Night Stone Jewelry

This was a rather nice doublet. Unfortunately I slipped while burnishing the bezel, and the end of it shattered.

0172CP12m I think is the most colorful, bright, and firey opal I have ever cut to date.
At 15mm x 10mm x 4mm in size, it’s not a small one either.

This one took over 10 hours to make. The idea was to take filigree wire, twisted pair, and then put some details on the ring. However filing and some other stuff became a factor. It looks ok. The opal has lots of color though, which is nice. Size 5.5

Opal is 9mm x 7mm in size. Was a cracked one that I had. I used it because I didn’t want to worry about breaking a good one since this was mostly a practice piece. I have lots of room for improvement, but I’m getting there.

Just because I wanted to know.

This is a picture of a dime, one of my first 5 jump rings ever soldered, and the 2nd bezel I’ve ever made which holds in it a 3mm opal.

Here are the images of opals I’ve cut over the last two days. Starting with 0159 which is a semi-crystal from the 12mile field in Coober Pedy. 0160HP through 0163HP are all from Hans Peak, and the last two are from Alans Rise. Undoubtedly, 0163HP is the best. Both Alans Rise opals are heavily affected by the color of the backdrop they are on, as they have a lot of transparency. 0165AR specifically has issues due to inclusions on the back side.

0159CP12m 13mm x 9mm x 3mm 2.0c

0160HP 11mm x 8mm x 4mm 2.5c

0161HP 10mm x 5.5mm x 4mm 1.6c

0162HP 10mm x 5mm x 3.5mm 1.0c

0163HP 16mm x 11mm x 3.5mm 4.15c

0163HP Back:

0164AR 15mm x 14mm x 4mm 5.95c

0165AR 11mm x 10mm x 3mm 2.95c

rough source: Coober Pedy, Australia. 12mile field.

Well, after along break which included a move, the holidays, and building a new workshop, I’m finally able to get back to cutting stone again.

This photo is rather bad. The opal is only about 1.5 to 2 on the brightness, and the picture doesn’t do it justice, if that’s any indication.

8mm x 10mm roughly.

This was cut from a decent size piece of rough from Alans Rise in Coober Pedy,Australia. 33mm x 21mm x 5mm in size. There are a lot of purples in the stone that don’t show up in the photograph.

Black jade and White Opal.