cottoncandy
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2014
- Messages
- 83
Wow, if that's real I would LOVE one too! I just would imagine it would waste so much rough to cut it that way. It is so striking.
I have a faceted opal which crazed a lot over the years. Heartbreaking! I hadn’t thought of this when I bought mine decades ago, but It is vital that the opal is faceted from stable material because some of the light and Jelly like opals tend to loose water and start crazing. I’ve heard that Ethiopian opal quite stable as a second to Australian opal, but stability depends on the stone. Ideally, safest would be to buy a faceted opal which has been stored for a few years to ensure stability.
Unfortunately I don’t have any before pics, but here are pics of it now... still pretty but you can see the cracks as a result of slow water loss. I’m sure there is stable opal material for faceted stones, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.I know right? It looks like something out of a fairy tale. I’m just imagining how delicious that opal would be paired with paraiba in something by Heart of Jewels...
Thank you very much! I’m falling deeper in love with opals by the minute!!
Thanks for the heads up. I knew opal was delicate but didn’t know exactly how. Can you post a photo of your faceted opal before it was crazed? I’d love to see it!
Oh my goodness, they have such GORGEOUS stones. I am obsessed, thank you so much for this lead.
There isn’t much to be done. One just hopes it will stop! A dip in Opticon, a polymer compound often used to fill emeralds, sometimes can help by sealing the stone. But I imagine that it greatly depends, and this is not a standard procedure as far as I know.Thanks for posting pics @Bluegemz because I've never seen crazing, I don't believe. Is there anything to stop/reverse/protect this from happening? It still is stunning.
Thanks for posting pics @Bluegemz because I've never seen crazing, I don't believe. Is there anything to stop/reverse/protect this from happening? It still is stunning.
It’s... so pretty!! Thank you for the lead!
I was reading an opal thread earlier (I tried to search it and couldn't find it ), and a trade person commented and said that you can help prevent crazing by storing your opals in a humid environment. He mentioned that he kept his favorite opal in a little jar of water (which is also how a lot of opal rough is stored), and mentioned that you can also store them with a little dampened cotton ball.
A lot of work, but if you love it, worth it!
Update! I bought a faceted opal thanks to you all!
I bought it from Hashnu Stones — it’s the Welo opal pictured at the top of their website: https://www.hashnustones.com/ and shown in a video on their instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlyFZfYDRxl/
It’s still in the mail but I’ll post an update when I receive it.
It’s... so pretty!! Thank you for the lead!
I love it! They’re like gems for mermaids, basically