This October, Our Favorite Opals Are Full of Fire—And Nuance

For those of you who've been involved with opals and gemstones for many years, here you can chat with your peers.

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PinkDiamond
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This October, Our Favorite Opals Are Full of Fire—And Nuance

Post by PinkDiamond »

I found another one for our Opaltober babies from The Zing Report, and of course it's also for the rest of the opalholics here. This one has an extensive lineup, and I took you through the ones I like most, which just happen to be in order, and I left quite a few for you to see via the link so check them all out. 8-)

This October, Our Favorite Opals Are Full of Fire—And Nuance
Amy Elliott October 12, 2021

"It’s the stone that supposedly has so much sketchy juju (bad luck if it’s not your birthstone and all that). And yet, no designer seems able to resist making beautiful jewelry with it—and consumer demand for opal of every imaginable variety is feverishly high, from the limpid Ethiopian variety to the magnificent black opals of Lightning Ridge, Australia.

Opal is a nuanced stone, neutral in one lighting scenario, ablaze with rainbow streaks of fire in another. It’s the perfect metaphor for our equally mercurial moods.

There are spacey, robin’s egg-blue opals set in platinum and diamonds on jewelry’s highest tiers, and a panoply of pastel iridescence on the fashion side, often in the form of delicate stacking rings and cool-girl pendants for layering (think Sofia Zakia and Wwake). There’s also a burgeoning trend that involves boulder opals that display a hint of what might be described as jolie-laide streaks of brown—traces of the ironstone that once hosted the opal before it was mined.

An entire faction of indie designers is embracing these earthy elements in opals. “Gem quality” in this case is in the eye of the beholder, but when award-winning industry greats like Margery Hirschey and Brooke Gregson can see the beauty of it, maybe it’s time for everyone else to expand their definitions of what’s desirable!

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Azores earrings in 18k recycled gold with Australian opal doublets, $7,200; Original Eve

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Shane Co. opal and yellow gold earrings, $360

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Earrings in 18k yellow gold with 19.93 cts. t.w. opals, and rough- and full-cut diamonds, $8,500; Sylva & Cie

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Ring in platinum with 11.56 ct. opal center stone, emeralds, and diamonds, price on request; Oscar Heyman

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Ring in 18k yellow gold with 26.91 ct. Australian boulder opal and diamonds, $6,790; Lauren K.

... "

https://thezingreport.com/2021/10/favor ... re-nuance/
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Re: This October, Our Favorite Opals Are Full of Fire—And Nuance

Post by SwordfishMining »

We don't know WHERE they get "play of color" & the yellow orange "hue" confused. When you are showing all these "fun" "non-just precious" opal gemstones such as boulder opals with potch or jasper patterns in the faces, you have to admit wood in the face is just as acceptable for design if it is as hard as the ironstone, it's certainly much lighter to wear! Also unique for the display among the universal common looking goods.
Like I was saying earlier in another thread, but didn't, I look at all of these fine pieces & replace those "rocks" with my picked gemwoods or VV pure opal ones and get them at a craft show. That is what the miners here are doing with the things they find they can create with. Since it can be treated & logged up to whatever size or shape, clear of crack areas were always the issue, but can be found. By being a small square to facet size (as the fire opal people proved)the shrinkage pulls in the corners, it does not craze the whole or make it difficult with a lighting bolt break to cut around. Also being found in big round nodules on occasion, they spall off in chips, not in chunks to facet as it dries.
The naturals are just smaller as a rule due to water evaporation shrinkage. Crazy opal is crazy opal, but if you can dry it better, dont say it cant be dried if you never tried. The risk is in the saw time invested. Hint. the more crystal brighter ones are the more crazy ones, go figure.
You can lumber it up into little slabs to reduce your losses.I always advocate for the treat the surface & cut off at least one usable thickness gem as a natural, then slab or deal with the rest as possible. You at least had the one and cant say it was worthless. Some decisions on how to grind away rough are worthless if you dont know what is inside. So many of ours are just a surface coating like a boulder vein, but others are huge & cant dry without cracking and are too fragile of a matrix to put in a cement mixer to tumble for awhile. Who know how much crazy opal goes out in the mud from those, but then again they were not in it for the specimens like we are.
Bird in the hand is a wire wrappers grand. I mainly fight the "best on a break" color phenomenon as it is seldom uniform thru the fossil replacement.
I'll jump over my shadow. https://www.virginvalleyopal.com"
Opals & more at my ESTY store https://swordfishmining.etsy.com"
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