after the inevitable downfall of human civilization.

Here is a picture of the rock reconstitution and sedimentation process underway here at DVHdesigns. When possible we like to sun dry our rock sludge for a more organic evaporation process. The recycled plastic kitty litter bucket serves as a protective shell and a mold for the young sedimentary sludge. It will take only a few hundreds of years for the plastic bucket/boulder mold to naturally biodegrade and be reabsorbed into the mutant ecosystems of the future. By then the sedimentary sludge should be cured enough to be a stand alone rock! Under the proper conditions this bucket of ground up rock sludge will metamorph into an even harder and more solid stone. Meanwhile it can dream of day when it may mature to become a boulder, living it's natural life out once more as a free range rolling stone, gathering no moss, and never again to be taken for granite....

Like the concerned geologists & environmentalists mentioned in the article that I linked to above, a world without rocks is also my nightmare scenario! Thanks for letting me share and have a great day!

Cherry Volcano Quartz: did I go to far?

Hey Folks, This is always a good topic to have a thread for and share with in the forums. I hope folks will feel comfortable asking questions and sharing information here about stones and how to accurately identify them as much as possible.

I'm curious what you all think about my response to a posting of "Cherry Volcano Quartz" that I just saw. I have a number of bead pendant dealers marked as favorites and get their newsletters. Today, which happens to be EARTH DAY, a vendor with the name "Earth_(something)_" in their userid, sent me an e-mail update of their new stuff. It's all inexpensive focal beads, mostly natural stone, and cut in China. On their new stuff page were multiple pieces of "Cherry Volcano Quartz". Since the vendor is a "top rated seller", based here in the US, with over a 1,000 listings and a feedback rating in the thousands, and she identifies her resin pieces as resin, I think it's safe to assume she knows that what she's selling as "Quartz" is pink and gold swirled glass....

Anyhow, it being Earth Day and everything, I got a little bee in my bonnet and sent the seller the following message,
"Hi Earth_(something)_, Happy Earth Day! The Earth asked me to to tell you that you must know very well that this Cherry Volcano Quartz and all the other pieces you have labeled as such is NOT quartz. It's glass. Don't you feel any shame listing this next to all the other natural stones of the Earth and intentionally mislabeling it as "quartz"? All the genuine quartz on Earth asked me to tell you that it's offended that you call yourselves Earth_(something)_ and you go around misrepresenting the stones of the Earth on eBay. I hope in the future you'll label things correctly. Thanks. I just had to get that off my chest or the Earth wouldn't let me sleep tonight. Have a nice day! Regards, David"

So my question is, did I go toooooo far in calling this vendor out on mislabeling her glass beads?

Also, feel free to ask questions and vent about mis-identified stones here!

Gemstone Identification and MISidentification...

Howdy Folks, there is SO much out there in the gem & jewelry industry in the way of beautiful gemstones, as well as beautiful simulants, beautiful glass, beautiful resins, and much more to be used as adornment. I'm the first to admit that I can be a bit of a "rock snob". Yet I also really appreciate fabulous fakes. It's hard for the lay person and sometimes even the expert to tell the difference, between natural and man made or enhanced materials. I just wanted to start a thread where folks can ask questions and solicit informed feedback. It's often really hard to identify a stone by a picture, but some things are glaringly obvious. I'll start by sharing a few things...
MULTICOLOR or COLORED TURQUOISE: There is no such thing! A recent search brought up nearly 3,000 items on eBay and they are all either dyed howlite, dyed magnesite, or reconstituted powders and pigments that are mostly resin. Anything you see that is multicolored and striped is absolutely manufactured. Colbaugh Processing in Kingman, Arizona is a major American stabilizer & reconstituter of natural turquoises. About a decade ago they came up with a meterial they call "Rainbow Calsilica" which is very similiar. I have cut this material and I have seen the "multicolor turquoise" beads. While they may have genuine ground up rock IN the mix, most of the material is stabilizing resin and colored dyes or pigments. Turquoise does NOT come in purple, or white, or orange, or bright greens, or chartreuse, or any other color other than shades of light blues, sky blues, and blue greens. Natural untreated turquoise may absorb bodily oils over time and become quite greenish in color, but they won't "scream" green!
CHERRY QUARTZ: It's pink included glass made in China.
GREEN AMETHYST: Amethyst is quartz with enough iron present to make it ANY shade of lavendar to purple. If the quartz is green, it CANNOT be called amethyst. The correct name for Green Amethyst is PRASIOLITE.
GOLDSTONE: A beautiful glass that is made with copper crystals precipitated in the glass. Developed by Italian glass makers hundreds of years ago and hard to make! I really appreciate goldstone and it used to be hard to get, but now the Chinese seem to have cracked the production code and there is quite a bit of it available. It comes in brown, blue (which is deep blue to purplish) and occassionally a deep green. The Italian word for goldstone is aventurrina. Here's a great link for the history of goldstone.

That's it for now! More to follow....

535 ct Emerald Bead: Incredible Hulk, or Greenman?

Hey Folks, a quick QUIZ!!! Does this solid emerald crystal bead look more like the face of the INCREDIBLE HULK, or more like the face of the GREENMAN?

Genuine emerald! A fusion of several massive, specimen grade, crystals. I'm not sure if the rough is from Colombia or Brazil, as I bought the rough in Tucson from an Indian dealer (dot, not feather). I saw a face in it right away and didn't want to do too much to enhance this piece other than to polish the face on half the front and then polish half the edges and all the back. A very interesting piece. I'm curious if others see the Incredible Hulk, or if they see a Greenman, or they just think I'm crazier than ever....

Here's the back...


A great green color for Spring and this is the Birthstone for MAY! Thanks for letting me share!

Some More Sonora Sunrise!

Hi Folks! Thanks for all the lovely comments! I haven't really been so excited about any particular stone like this in a long time! I've heard so much about Pantone declaring Turquoise to be the color of the year, and I was disappointed that I didn't get much turquoise rough when I was in Tucson this year, but the Sonora Sunrise is really making up for it! The rich turquoise color of the chrysocolla-brochantite is so stunning next to the brilliant brick red orange of the cuprite! What I really like is that the colors almost seem SUPERnatural, and yet this material is totally natural and untreated! 90% of the turquoise out there is stabilized or treated in some way, so to find such a dramatically beautiful gemstone material as this, that has natural colors and is strong enough to not need any kind of treatment, is really a special find!

I have used most of the rest of the 4 pound chunk that I've been working on making these larger beads, but I have been successful in finding a good source to get additional rough, so I JUST bought another 14 pounds of this phenomenal rough and I promise that I will also make some smaller bead pendants and some cabs that are less expensive.

I REALLY like this piece that I sold this week to a collector and jewelry designer in Scotland. It's a large tongue shape to be set in jewelry (no holes)

and I'm quite fond of this little inverted kite shaped pendant bead that is in my eBay store...

Once I get the extra rough I'll cut up some cabochons and share pics of those! I do have a few cabs in the store and trust me, with 14 pounds of this juicy stuff on the way, I promise there will be more. Here's one of the cabs that is already up, a high dome teardrop and sometimes the cuprite has some wonderful smaller patterns within the rich orange red color, as this teardrop bead shows..

I'm geeked about cutting more of this stuff! Thanks for letting me share with y'all!

"Sonora Sunrise" Chrysocolla & Cuprite

I made these wonderful bead pendants and cabochons using a beautiful and striking stone called "Sonora Sunrise" that has only been on the market since around 2007. It is a mixture of wonderful turquoise colored, sky blue chrysocolla, firey orange-red cuprite, with black veins of tenorite. There are sometimes little dots of green that I believe to be brochantite and one dealer seems to claim that the massive blue is colored by brochantite. Chrysocolla can form after brochantite. They are ALL copper minerals, so who know's how God/dess's spun them together at their moment of creation! The result is totally natural and super striking. Mined in Sonora, Mexico. I've never seen anyone else cut beads out of this stuff! Compare with other pieces on eBay and the internet and you'll see that DVHdesigns cut Sonora Sunrise stands out from the rest! Chrysocolla is often mistaken for a kind of turquoise. They are both secondary minerals that form after copper in various ways.

Here's a close up of one of the stones, a large shield shaped focal bead that's currently in my eBay store...

Here's some information on the chrysocolla part of the stone that I easily found on the internet....
"Chrysocolla (hydrated copper silicate) is a mineral, (Cu,Al)2H2Si2O5(OH)4·nH2O. It is of secondary origin and forms in the oxidation zones of copper ore bodies. Associated minerals are quartz, limonite, azurite, malachite, cuprite, and other secondary copper minerals.....Chrysocolla has an attractive blue-green colour and is a minor ore of copper, having a hardness of 2.5 to 3.5. It is also used as an ornamental stone. It is typically found as glassy botryoidal or rounded masses and crusts, or vein fillings. Because of its light color, it is sometimes confused with turquoise. Commonly it occurs only as pourous crusts unsuitable for gem use, but high quality, gem grade chrysocolla can be translucent and is highly prized.....The name comes from the Greek chrysos, "gold", and kolla, "glue", in allusion to the name of the material used to solder gold, and was first used by Theophrastus in 315 BCE." For metaphysical information on Chrysocolla, I have found this website for Shimmerlings to be a good resource, with a variety of information and the sources cited.

Here's some information on the cuprite part that I also found online about cuprite... "Cuprite is an oxide mineral composed of copper(I) oxide Cu2O, and is a minor ore of copper.....It is a secondary mineral which forms in the oxidized zone of copper sulfide deposits. It frequently occurs in association with native copper, azurite, chrysocolla, malachite, tenorite and a variety of iron oxide minerals. It is known as ruby copper due to its distinctive red color....Cuprite was first described in 1845 and the name derives from the Latin cuprum for its copper content." Metaphysically Cuprite is said to "stimulate the base chakra while providing a grounding affect on the whole body. It can increase physical vitality and energy. It is a survival tool, attracting that which can satisfy ones physical needs...also used to alleviate worry..."

The black tenorite is also a copper oxide mineral and has it's own metaphysical properties, but I'll let you research that one yourself!

Here's a pic of the rest of the rough I have and that I'm getting ready to cut. This is all the rough I have at the moment, although I hope to get some more. When I was in Tucson at the gem shows I searched through over 500 pounds of this rough to hand pick out one 4 pound chunk to work with! For the sake of scale, that dirty black nob on the right is about the size of a silver dollar. I hope to get a bunch more of this cut and listed over the next few days...

Thanks for checking out my newest offerings!