[Jewelry making - Article 00236] - Re: [Orchid] Gemstones treatments

[r_carew]

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    Michael, Other than the few "matrix opals" from Andamooka, Australia
    and Honduran "black" matrix opals that are treated with sulfuric acid
    and sugar, opals that are sold as "solid" opals are untreated.  The
    doublet is a method of showing the play of color against a black back
    ground but the opal itself is untreated.  (Garnets are sold this way
    as well.)  Triplets are untreated opal chips between a layer of dark
    material with a dark glue holding them on and a quartz cap.  These
    are never sold as natural opals, or at least not to unsuspecting
    jewelers.  Opals are one of the few and perhaps the only gemstone
    where treating them only damages their natural beauty.  There are
    some unscrupulous dealers who will try to cover cracking and crazing
    in inferior opals with Opticon, but in the long run it really doesn't
    work. Unless you have a yellow or orange opal (like Mexican fire
    opals) the Opticon has a distinct amber color once it is heated
    enough to penetrate the cracks, so it shows the cracks rather more
    distinctly.  The Mexican fire opals that are unstable will still be
    unstable after using Opticon so if a person is after a quick buck I
    guess they could try it on fire opal, but they won't get any repeat
    business. 

    I have a beautiful boulder opal that cracked because of the miner's
    over exuberance in cracking the opal out of the ironstone matrix and
    it cracked in one of the prettiest parts of the stone (of course),
    and thinking I could at least let my wife wear it, as I won't sell
    any opal that is cracked I trimmed a small piece off the worst of the
    cracks and tried the Opticon treatment.  The cracks are somewhat less
    obvious, but with a loupe you can see them distinctly.  Not good
    enough to fool anyone, let alone a professional.  So for the opal
    business at least I don't think there are any permanent treatments
    that will fool anyone. 

    I have developed a treatment that I think will prevent an opal from
    crazing. I don't know how long it will last, but I have an opal from
    the Sheepyard field in Lightning Ridge where almost all of the opals
    are unstable, and I treated it using a method that mimics the way
    opals are formed in nature and after a couple of months out of water
    it is still in one piece. The treatment did not fill in the internal
    cracks though.  When I first got the stone about ten years ago it
    wanted to craze so badly that after it dried out you could literally
    hear the little flakes 'pinging' off the stone.  I think my process
    produces small enough spheres of opal (still in a gel-like state)
    that they fill the spaces in the crazing opal and once they dry out,
    the water no longer escapes.  It is not a permanent fix.  From what
    I can tell without an electron microscope, the filling is quite
    literally skin deep.  If I were to try to cut the stone again it
    would loose its outer layer of skin deep micro-spheres.  If the stone
    were set and subjected to all the vagaries of life that jewelry goes
    through, I am sure the outer layer would become scratched, and then I
    would have one very mad customer who tells at least twenty potential
    customers...  An interesting experiment but not a true fix.  Buy
    opals with confidence, and remember educating yourself about the
    stones you are buying is the surest way to get a good opal.  Find out
    where it was mined, how it was stored and for how long. Don't rely on
    pictures (on eBay especially because everyone can use photo touch-up
    programs), and get to know your dealer.  The cheapo dealers will sell
    a parcel of opal with one "money stone" in it and the rest are of
    far less value, but the pictures make them all look good.  Were the
    pictures taken in water, or just wet.  Opals in water show much more
    color than just a wet stone.  If you can see the stone is really dry
    and it has excellent color you probably have a winner. 

    I will soon have my web site up and running and will bring to light
    all the "secrets" that others are selling in books costing as much as
    $60 or more. I will try to debunk the "Downing Scale of Brightness." 
    I am also working on a Flash animation of the actual process of how
    opal forms in nature and how to locate it using the scientific
    method.  I hope you all will enjoy it. 

    P.S, I don't sell doublets or triplets just solid top quality opal
    G'day Rick Carew AZopals  r_carew AT cox.net


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