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Let's Rock => Opal => Topic started by: wampidy on December 19, 2015, 06:05:33 PM
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I was going to take a ring that I have to a jeweler and have him take out the smoky quartz stone then mount the largest Welo opal I have. Couldn't stand it so I mounted it myself. Easy peasy but I was pretty nervous about breaking the opal. It is amazing that I cut and polished an opal without realizing that I had a ring that it would fit into almost perfectly.
Here is what I ended up with. I took about 40 photos trying to get the colors but did not have a lot of luck. The stone is not quite as hazy looking in hand. Difficult stone to photograph.
(http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/wampidy/rings/P2160034.jpg) (http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/wampidy/media/rings/P2160034.jpg.html)
(http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/wampidy/rings/P2160033.jpg) (http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/wampidy/media/rings/P2160033.jpg.html)
(http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/wampidy/rings/P2160028.jpg) (http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/wampidy/media/rings/P2160028.jpg.html)
(http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/wampidy/rings/P2160027.jpg) (http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/wampidy/media/rings/P2160027.jpg.html)
(http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/wampidy/rings/P2160024.jpg) (http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/wampidy/media/rings/P2160024.jpg.html)
(http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/wampidy/rings/P2160022.jpg) (http://s1106.photobucket.com/user/wampidy/media/rings/P2160022.jpg.html)
Thanks for lookin. Hope you like it as much as I do.
Jim
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thats killer!
one of my favorites is opals, just cost too much.
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i really like Brazilian Opal as its a bit harder than ethiopians and i dont do any doublets
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Excellent job, Jim! That's a beauty. Try photographing it a jar or container with water in it. Sometimes that helps to see the fire better. I don't know why, but I've seen it work.
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Yeah, great stone and great looking ring. Opal is tougher than most people think. Will definitely chip or crack if you push those prongs a little too much, but you obviously have a good feel for when the prongs are tight enough.
Anyone who works with opal long enough will eventually have one that doesn't survive the process, but that's just part of the deal. The good ones will more than make up for the heartbreakers in the long run.
Thanks for posting this one!
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That is a beautiful stone! Glad that you were able to mount it as you wanted to. It's nice when things are sized just right :)
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Very Nice, my friend :hello2:
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The color looks nicely balanced in that stone and that is not often the case.
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Thanks for all the compliments and advice. It is all welcome.
I will try the jar trick maybe. I kind of hate to put it back in water now that it has been dry for so long. I keep it in a little glass jar with a tight lid so the up and down humidity doesn't work on it.
Jim
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Truth. Forgot when I said it that it was a Welo. :icon_scratch:
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where did you get the ring to mount it on?.....I like it too :thumbsup:
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Anyone who works with opal long enough will eventually have one that doesn't survive the process.
I can attest to that. Just wish the stone that gave up on me wasn't the one with Chinese Writing.
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Jon!
I remember that stone. Just too bad it had a lot of clay in it. :LOLOL: 'Twas a really nice crystal nobby if not for that.
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where did you get the ring to mount it on?.....I like it too :thumbsup:
Late to the party again but I am not normal.
The ring was given to me several years ago to cover a debt for something illegal. For all I know it could have been stolen but with the smoky quartz stone it couldn't have been worth much. I did manage to sell that stone for five bucks though so I am happy all around. I think pawn shops would be a good place to look for rings with bad stones. I don't think very many pawn people do rocks but I have been wrong before.
Jim
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From what I hear opals are tricky to cut. Yours has some great fire.
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I think pawn shops would be a good place to look for rings with bad stones. I don't think very many pawn people do rocks but I have been wrong before.
Jim
Good idea, James
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Jim,
How many carats was it before you worked on it...about?
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From what I hear opals are tricky to cut. Yours has some great fire.
I was just lucky Helene. I had heard the same thing but I just filed the rough pieces until they were smooth and the flash was from every direction. The broken pieces I got were pretty much the same way and it was impossible to do it wrong.
My biggest problem is finding ways to mount them. I can do metal but I did metal all my life and I ain't doin no more metal. So, it is findings or stick them to another rock which has not gone so well either. I guess, if I don't figure it out I will have the satisfaction of knowing that my son and daughter will have something to fight over. They get along so well as adults it is scary, real scary.
Jim
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Jim,
How many carats was it before you worked on it...about?
You sure know how to ask the tough ones but good question and I do not have an answer. When I first got them until after I finished them my scale was loaned out. When I got it back I weighed this stone but did not write it down, or wrote it down somewhere (you know how that goes haha). So I can't even tell you what it weighs now but if I had to guess the difference I would say I probably filed away 1/3 of the rough stone. The rough stones that I got had some pretty deep pits which I am assuming is common, or always, because they were all that way in places. Some of them still are on the bottoms and a couple have pits on the sides but they are pretty hard to see unless you use a 10X Lupe.
Jim
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Opals aren't all that tricky. You just need to cut slow and keep checking the stone to get the best out of it. They cut easy, so you just need a light touch -- go through the grits like any other stone and polish them with either diamond or cerium. I prefer cerium on opals. The one thing to remember is not to grind on one spot too long because they are a tad heat sensitive and will crack if you do that. Just keep them moving and all will be well. :icon_sunny:
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Opals aren't all that tricky. You just need to cut slow and keep checking the stone to get the best out of it. They cut easy, so you just need a light touch -- go through the grits like any other stone and polish them with either diamond or cerium. I prefer cerium on opals. The one thing to remember is not to grind on one spot too long because they are a tad heat sensitive and will crack if you do that. Just keep them moving and all will be well. :icon_sunny:
^^^^ Listen to this lady, she knows her stuff :D
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All of the opal I have worked (10 - 12) small pieces were done with diamond files and sand paper. My main rock polisher uses the counter top polishing type pads so the little opals would fall into the gaps and go sailing. I do have a three wheel unit but the only good wheels I have on it are 100 and 3000 diamond soft wheels. For my first time I was afraid to even get close to anything spinning so I went the very slow way and it worked even though I just went to 5000 sand paper and no polish. I had to go back a step or two many times because if you miss something at one grit using sand paper the next step up is not going to get it out in this life time.
If another opportunity arises I will upgrade my wheel machine and work them wet or try to anyway now that I have my left thumb and index finger healed up. Even though I had them on bamboo skewer sticks I still had to hold them close and tight to keep them from moving around while I was filing or sanding.
I really enjoyed learning and working the opal but I have a feeling most of them will be laying around here for quite a while because the artsy side of my brain has not come up with much in the way of mounting them. They served their purpose though and kept me out of the bars and loonie bins for quite a while. But now I will be walking around in circles trying to find something new to work on. I envy the people that can get into one thing and stay there. My work bench is so cluttered with so many projects that need to be finished that I can not work on it. I have a feeling that my solution will be to try and fit another table in somewhere but I will not know until it happens some day.
Thank you all for the compliments and suggestions. Learning keeps my mind from wandering away.
Jim