Opals and doublets 07-15-2010
by Neural on Jul.15, 2010, under Opals
One really bright stone, and a group of random stones including some from Lightning Ridge, Coober Pedy, and some doublets.
0203CP12M
Size: 8mm x 7mm x 2mm (approx)
Weight: 1.05c


Women’s Ring
by Neural on Jun.15, 2010, under Jewelry, Opal Jewelry
This is the first of the women’s style ring based on the ring that I made. It uses silver filigree wire for the support arches. Unfortunately they don’t show all that well on this ring because the stone is so big. ![]()
I am going to make this ring design for more stones. Each will be different in that the stones are all different shapes, but the ring design will remain similar to this one.
The stone is from the Hans Peak area, in Coober Pedy, Australia
Ring size: 6.5
Ring metal: Sterling silver
Stone size: 11mm x 8mm
Stone weight: 2.5c



Opal Ring
by Neural on Jun.12, 2010, under Jewelry, Opal Jewelry
This is the second run for this ring. The first one had some major issues with the bezel being loose for the stone. This time around it worked a lot better.
The ring style is also one I am hoping to make more of in the future as it is a simple design but looks quite nice when finished. I have a special design for the women’s version of this ring. will be posting one of those sometime soon.
As for this ring, it’s a size 8, and the opal is from the 12 Mile field in Coober Pedy, Australia, and is 10mm x 8mm in size.

Brass/silver bracelet
by Neural on Jun.11, 2010, under Jewelry, Non-Opal
First attempt atthis sort of thing. Brass wire with a floating silver bezel. The stone is an unidentified jasper of some sort.

#200
by Neural on May.14, 2010, under Opals
Well, I’ve been cutting opal for over 3 years now. This past week marked the 200th opal cabochon that I’ve cut which was of sufficient quality to “bag and tag”. Meaning I liked it enough to measure it, weight it, and all that.
So, simple though it may be, here is 0200CP12m

First one from the rock trip
by Neural on May.02, 2010, under Non-Opal
Still no ID on this, but it really came out interesting.

Off topic: Rock hounding May 2010
by Neural on May.01, 2010, under Non-Opal, Uncategorized
While Virginia doesn’t have the most exciting rocks, we go looking for them anyway, and just pick up whatever looks nice. Mostly for our gardens, but on this trip we were hoping to get some Unakite.
Unfortunately, I totally forgot to really study pictures of slabs and rough online before going, so we only had basic memory to go on. We found some stuff that is definitely *not* Unakite, but took home anyway as it is my understanding that the location we went to also has some jasper. There are a *lot* of different kinds of jasper across the world, so I have no idea what we were even looking for. Just that it wasn’t going to be Ocean Jasper, as that is from Madagascar. ![]()
Pictures were taken dry and outside, but it was a little overcast. A couple of the closeup images have been enhanced using brightness/contrast in Photoshop to try and get a bit closer to the color in brighter light.














4-26-2010
by Neural on Apr.26, 2010, under Non-Opal, Opals
0197CP12m 15mm x 8mm x 4.5mm 3.40c
This opal has a good amount of color, though it is a bit directional, and not always real bright

This is a simple black jade cabochon made from some scrap I had on my shelf. It’s about 12 to 15mm in size. The backdrop has been photoshopped out on this one which makes it pretty easy to see the dust that managed to stick to the stone. ![]()

04-25-2010
by Neural on Apr.25, 2010, under Non-Opal, Opals
an opal and some amethyst


Late Night
by Neural on Apr.23, 2010, under Opals
Made a number of opals tonight, including two really nice doublets.
0188CP12m

0189CP This one has a lot more flash to it than it would reveal for the camera. 16mm x 9mm x 5mm 4.5c

0190CP Killer broad flash on this one. Green and yellow depending on angles. 13mm x 8mm x 3.5mm Sadly, it has a fracture on the back. ![]()


0191CP An odd shaped opal with a stripe of color through it. 14mm x 9mm x 3mm 2.8c

0192CP 13mm x 7mm x 4mm 2.35c. Nice freeform. Has reds from the sides and green from the face.

0193CP 13mm x 8mm x 2mm 1.9C It has color within the inclusions, so I made something of it.

0194CP_D The first of two doublets and wow does it shine. 8mm x 5mm x 3mm 1.1c. This was from a piece of shell, so it does have stripes across the face, but it outshines that.

0195CP_D The second doublet. 7mm x 5mm x 3mm .95c Amazing color on this from every angle
