as small as a world and as large as alone

3:10am May 27, 2014

archiemcphee:

Holy psychedelic rocks, Batman! These awesome stones aren’t stone at all. They’re made of a substance called Fordite, also known as Detroit or Motor Agate. All of those beautiful layers are old automobile paint, countless layers of it, that accumulated in car factories over the years back when they cars were spray-painted by hand and excess paint dripped onto the metal tracks and skids that transported cars through the paint shop during the painting process. Thanks to the high heat that was used to bake the paint onto the cars, the layers hardened enough to be cut and polished into these beautiful industrial gems.

“Not much is known about how the pieces left the old factories, but it is assumed that ‘some crafty workers with an eye for beauty realized that this unique byproduct was worth salvaging. It was super-cured, patterned-like psychedelic agate, and could be cut and polished with relative ease!’”

Today this captivating material is shaped and polished into rings, necklaces, earrings, and of course beautiful stones like you see here. Because the painting process that created this substance no longer exists, Fordite is considered to be increasingly rare. But there’s still enough around to get some for yourself if you like. Check out the Fordite website to learn more.

Visit My Modern Metropolis for additional photos.

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