[Jewelry making - Article 00306] - Re: [Orchid] Incorporating opal

[Richard Hart]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    I have sold a lot of opal of all qualities in finished goods, both
    my work and from wholesale companies. 

    I have sold crystal, white base, black, boulder, Ethiopian, Mexican
    jelly, solids, doublets and triplets and had few problems with
    crazing. Most of the problems have been with "boulder" opal doublets.
    These problems happened while I owned them. Some companies replace if
    crazing occurs. 

    I do have a few pieces I cut many years ago that crazed, but I have
    at least a pound of material, all different Australian and Mexican
    opal. The Mexican opal I faceted about 10 years ago has not crazed. 

    I do repair and I have seen rings with cracked or missing opals, the
    rings that have multiple opals where one is missing or cracked never
    have crazed stones. I have heated opal very gently with my torch to
    dop. I would not recommend it, but I had more material and did not
    care if I ruined a small piece. I have heated them while polishing
    with no damage. 

    I have had the most damage while being careless when using shock to
    remove opal from a dop, pulled material out of the surface. Did not
    do that again. The biggest problem I had was with cabbed Mexican opal
    I bought in Mexico at the mine. A few stones have crazed, about one
    out of 20. 

    I have about 100 crystal base opals I cut and polished or preformed
    before I moved to Denver about 20 years ago that are just the same as
    when I cut or prefomed them. (I have a huge collection of started not
    finished projects, both jewelry and gem cutting) I am in Denver, Co.,
    I do not store opals in water, and it is virtually devoid of
    humidity here, so I have come to believe that storing in water or
    wetting occasionally is folklore. 

    I do not know why different people have such different experiences.
    Considering how many I have, how many I have cut, and how many I have
    sold I consider opal a low risk gem. The most damage that I have
    comes from setting them, I have definitely crunched a few. I
    collaborate with a woman metalsmith, we use a lot of opal in our
    oneof a kind pieces and have bezel set hundreds of opals over the
    last two years. Neither of us have broken a stone or had crazing of
    any of them. 

Richard Hart
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________