What? More Stones?

Yes, it had happened: I have aquired MORE stones. I am pretty good about not buying unless i need it...but every so often a stone catches my eye. Like this baby:

Its called cacoxenite amethyst and apperently is from just one mine in Brazil. Basically amethyst with rutilation running through it. I refrained from buying it when i saw it at Handleys, but when I got home I found I had a sale on my etsy shop so I called up the owner of the rock shop and said, "keep that stone for me!" So happy! I didn't realize it was amethyst when i picked it up, but seeing the pale purple I started looking for an amethyst to with it. Most of the stones they had there where a deep, deep nice purple...but thats not what i was looking for. I found it (possibly the cheapest one there, too)

To quote Goldielocks: "This ones juuuuust right."

 In a few days I'll show you what I did with these stones....its pretty sweeeeeet. Sadly, it wont be done until i go back to the rock shop as I dropped/lost my 2mm accent stone. :(

Did I mention that I got a lovely slice of watermellon tourmaline?

While it doesnt have much color around the edges, I love the play the inclutions in the center give it.

Anyone remeber my opal kick a month back?  Well, I finally made something from my lovely hydrophane opal:

Honestly, if no one buys this ring, I wont be hurt. Okay, maybe I will be hurt because I wore it out driving twice and got totally distracted watching all the color play as I passed different light sources. Certainlly it kept me from rageing while sitting at lights, "oooo..pretty. so many colors. awwww. traffics moving already?" Pictures dont do this rock justice.

Speaking of opal, another "gem faire" is in town. There is one reason and one reason only to go: raw opal. Expect to see some new opally treasures coming soon!

Thanks again for stopping by and checking out my blog.

Its Magic! (Actually, It's Just Science)

I dont know if you remeber me talking about hydrophane opal in my in my other post about opal, but I thought it might be fun to actually show you what happens. Check this out, its a cream colored opal, right?

Not a great picture of the fire, but its totally white. Well, for now anyway. I mentioned earlier that this kind of opal is very porous and will literally suck up water. Check out what happens when I put it in water for 3 minutes:

There goes the white color! Crazy, huh?

After five minutes for a piece this size it becomes completely clear: 

In some cases the fire will compeletly disappear, but if the fire is still visable an experienced cutter can take advantage of the transparent state of the opal to find the best way to cut the stone. Additionally, any cracks in the stone can be spotted before the stone is cut. Thus, offending material can be removed and a a more stable stone created.

oh, yes, and dont worry about my stone: it turned back to its regular color in about half an hour!

More Opal-Just in Time for Valentines Day!

This weekend I made it to the gem show that was in town. I got two things that made me happy: rough opal and a strand of garnet nuggets. Not too much else to get excited about, though. So, opal: I spent maybe an hour and a half pawing through the rough opal. I only had $45 in cash i was allowing myself to spend, and i kept digging out great pieces of opal that would have cost half that. Oh, it was so hard to choose between all the pieces! I decided that for a beginner in cutting, more was better so I opted for cheaper pieces. This is what I walked away with (without spending all my money)

A couple pieces to work with. All but one piece came from Ethiopia. What is interesting about this opal is it is something called hydrophane opal. This sort of opal is particularly porus so it soaks up water and will even change color! White hydrophane opal will turn clear in water, and the pink opal from Mezezo turned deep brown! Some folks say that this sort of opal should be cut dry, which means you have to be extra careful about heat. I tried it both with water and without. Both ways have their advantages and disadvantages.

 The first stone I tried to shape was this Mezezo opal. It had a strange shape with pits and cleaves, but it was enough of a heart shape I decided to cut it that way so as not to loose too much material. In the photograph of the rough stone you can see that dark dot: that was a drop of water that turned it dark!

I think it came out pretty good-although its a pretty thick piece so I fear it would be difficult to set. As I polished the piece I kept it  in my fingers rather than a dop stick so I could  gauge the tempature. I cut this piece without water, so overheating was a real danger. The heat seemed to sink to the center of the stone, so I didn't even notice until I started getting puckering on the backside! Oh no!  I had to go back and smooth out the back again. I finally decided to use just a little water to help with the heat, not much but enough to keep it a little cool. It is hard to do, though, because this sort of opal literally sucks up water!

 I am not one for hearts, but this is a pretty cute little stone. I was so proud of myself for cutting it I walked around with it a few days. :) The fire that this opal has is pretty impressive, the pictures do not do it justice! This would make a pretty sweet V-day gift for a rockhound or an opal lover.

I'll be back with more on my opals soon.