Can someone explain this to me? Any place I can buy reasonable dumortierite in strands? Thanks.
Difference between dumortierite and denim lapis
Aug 26, 2006
3 Replies
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
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?
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
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