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actual fossilized dinosaur bone isn't as rare as people think, to find specimens where the cells of the marrow have been replaced by clear chalcedony quartz IS RARE.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!

Last of the Jelly Opal Beads!

Thanks for the feedback! I finally cut the LAST two beads out of the jelly opal rough I got last August! They are smaller, weighing in at only 16 and 22cts each, but they measure 44x9x6mm and 48x10x7mm respectively. One has a drill hole about 1.5mm and the other is about 1.7mm. Here are some pics... I actually sold every single one of the larger beads I've listed before. The BIG one with two drill holes sold on Christmas Morning to a new customer, which was a great thing to wake up to! So these are the last of that 3/4 pound chunk and when they're gone, they're gone!

Most Hideous Jewelry at the Oscars

Ok, the ugliest thing I saw at the Oscars, that made me SCREAM every time it appeared, was the HIDEOUS necklace that Jessica Chastain's grandmother wore that was made out of 10 Brazilian Agate slabs (dyed an artificial blue color). I've been a lapidary artist full time for 20 years and make focal beads out of semi-precious stones. I know those slabs could be bought at any rock shop for $5, although I'm sure the necklace cost much more. Maybe it was "bold" but I thought it was just HIDEOUS! There she is, in an Alexander McQueen gown, with grandma Marilyn in that awful necklace. It was the most prominent thing whenever they flashed on the Best Supporting Actress nominees. I wanted to puke! What do others think?

P.S. I do think Jessica looked great, they're cute together, and it's super sweet to take your grandma to the Oscar's as your date, but one shouldn't let grandma be seen by a billion people in such a hideous necklace!

New Genuine Jet Lapidary Work, Beads & Cabs

Howdy all and Happy New Year! One of my resolutions is to be more engaged with the beading, jewelry, and lapidary forums that I'm involved in! For 2012 I'm working on being back in black, and that means doing more and more work in genuine jet. I'm the January speaker for the Bead Society of San Diego County and will be giving my lecture on the History of Jet and Jet Mourning Jewelry at the Mingei International Museum, so I'm trying to get as much new work in jet done as possible!

I lost my lease at the studio I'd been in for 3 years and had to move out the end of November. I spent much of December getting everything set up and organized in my new space (which is actually a much better space!) and am now finally getting back to work. So glad the holidays are over!

Here's a group shot of my newest work in jet. This is all made with jet from Tennessee and I really like to use the "natural" surface of the rough when possible. Jet is a form of gem grade lignite coal and most people have never even touched real coal (let alone gem grade coal!). It's very lightweight, like amber, and it's only a little bit harder than amber, but substantially tougher. Metaphysically, jet is said to help with depression, relieve grief, help one to accept things just they way they are, and support financial stability! Most jet is fossilized Monkey Puzzle tree and is around 60 MILLION years old! A true fossil fuel jewel!

and here is the polished side of the beads...

and here's some close ups...

and I think this cab will be fun for a jeweler or beader to do some creative work with...

I'll share some pics of the "all smooth and polished" pieces I'm doing with jet from Russia later. FYI, I'm also having a New Year's 20% off sale with free shipping in my DVHdesigns eBay store!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Regards,

David

93 carat Australian Jelly Opal 2 hole bead!

Opals aren't so much "difficult" to cut and polish, as much as they are "challenging". They're a softer gem and they cut easily and take a nice polish, but they are temperature and pressure sensitive. One has to really study the color and patterns before and while cutting them. In some opals the layer of fire or flash can be paper thin and if you grind or sand just a little too much, one can lose the color. Still, I find them really fun and rewarding to cut and have always found cutting them to be a pleasure, but of course I want great material to cut, and that's where the problem, and the expense comes in!

Here's the latest from the Australian jelly opal rough and this is the LAST of the large ones. There will be two small ones after this (assuming they make it through the final sandings and polish without incident, knock wood!). So this beautiful, one of a kind, gemstone jelly opal bead has a weight of 93cts and the entire piece measures 81x17mm by 10mm thick. There are TWO, parallel, 1.5mm drill holes through the bead so it could be strung with a double strand (or more) of pearls or some other beautiful beads! Lovely high polished long oval shape. The material is translucent to transparent jelly opal with a lovely bluish purple glowing flashing that runs through it like a flowing river. There is also a lovely rivulet of minty green fire which has both flashes and sparkles. Occassional small flashes of other colors as well.

There are a lot more images of this gemstone bead in the listing in my DVHdesigns eBay store. Thanks for letting me share more of my work and I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I'm still in the studio finishing up work and getting ready to move my whole studio over the next 4 days and then do a trunk show next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Oy...