Slow Opal

[skywalker753]

Now I use a diamond file set when necessary. Smaller, more precise!

[PinkDiamond]

That's a nice tablet sky, and the crystal opal above it is very pretty too. I'm looking forward to seeing this one when it's finished to see how much more the greens pop. Good job, and there are always newbies around so whether we already know something or not doesn't matter because others might not, so keep on going, and thanks for sharing those beauties with us.

[skywalker753]

I'm staying busy with this, although the time lag between posts may not seem like it. Getting the next batch of matrix opal ready for carbonizing. I have done one single piece at a time before, but I figure might as well do 8-12 if I can at once. It takes no more work really to do that.
When I do, it will be 6-12 hours in the sugar solution, hot but not boiling, and then to the carbonizing part. They say it takes 4 or even way more hours to do it right. I have found that it takes me about 3. An hour to "dry" the stones and get them used to some heat ( 90c or 180 to 195f). And then anywhere from 450 to 480f (280ish c ?) for 2 hours to actually carbonize the stones. OK, add an hour for cool down at the end, so total of 4 hours then.
Hard earned lessons: Opal don't like temps approaching 600f, lol...I can laugh now but it is NOT cool or funny when they explode. Also, unseen cracks in the matrix can lead to the same result, so close examination with magnification is good prior to cooking. I don't mean healed cracks in the matrix, I mean actual cracks. My success rate is still not perfect, but its acceptable and pretty high now. Anybody who says they have not had an matrix opal fail probably has just not done enough of them yet...lol...

[SwordfishMining]

Thanks for sharing. Anybody that has not had an opal fail on them has not been doing opal long! All those small stones come from somewhere. When heat treating agates to turn their colors. High Temps produce fractures to go with the changes. The lower temps are not so hard on materials. When i was boiling quartz in acid i found that annealing is a very important step. Cooling too fast is hard on crystals but makes a lot of nice "rainbows" in them. Oops.

[skywalker753]

So, there's a first time for everything! Anyways this one is the first time I've shaped and polished a matrix opal and I'm NOT going to treat it/carbonize it. I like the color as it is, the colors of coffee and cream, with a flash of royal purple on the front, back, and each side.
Since everything over 10 carats gets a name, this one is RoyalCoffee...lol...
Nope, its not perfect, has a crack, like a lot of matrix opal does, but I tried to bust it by hand, and a couple of accidental floor drops Ooops!!!...(well, polished opal is slippery, at least to me) and it must want to exist as is, cuz it will not break!!!
Now, if I had people pounding on my door, shouting "treat it!!!" or "I'll buy that for a gazillion dollars if you treat that!!!!", well I think we all know what I'd do.
Also, as an addition, I had another regular solid opal dud early this morning. Sand. Through and through. Couldn't even get a small pointer out of about 50carats of tantalizing blue opal flashes. I suppose it will go in a jar with some offcuts.

[PinkDiamond]

That's a cool looking opal sky. Kind of like coffee and cream with a splash of grape.

I like its uniqueness, and your other ones in the group shot are looking very nice. That's too bad that the one this morning was so disappointing with all the sand; especially from such a large piece of rough, but c'est la vie. That's how it goes sometimes with opals. Hope the one with the crack doesn't break when you don't want it to. Guess it's a healed crack, so let's hope it stays intact, and thanks for showing us your progress. You seem to be the only one cutting anything at the moment so it's a real treat for us.

[skywalker753]

Its matrix cooking day today, got a bunch out of the sugar, and in the oven now. Fingers crossed and hope they turn out.
Thats gonna be a few hours so I went through my stuff to see what I am going to do next. I think it will be a Coober Pedy period of time. Not the wonderful crystal stuff, but the wonderful regular Coober Pedy white stuff. I don't have any world beating skin to skin color rough. I DO have some average to pretty good stuff, most colors, some red. I have not cut a lot of this kind and am hoping for some tips from you!!! I know how to approach the lightning ridge stuff, not so much the regular Coober Pedy material. Just do it?!...lol... Yeah, thats my usual plan...but I'd rather not make huge mistakes being it costs money, time, and effort. Especially by hand. Thanks in advance if anyone can venture some suggestions.

[skywalker753]

Sometimes the one I think is going to be the best, is not in fact the best. And the one I think is just an afterthought turns out the best. Anyways, here's a few of the opal matrix stones, almost done, just need a bit of polishing. The shield shaped one has a bit of red in it, but it didn't show up in the pic. The largest one has a bit of blue, but that didn't show up in the pic either. It was fun making them! Thats it for now...lol...anybody else doing this type of stuff?

[PinkDiamond]

Looking good, sky, and I wish we did have others cutting so we could feed our opalholism. Maybe you'll inspire some of them to get back to cutting and carving.

[skywalker753]

So, here are a couple of more matrix opal stones. I like these, they just need a bit more polishing (not shiny enough!!!) and they're done. They both sparkle and have play of color in hand, but that doesn't show up so much in the pic. One is a bit more blue, one a bit more green, both were adjacent to each other in the same larger piece of Andamooka matrix.
I have to downsize the file to get it to be able to drag and drop, I don't know if video is possible.
Thats it for now.