Look into the idea of using an item slot in the Stonecutter to inset materials into a block creating new block variant options.

IE:

• Gunpowder creates Cracked
• Leaf Block or Vine creates Mossy
• Gold Nugget creates Gold Inlaid
• Iron Nugget creates Iron Inlaid
• Redstone Dust creates Redstone Inlaid
• Glowstone Dust creates Glowstone Inlaid
• Diamond creates Diamond Inlaid