Welo Opal Rough

[Largosmom]

I finally got a few photos of the rough Ethiopian Welo opals I purchased last weekend at a local gem and mineral show. Sorry that the photos are not so great, but my lighting is not so great...dim at home, greenish fluorescent at work, and I've had a cold, so not been out much this week so sunlight was a bit absent. These were taken at home or in my vehicle after I arrived at work and had a few minutes to shoot. Welo opals actually look nice in dimmish light, and glow some in your hand if you cup it around the opal. Sorry for the huge size of some of these.

First, sunshine shot of the group of stones in the palm of my hand. I paid about $50 for the bunch, and will learn to make cabachons with them in a few weeks.



Dimmer lighting in the shade of the vehicle



And a bit more shade



Stand by for more posts of closeups.

 

[Largosmom]

And now for a series of closeup shots. Some were taken with the rough completely dry, some with a wet finger run across the rough to show the fire a bit better. That's why in some pics my fingers look a bit wet or oily...it's just the water!

Here is a damp one:



Another damp one: I like the line of color change...hope that isn't a crack!



Same stone, (I think) twice:





few more pics coming.

 

[Largosmom]

One more series...some out of focus, sorry, but the fire shows well regardless and the glow in some pics. Green and yellow were captured better with my camera, but some stones actually showed a bit more blue and red came out pinkish in most cases. (sigh)

This one is dry



Same stone wet--blues and greens disappeared



Some others:

 

[Largosmom]

Backlit:



More closeups





Last photo

 

[Largosmom]

I don't have photos, but on Friday, I went to my local Goldsmith and we dunked the rough stones in some water for about a half an hour to see what would happen. Since ethiopian opal is hydrophane opal, it will absorb liquids. After about a half hour, all had gone clear or a bit yellowish in body color, and some of the flash was gone, but not all. This is one warning you should get with welo opal...if you want a ring out of it, don't wash your hands with it on your finger, it may do some odd things. Water won't hurt the opal, but it may make your fire disappear. You should, of course, be cautious with other fluids. It is probably a better pendant stone than ring stone unless you can be careful with it. The water should dry out of my rough by early in the week. One stone retained a bit of opaque body color in the middle after a half hour of soaking, but by later Friday evening, the moisture had further invaded and it was totally clear...I think it was the stone I had backlit, actually.

Anyway, don't be afraid to try wetting your opal but give it time to dry out before you set it!

I'm going to learn cabbing from the G.G./lapidary at the shop sometime in November, so will post some shots of what I get. With them clear, I was able to loupe them and see the cracks, so that was both a bit interesting and scary! Wish me luck with them.

Laura

 

[Aoife]

Thanks for posting those. I can't wait to see the results of the cabbing. What will you do with the cabs once you cut them?

 

[Largosmom]

I have no idea what I will do with the cabs. The rough was an impulse buy. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. I don't know what the risk of this type of stone breaking up is, so don't know if I will even get one stone per piece or not. We'll see what comes out of them.

Hubby gave me a nice piece of crystal opal rough from Australia as an anniversary gift and teaching me to cab it was part of the deal. I don't want to learn on an expensive opal, so it seemed a good idea to start with less expensive ones. I expect that they will be small...looking at these in person it was obvious that some were cut off pieces from larger ones, so who knows. I'll be happy with whatever I get.

I haven't set my faceted one yet...but have a custom project in the works that won't be done till next year most likely just because I have higher priority things ahead of it in line.

 

[Lovinggems]

What a thoughtful present from your husband, please do post about your cabbing experience later on. Just the other day I saw some welo opal rough online and thought it'll be fun if I got some and learn to cab with them.

 

[chrono]

Not too shabby for $50 and certainly a great opportunity for experimenting and learning.