Addition of some kind of red Gem stone

I've always wanted to build a really evil spooky looking castle and had this idea of a lava moat with giant snake statues as a kind of gate with lava pouring from their mouths. The addition of black stone and deep slate has only made me want to do it even more but I feel like some kind of red Gem block like Ruby or Garnet for the eyes of the snakes and other little details around would be a great touch. Granted you have redstone that kinda works but I'd like an actual gem block. The matte effect on the redstone just kinda kills the look imo.