The Journey of passion - of opal fever
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 7:01 am
An old friend, the first self proclaimed rockhound I ever met gave me the opal fever. This is where my journey started - in his yard holding something I couldn't have fathomed only moments prior.
From that moment I decided I was going to give my everything to journey to the Virgin Valley myself, where I could claim something special from the harsh Nevada desert. Not the desert of casinos and human-made wealth, but the desert of harsh and unforgiving hills with something far more intrinsically valuable nestled between them. Far more special than sheets of paper. I began saving every bit of money I could muster on that day in May 2017. I budgeted my meager earnings down to $30 in groceries per week. $25 in gas per week. $20 in spending money a week (if necessities didn't demand more). I made $10 meals in my crock pot that would be meant to last me days - 3 meals a day.
Beans, beans.... so damn many beans. I got better making use of my crock pot though. My intestinal fauna certainly became used to all those beans, so much that I no longer suffered the smelly consequences.
For 5 months I gave up on many things, somehow feeling that if I maintained this devotion - unwavering in my daily activities that it would be worth it.
It took me those 5 months to save up the $1200 or so in entirely excess funds for my trip I had calculated would occur sometime in October.
When I got closer to October I committed on making my first day of digging be the 1st. I requested the 4 days of paid vacation I had saved up for the trip. I pulled all of my money out of my bank account after paying my monthly bills early, leaving only $45 in my bank account. I Scheduled an appointment with the local Tire Factory to put new tires on my car the very morning I left for the VV; I had chosen and bought all of my tools.. built a sifting screen on my own. Studied the lay of the land in the Virgin Valley. Studied smart mining techniques. Watched every Resort Dog video on youtube I could find, and every other video of someone else's moment of joy as they frantically pointed their camera at their own find in the hard clay. I observed the cracks I often saw in the things people were digging up. Taking notes - literally notes - on tendencies of different mining techniques. Took notes and memorized the main roads of the Valley, because I knew there was no electricity or internet there. Watching video recordings of passers by on the highway running past the valley and pausing the frames to study the exact scenes I expected to see, so I may know where to go in the dark of night without phone service.
I learned that I could get lucky out there if I only worked hard enough, which my rockhound friend Randy told me was the key to any measure of success in the Virgin Valley. Hard work. Nothing is earned in the Valley without hard work. Work not too different from my experiences growing up on my parent's farm. Humbling hard work in the sun.
I had a belief that the cosmos would eventually make a break in my direction if only I gave my truest dedication - if I worked hard enough in every aspect of this journey. And the cosmos did make a break. It didn't just toss me a bone, but a stunning black opal limb cast at 9AM on my second day at the Royal Peacock banks. I worked from 8AM to 4PM for two days at the Royal Peacock to a state of delirium.. to delusional levels of exhaustion. I asked myself why I didn't just go to Vegas and put it all on black, why not? I could double my money! Just like so many of my other youthful friends had done - and lost it all. Losing that devotion of time on this Earth to a half-hearted promise of society, that if you only give your money to someone else they will give you more in return.
my pit
Not this guy. I DID put everything on black. Opal. I had more faith in my own sweat and my back than the promise of a handout. I had faith in the devotion I had given for so many months. I forced food and water down into my belly as I worked under the Nevada sun, knowing my body wouldn't hold up to this level of effort if I didn't divert my attention.
I brought a chunk of polyethylene foam to kneel on. By the end of the day I was laying on it, on my side in a nearly 3 foot deep pit I had dug with only my rock pick. Occasionally mucked out with my shovel. I told myself I wasn't going to leave that pit until I found MORE black opal. Then I did. For the second time in the day. Hot damn I found black opal twice in one day and I only had a half hour left to excavate it. I almost forgot to breathe. I think I did.
This is what I found in the morning, at 9AM. This wondrous limb cast I've named "The Black Hole".
Through some measure of luck and wise technique the break across the face of this limb cast was clean and I was left with a 10ct piece that I have since successfully dried - without crazing. Over a span of time that continues to this day - in increments of excruciatingly slow desiccation.
Since this journey to the Virgin Valley I have gotten my hands on many more opals, with the desire to make wondrous things from them.
From Ethiopia
From Indonesia
Once I returned home from the Virgin Valley I knew I had something exceptional in this black opal. I set out to find a mentor who could teach me more - anything - EVERYTHING!
But that is a tall order, so few people have experience working with precious opal. Especially Virgin Valley opal. It takes a certain kind of "wildcat" to work the VV opal I found, two weeks after my expedition to Nevada. I was at a regional gem and mineral show in the Portland, Oregon area and spent 3.5hrs talking to literally every person and club member who knew about opal - in any capacity - whether they had just dug it or had worked it. Through a breadcrumb trail of names I came across a fellow who was much more confident than everyone else in his skill of working opal. He'd been an opalholic for as long as I had been alive! I learned a lot from this man, but eventually my need for knowledge, and my hunger for it exceeded his ability to provide it to me due to his busy life. We parted ways 5 months ago as I sought mentorship wherever I could. This parting was 5 months ago.
I made contact with other opal lovers from around the world, other miners, and had begun accumulating material (and relationships) that I couldn't stand just sitting on for a bi-monthly meeting to learn about from my previous mentor. I had too much desire to be stuck in the position of only learning hands-on about how to cut opal on an every-other-month basis. The reality was that I couldn't quite afford the equipment I needed, after suffering big financial losses from unforseeable expenses later in the year. I can tell you that coming home to crowbar marks on your bedroom door would have made your blood boil too. I evicted the roommate and resigned to finding new tenants to try and recoup some of my monetary losses.
I moved out of that place in April, only 4 months ago. I moved in with my girlfriend and have finally achieved the stability I've wanted for so long - at 30 years old now. Fortunately all of my stones were miles and miles away and very safe. Intentionally.
In June and July I had started to accumulate dremels and tips and buffs and polishes, to try to continue my meager stone cutting goals. It takes weeks to finish a stone at that rate and my joints and forearms didn't like it either! I started having frustrations with vendors sending me completely incorrect supplies - or outright scamming me - and had a complete month of stagnation in June over dremel fiascos (them breaking and the replacements being lost in the mail or a total scam on the 2nd replacement attempt). I was going nuts having lost a month of ANY progress because of vendor issues. Then July, just last month I also lost the entire month of progress due to NOVA tips for my dremel being damaged in shipping or outright stolen from the mailing container...yes I received an empty parcel that had been torn open and the tips stolen out of it...somebody STOLE friggin' dremel tips?!? At this point I was honestly losing faith in society a bit. I was suffering extreme anxiety over my loss of progress over two whole months.
I realized I was trying to take on too much by myself. I needed a community. I needed to find other people who have a passion for gems and minerals like me . So I went to a local gem and mineral museum that my girlfriend had found a flier for a festival there - this was August 5th of this month.
My girlfriend and I went to the Rice Rock Museum's Summer Festival that weekend three weeks ago and there I met and talked with locals who shared my passion. I took a flier for a local gem club, which was having its first meet of the month only the following Thursday.
I went to the club meeting and took along some of my opals and shared this story I've told you now, with the people at the club meeting. This has been a journey - a quest for knowledge. I told them that I needed a mentor, anyone who could help me learn how to use the right equipment or even anyone who might know anything about opals.
I found far more than I could have imagined. I found a community, people who were excited to see a new face come along who shared their passion. I met with some of them in their homes through the following weeks, talked to them via email and started forming friendships.
People could see my desire, and have offered genuine time with them to learn what they know. Skills they learned decades ago from the old timers. Things that young people my age have no clue about. Some of the people at the club told me that I have such wonderful pieces that I should do something with them. I'm still recovering from my financial losses earlier in the year, only 6 months ago and have been unable to realize that kind of investment.
I knew I wanted to own a Diamond Pacific Genie with NOVA wheels. I knew I needed a trim saw, a flat lap, a leather buff. Hand tools to set a stone in a bezel. All of these things were the barriers to realizing my goal of doing more with my opals because of my financial situation. I have the contacts to get these beautiful kinds of opal from all around the world, but the shame was in not having a realistic means of working them.
My father has noticed this passion and desire, he noticed the connections I've been making - from all around the world. I told him there could be something to this, working with opal. Maybe even something that could allow me to escape the system. To escape the corral that is a punch-in and punch-out 9 to 5. I have begun to realize through this journey that my skills as they have grown are becoming more valuable, my abilities and my desire to learn are not being rewarded by the various employers I've worked for. Society isn't going to hand me what I want. I've got to take it. Be my own boss someday - if I want to realize the value of my time spent.
I've been hard, hard, HARD at work since this journey began last May, 2017. Making connections and learning so much. But being stuck in this financial situation. The plane was stuck on the tarmac.
But my father has noticed my efforts and has decided to put some air under these wings. Today - I achieved liftoff. My father has decided to step in and give me that bit of lift I need to take this passion to the next level. Today my father decided to help me realize THIS DREAM. THIS PASSION!!!!! THIS PLANE HAS ACHIEVED LIFTOFF!!!!
I only have to wait another few weeks and I will have a Genie WITH the NOVA wheels! And a trim saw! The order is placed and the parcels have yet to arrive in the mail. I can't believe this is happening. I had to share this with you, with the future people I have not yet met on this journey. I'm going to be ok - am at peace of mind now. I still can't believe the whirlwind that has been the last 7 days...