Welcome to opalholicsanonymous.com where opal season lasts forever.

Hey y'all! 8's did a really sweet thing this week! She sent me a little parcel of some stones. What a wonderful surprise for me! Thank you so much! She wants to see what I'll do with them. So... challenge accepted!

Anyway, this might not be a very fast moving thread, but I thought I'd put them all into a progress thread so you can follow along.

Here's what I've got.

Two Welos - I'll soak and dry the welos before cutting. I kinda expect them to cloud up and stay milky after it dries but we won't really know until we try. Maybe I should cut one dry (with mask and my filter hood) just to compare. Looks at the perfect polish the natural cleavage gives. Sure wish MY polishes were that good!

Welo Opal A
9.85 ct, approx 19x21x12 mm


Welo B
24.4 ct, approx 20x23x16 mm


Chrysocolla
I think Chrysocolla usually needs to be stabilized, correct? It seems a bit crumbly. Sure is a pretty stone though!
18.23 g, approx 45x33x9 mm


Two Aussies. They look like Lightning Ridge, yes?

Aussie A (looks like ridge to me) 1.55 ct, approx 13x8x2 mm


Aussie B (also looks like LR) 6.45 ct, approx 22x9x6 mm

The opal have already been soaked and sitting in a drawer for at least 2 years.

Thanks! Good to know!

Wow! How generous of you 8's, and how lucky for you KJ!! Those are great, and I can't wait to see them cut.

I need to start a thread to show y'all what jim sent me, but I wasn't all that pleased with most of the first set of pics I shot, and with his aunt needing almost constant care, and the weather keeping me from getting outside to reshoot them, maybe I should just post the ones I took already since other things seem to be taking priority when I do get a few moments to myself. The sun is going in and out today, so if I can get enough time, and the sun cooperates, maybe I can try to see if I can get better shots for you, but if I can't I probably should just post the first ones.

Can't wait to see them Pink

Just my luck. The sun was out and I thought I could get some shots in between the clouds scurrying across the sky if his aunt took a nap, which she doesn't usually do anymore. She said she was going to nap so I put her to bed, came in here and went up the stairs to find a pillow for her, and she's back in the den already, and can't find her glasses I had just put in their case on the table next to the bed.

I took her back to bed, found the glasses and put them in her purse she always carries around with her like Sophia on the Golden Girls, went back upstairs and found the pillow, and by the time I got back the whole sky was nothing but clouds again. (I want a little fist pounding emoticon here that jumps up and down)

I'll try again tomorrow, and I also have to weigh and measure them, and then I'll start the thread, but for now, I want to turn this one back over to KJ. Sorry for derailing it.

KJ,

Is it possible that Aussie B is Mintabie and not LR?

-BL

Yes BL

yep, I would suspect Aussie A is also, nice Gray background... But B has the definitive horizontal vein structure I have in all my Mintabie's.

Not sure cuz I have a little of each.