Difference between dumortierite and denim lapis

Can someone explain this to me? Any place I can buy reasonable dumortierite in strands? Thanks.

Reply to
gbodetto
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Dumortierite is an entirely different stone than lapis. I had a strand of

4mm beads once and they were a uniform dark blue (a little greyer than grade A or B lapis). Also, didn't seem to take a polish quite as well as lapis. Firemountain Gems has strands in several shapes.

Georgia

Reply to
Georgia

This may be helpful:

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The hardness is 7 on Mohs scale
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Lapis Lazuli has a hardness rating of 5.5 (so, softer than dumortierite) Barbara Beader and Polymer Clay Junky

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Can someone explain this to me?

Reply to
Barbara Forbes-Lyons

Barbara's above links have excellent information. In general, Lapis is royal blue with pyrite (Fool's gold) inclusions, and lesser quality Lapis, often called Denim Lapis, has a duller color and lots of calcite (white) inclusions. Dumorterite has a gray or black matrix to it, and the color can be a dark denim jean color, or some varieties are almost a medium bleached denim color. Dumorterite is much cheaper than Lapis or denim lapis. A lot of dumorterite now comes from Canada, where it is sometimes called "Princess Margaret stone" because a large deposit of it was discovered when she was making a state visit there in the 1960's.

Patti

Reply to
Patti

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