Easy Inlay's Mother of Pearl is baked to maximize iridescence and used to create many types of inlay. It can be used as is, or dyed to emulate a variety of luxurious gem stones such as sapphire blue, ruby red, jade green and more, or mix it into our Crystal Calcite to add a shimmering translucent chatoyance effect. These grains add translucent, iridescent, colorful shimmer to any inlay design; it comes from the inner layer of the shell of some oysters and abalones. On the Mohs Hardness Scale, Mother of Pearl has a hardness of 2.5 and is easily sanded using silicon carbine (carborundum) or aluminum oxide (corundum) sand paper, which has a hardness of nine. It is durable and provides an excellent surface to polish and/or finish.