I shared this on Twitter last week, but I thought I'd leave a note about it on the blog too (given I don't have a ton of other news right now). I recently got a one-off vinyl dubplate carved up for a certain designer who's been helping me out a lot lately. Can't say I've ever held or played one before, but it's quite interesting---a bit different from your garden-variety vinyl. I don't know how it compares to a lacquer dubplate, apart from being much more resilient, but it does resemble a slab of perspex quite a bit---certainly thicker and more transparent than any 'clear' vinyl I've seen before.
It'd be nice to be able to sell odd one-offs like this, as they really are quite unique. Maybe start a line of Ochre 'Auratic Artefacts'...