My African Opal that Looks Like Africa...
Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 4:13 pm
ok.. i am TRYING to do more opals on the side.. in the cracks of life
soooo... i had to come up with a way i can do this..
and here is the CHEAPEST way to do free form opal carving that comes before polishing
there is some other good stuff in this "article" as well..
like how to locate a fault easier...
thats it... thats ALL that is needed to do the carving..
its of course not as fast as a motor... but its a lot more fine in removing absolute minimum..
i am hoping that it doesnt lose another part or such before i get all the faults out..
there are two... (and one tiny divot.. a small dent)
its where the PENCIL mark is... do NOT ever use marker... EVER..
capillary action will grab the ink, and draw it in fast..
[i have figured out that there are layers to an opal.. the most outer layer dries out.. but inside it cant..
so you have a kind of rind that has no water, and THAT is what sucks ink, and such]
as to pinks point as to oils changing colors... it depends on the oils.
ie. body oils have proteins in them... and guess what turns yellow?
but mineral oil... thats clear... and over time... it evaporates like the oil in an oil painting..
here are some more pics then the faults...
ok.. now that thats out of the way.. you may have seen the fault
but these next photos will not only show you, but show you HOW to find them..
once again.. the sun is your friend
this is the divot... easy to remove..
and this is the thing that i think EVERY opal cutter HATES with a passion
i find that if you can turn the opal every which way, you can get the sunlight to bounce off the interface
if its on the surface like this one.. you can cut it out.. changing shape..
but if you find one way inside... your better off probably making more than one stone
however... those seeming cracks.. can be unstable, or stable..
glass is a liquid... not a solid...
take a glass cutter... and cut a line..
put pressure and click the glass cuts
do the SAME THING
but wait an hour or two.. or overnight...
now try...
the glass wont cut along the line and may even break in an odd way
the fracture while still being there, has healed
thats it for today..
the diamond water based polish has yet to arrive by pony express..
[four days in california so far.. ]
be very nice to see what this stone looks like
oh, and this method works GREAT on tiny stones that are harder to hold
while its too slow for some things, but its kind of nice when your waiting for the bus..
now that is opalholism..
soooo... i had to come up with a way i can do this..
and here is the CHEAPEST way to do free form opal carving that comes before polishing
there is some other good stuff in this "article" as well..
like how to locate a fault easier...
thats it... thats ALL that is needed to do the carving..
its of course not as fast as a motor... but its a lot more fine in removing absolute minimum..
i am hoping that it doesnt lose another part or such before i get all the faults out..
there are two... (and one tiny divot.. a small dent)
its where the PENCIL mark is... do NOT ever use marker... EVER..
capillary action will grab the ink, and draw it in fast..
[i have figured out that there are layers to an opal.. the most outer layer dries out.. but inside it cant..
so you have a kind of rind that has no water, and THAT is what sucks ink, and such]
as to pinks point as to oils changing colors... it depends on the oils.
ie. body oils have proteins in them... and guess what turns yellow?
but mineral oil... thats clear... and over time... it evaporates like the oil in an oil painting..
here are some more pics then the faults...
ok.. now that thats out of the way.. you may have seen the fault
but these next photos will not only show you, but show you HOW to find them..
once again.. the sun is your friend
this is the divot... easy to remove..
and this is the thing that i think EVERY opal cutter HATES with a passion
i find that if you can turn the opal every which way, you can get the sunlight to bounce off the interface
if its on the surface like this one.. you can cut it out.. changing shape..
but if you find one way inside... your better off probably making more than one stone
however... those seeming cracks.. can be unstable, or stable..
glass is a liquid... not a solid...
take a glass cutter... and cut a line..
put pressure and click the glass cuts
do the SAME THING
but wait an hour or two.. or overnight...
now try...
the glass wont cut along the line and may even break in an odd way
the fracture while still being there, has healed
thats it for today..
the diamond water based polish has yet to arrive by pony express..
[four days in california so far.. ]
be very nice to see what this stone looks like
oh, and this method works GREAT on tiny stones that are harder to hold
while its too slow for some things, but its kind of nice when your waiting for the bus..
now that is opalholism..