What good is opal with no color

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Artfldgr
Posts: 399
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:46 pm

What good is opal with no color

Post by Artfldgr »

Hi all,
This morning was up early, blue sky, no clouds, and 2400 pictures later, here I am...

Todays photo session best of will be up in different places, i did take the time to take images of a special stone.
Its pretty much worthless on the market, but it really does mean so much... to beginners...
KJR_5474.jpg

Sometimes colors and angles of play get in the way of having a good foundation
what good is the most expensive stone in the world if its symmetry is off, if a 1/4 mm would have made it perfect clean, the polish is dull
THAT'S what worthless stones are for in the beginning. you get to focus purely on these things sans colors and effects.

want to try being more aggressive?
Want to polish (sorry) your abilities to just peel away some gray and leave black in a piece of Australian potch?
the whole idea is that there are different facets (doh) that come together to make a gemstone a winner, not just the stone
An slightly ill cut and polished level 5 (according to IGS i guess) color play may come out looking more like a 4

Somewhere deep in a stone is an known to exist but never obtainable best most etc cut polish
even if you ever did hit that, you would never know there wasn't better, but you sure would know there was worse

each piece of rough is a potential from a pile of glass bits from being crushed, all the way up to that perfect for that stone best as can be cut polish
your mission is to move it from its raw state and attempt to bring it to that end as close as possible
Size Isnt always the best quality, though often is...
Though shaving off a slightly dead spot to free up color play from every angle, would probably be better.

Any other cutters have examples of such practice or do you throw them out or never bothered to even practice?!??

:)
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SwordfishMining
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Re: What good is opal with no color

Post by SwordfishMining »

Honestly I, as a novice in my eyes still, usually hit what nobody wants due to crazing with super glue then have at it with the coarse wheel. Still end up with smooth baroques that can be bezel set as a rule tho. You'd be amazed at what can be inside along with all the nothings LOL. Ive gotten a much better sense of reading color thats for sure. I see a lot of carvings being done after removing all the ash or sand and clay with a dremel and going Wow I guess it will look like this than trying to make a bunch of natural oval cabs now clean. I dont mind selling them to get them out of the way to make more.
I'll jump over my shadow. https://www.virginvalleyopal.com"
Opals & more at my ESTY store https://swordfishmining.etsy.com"
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PinkDiamond
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Re: What good is opal with no color

Post by PinkDiamond »

If there's no color I'd just as soon put them in the bottom of a fish tank, or even on a plant as an eyecatcher on top of the soil. Heck, I had leftover lavender fish gravel I put in a plant, so I'd use them for decoration if anything. I did donate some to a grammar school years ago after I saw a teacher requesting stones. I sent one for each child in his class telling them they were just basic white milky opal with little to no color. Otherwise they're useless to me. :?
PinkDiamond
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kjsspot
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Re: What good is opal with no color

Post by kjsspot »

They still have a luminous quality. I've set up a couple colorless in woven silver and bride bought them they were still pretty
~KJ~
Mysterious opals contain the wonders of the skies - sparkling rainbows, fireworks, and lightning, shifting and moving in their depths.
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