New Turquoise Stone

I bought a cheap piece of turquosie off etsy the other day...it was cheap for a reason 30% was matrix and the polish was pretty poor with lots of scratches. Hum, I said to myself...

If there is anything I have learned in cutting my opals is sometimes less of a stone is a better stone, so put it on a dop stick. chop chop, polish polish and in 5 minutes had this:

Much higher polish, better dome, less matrix. I could even take more off for a perfect oval with very little matix left, but I like like the shape as is.

So there you go, lesson learned: don't be afraid to make a smaller but better stone, or your customers may reshape your cabs. Oh, and turquoise? Takes a polish like a dream!