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I soaked this unpolished opal in water to remove the dop stick.It started out a medium brown base color. After drying for 3+ months no color came back, so I decided to dye it. I used what was available, Coffee. As you can see it worked very well. Now I just need to finish the opal.

coffee & opals!!! Two of my favorite things!!! lol All natural right? heeeehehehe

Of course

Other stuff I just aquired..White Mexican opal with slight color play. The rock is the size of a fist, about a 1/4 lb.Chrysacolla. Black quartz What do you think
This is an old piece now ready to be worked.

That's hilarious that you used coffee to dye the opal, but I'm surprised it didn't magnify the color instead of killing it.

I should have known though, since I have a faceted Welo I set in an earring that had a slightly yellowish color, but eventually darkened to nearly the color of your coffee opal, and as it yellowed, it also lost what color it had taking it from a gorgeous faceted opal, to a piece of ugly yellow crap.

So I don't put unsealed Welos in earrings anymore for fear of ruining them, and really wish I could figure out a way to restore it to its original condition, but doubt that's even possible.

Is any of the white Mexican opal useable for cutting? As for the black quartz, I have never seen anything like that, and my mind is scrambling to figure out how one would test that to see if it really is quartz, since I don't know how to test raw minerals, especially if they're a combination of various types.

Is that last one chrysoprase? It's got gorgeous color, and I hope you'll show us what you do with it. Thanks for showing us your new rocks, 8's!

Hi Pink, I'm sorry your opal lost it's color. After drying for a week my opal is back to full color. This is the first time I've run to this.

I thought about dropping it into some hydrogen peroxide to see what it would do, thinking it could pull the yellow out and whiten the stone again, or make it explode, and at this point it's so ugly that I'm good with either option.

Try acetone

How does one use the acetone

crazy8s wrote:How does one use the acetone

Well, how I do it: get a glass baby food jar, or similar small glass jar, add clean acetone, drop in the stone, cap with a sheet of aluminum foil (plastic and lined lids can react with the acetone), then gently swirl it around for a few minutes. Acetone is about as non-toxic as chemicals get (it occurs naturally in your body), but smells awful, so use it in a well-ventilated area and away from flames, sparks, and other ignition sources. It is very drying, so don't get on your skin, in your eyes or mouth.

Sometimes you have to repeat several times (replacing with clean acetone each time). The stuff evaporates quickly, so let air dry for several minutes, then you are done.

Acetone will certainly dissolve body oils. Just be aware that it can also dissolve waxes and resin fillers or sealants that have been used on the stone. If the stone has been dyed, it can also leach some of the color out of the surface. Acetone also can also pull water out of a stone, which may be a concern with certain types of opal. Never use acetone on doublets, triplets, inlaid gems, gems attached in glue-in settings, intarsia, etc. (it can dissolve the glue holding the pieces together). Acetone is also slightly acidic, and so repeated or long immersion may dull portions of the surface of some stones that contain calcite or other inclusions sensitive to acids.