Ben Davis Designs

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Midland, TX
Ben Davis Designs

Natural Stone Jewelry. Turquoise, labradorite, moonstone, and every strange rock from far-off countries Ben finds! Pendants, rings, bracelets, and more!
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He makes the cabochons here in Midland, Texas, and his friend, Randy Bryant, does the silverwork! Local free delivery to the Midland and Odessa Texas area!

10/28/2026

Ben is working on a piece of purple chalcedony from Indonesia, and look at the difference a little polishing makes!

Chalcedony is a variety of microcrystalline quartz, made of tiny interlocking quartz crystals. Those tiny crystals allow light to pass through the stone, giving it that beautiful translucent appearance.

One of the fun things about lapidary work is seeing what a rough piece of rock can become. Ben is still working out a few imperfections in this one, but that color is pretty cool so I made him take a video last night to explain what he was doing!

10/27/2026

Started as chicken wire and boxes! This is us mid-project. Ben came home the other day with “we have two days to make a volcano for my company’s Halloween party” 😂 Luckily, we’ve done this before. Unluckily, we’ve had the only two days of rain Midland will probably get, which makes the compound dry so much slower!!

10/25/2026

10/23/2026

I spent the week in Utah while Ben stayed here to hold down the fort and work on more turquoise! Going to have to ask what that one at the end is though… any guesses?

10/21/2026

My outdoor/mystery people! Help! This started bright and clumpy and then further along the trail it was smears and dots and LOTS of fur and darker. Injured animal? We did report it… just in case. What do you think?!

10/20/2026

Ben FINALLY got around to it! We went rock hunting in Italy’s Gressoney Valley, in the Aosta Valley region last spring, and came home with eclogite, a rock with a pretty incredible geological history.

Eclogite forms when rocks are buried deep within the Earth under enormous pressure, often during subduction when one tectonic plate sinks beneath another.

The beautiful green mineral is typically omphacite, a close mineralogical relative of jadeite, one of the minerals that make up jade. Those reddish spots? Garnets!

The Italian Alps are full of evidence of ancient plate collisions, and these rocks tell part of that story.

Not a bad souvenir to bring home!

Follow Ben Davis Designs for more geology, rockhounding adventures, and the stories behind the stones. (Since the marketing books keep saying I need to say stuff like this 😂)

10/19/2026

Franklinite is a rare zinc-iron oxide mineral named after Franklin, New Jersey, one of the world’s most famous fluorescent mineral localities.

Here’s the fun part: Franklinite itself doesn’t fluoresce under UV light! It’s usually found alongside minerals like willemite, which glows brilliant green, and calcite, which can glow bright red-orange. The result is a rock that looks completely different when the lights go out.

These minerals formed through a fascinating history of metamorphism and mineral-rich deposits. Franklin, New Jersey, is famous for having one of the most diverse collections of fluorescent minerals on Earth.

10/17/2026

He said he was bored so I came to entertain him! Bought the ticket yesterday 😂

Address

3104 Stanolind Avenue
Midland, TX
79705

Website

http://bendavisdesigns.com/

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