Progress Thread - Gift!

This category is the best place to discuss cutting opal.

Moderators: PinkDiamond, John

User avatar
kjsspot
Posts: 1185
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:22 am
Location: West Fargo, ND
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by kjsspot »

Welo A & Welo B were actually two halves of the same nugget. This is Welo A.

Welo A 2016 02 24 - 9.85 ct  19x21x12 mm.JPG


When I skinned it a small piece fractured off.
Welo A 2016 02 28 b.JPG


But the rest of it went well. Solid piece with no more fractures. Here's the initial carving.
Welo A 2016 02 28 a.JPG


Smoothed out and refined a bit more. Looking good so far!
Welo A 2016 03 03 .JPG
Last edited by kjsspot on Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
~KJ~
Mysterious opals contain the wonders of the skies - sparkling rainbows, fireworks, and lightning, shifting and moving in their depths.
ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KJOFineArt
Website: http://www.kjmontoya.com
User avatar
kjsspot
Posts: 1185
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:22 am
Location: West Fargo, ND
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by kjsspot »

This is Welo B, the other half of Welo A.
Welo B 2016 02 28 a.JPG


This one also fractured when I started skinning it.
Welo B 2016 02 24 - 24.4 ct  20x23x16mm .JPG


Here you can see how water changes a welo. If you look along the outside edge you'll see it's transparent with a cloudy egg on the inside. The longer it soaks the greater the ration of transparent to egg becomes. Eventually it'll be completely transparent until it starts to dry out again.

You can also see a bit of a crack but the water makes it hard to see.
Welo B 2016 03 03 b.JPG


So, I finished skinning it and let it dry out. Unfortunately this one fractured a lot. There's even more on the back. I'll have try to get it to crack along the natural cleavage to see if I can salvage any decent sized pieces.
Welo B 2016 03 03 c.JPG
Last edited by kjsspot on Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
~KJ~
Mysterious opals contain the wonders of the skies - sparkling rainbows, fireworks, and lightning, shifting and moving in their depths.
ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KJOFineArt
Website: http://www.kjmontoya.com
User avatar
kjsspot
Posts: 1185
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:22 am
Location: West Fargo, ND
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by kjsspot »

Here's Aussie A - possibly Mintabie
Aussie A 2016 02 24 - 1.55 ct 13x8x2mm.JPG


After a simple shaping and this one's ready for the dop stick
Aussie A 2016 02 25.JPG


Aussie B is Mintabie
Aussie B 2016 02 24 - 6.45 ct 22x9x6mm.JPG


I took the cap off of the top and bottom to expose the color bar. There are two main layers of color and then a really thin on toward the bottom. The color bar has a distinct curve to it though.
Aussie B 2016 02 25 a.jpg


The color bar is much thinner on the other side.
Aussie B 2016 02 25 b.JPG


Here I started taking down the potch to see if if the green color bar continues and started thinking about how I want to cut this.
Aussie B 2016 02 25 c.JPG


Right or wrong, I decided that I would try to utilize the layers instead of choosing one over the other.
Aussie B 2016 02 25 d.JPG


A bit more shaping is letting this organic shape Not sure if I'll keep the little bottom lip though. Don't worry about the color. It's still there. It just needs a polish to bring it out.
Aussie B 2016 03 03 a.JPG
~KJ~
Mysterious opals contain the wonders of the skies - sparkling rainbows, fireworks, and lightning, shifting and moving in their depths.
ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KJOFineArt
Website: http://www.kjmontoya.com
crazy8s
Posts: 1793
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: farm country Calif

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by crazy8s »

Sorry about all the cracking, those were the largest pieces after I soaked the rough I bought. So I thought it was done, at least it didn't cost anything. Love the shapes you have coming out of it all :!: :roll:
User avatar
kjsspot
Posts: 1185
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:22 am
Location: West Fargo, ND
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by kjsspot »

No worries! It happens. You never really know with these things. But I'm really liking the other half and I'll be able to salvage something out of the cracked one.
~KJ~
Mysterious opals contain the wonders of the skies - sparkling rainbows, fireworks, and lightning, shifting and moving in their depths.
ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KJOFineArt
Website: http://www.kjmontoya.com
User avatar
PinkDiamond
Posts: 15402
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Ozark Mountains

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by PinkDiamond »

What a nice photo journey KJ, thank you. That's amazing that half of the Welo was stable enough to carve, while the other half wasn't so fortunate. I'm really loving what you did with the Mintabie though. That's going to look awesome polished up, and very unique. It looks like a cute little critter sunning itself on a rock. :)
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ There are miracles left for you to do .... -:¦:- -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* It all begins inside of you. ;)
crazy8s
Posts: 1793
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: farm country Calif

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by crazy8s »

Hi KJ, we haven't seen anything for a while, I sure hope that doesn't mean every thing shattered into gravel.
User avatar
SwordfishMining
Posts: 4215
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 3:06 pm
Location: Denio, NV USA
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by SwordfishMining »

Nice work. You don't have idle hands. My things keep getting too small to handle and never finished. I do have an eye for crazing and the rule is none is best, but ordinary cracks are natural from stress relief. Crazing has the cracky look to the lines like lightning where it can't figure out where to crack & they point toward the clear even after grinding them all off once and letting the center dry again. That's one of the problems with sand pockets and nodules- they support the stresses in the opal centers until they are removed (Remember Shewa Opal Nodules) and most pockets are VERY deep besides having the best POC on the surface of the clay opal boundary. I need to find a handful of opal and woods for you. Soaked in CA they are hard but not fragile. If you are doing those, you can do something you can hold that is completely different looking. I polish the exposed opal out and do what ever to the wood backing it calls for. Cut it off to set or leave it natural/carved to sit on a shelf. Finding the opals seems to be dealing with all one offs. Not reach in a tub and grab one out of a handful. Then as always it's trying to get the value added more than the cost of materials.
I'll jump over my shadow. https://www.virginvalleyopal.com"
Opals & more at my ESTY store https://swordfishmining.etsy.com"
User avatar
kjsspot
Posts: 1185
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:22 am
Location: West Fargo, ND
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by kjsspot »

Just gotta get some pics. :D


which may be a while as I've had to drop everything for the next week for the prayer request thing. ;)
~KJ~
Mysterious opals contain the wonders of the skies - sparkling rainbows, fireworks, and lightning, shifting and moving in their depths.
ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KJOFineArt
Website: http://www.kjmontoya.com
User avatar
SwordfishMining
Posts: 4215
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 3:06 pm
Location: Denio, NV USA
Contact:

Re: Progress Thread - Gift!

Post by SwordfishMining »

Praying it works out for you.
I'll jump over my shadow. https://www.virginvalleyopal.com"
Opals & more at my ESTY store https://swordfishmining.etsy.com"
Post Reply