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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 21, 2019 15:30:00 GMT -5
Thought I would share some opals I have done in the past. I love opals, but they are so hard for me to photograph. All of these are very nice. Some are the tiniest wraps I have ever done and a couple of them are really big. I have forgotten carat weight and the places where they are from, though they are all Australian and I could make good guesses. So, anyway here they are. This is a very tiny silver weave. See what I mean abt tiny? That is a small bead. Love the brightness of this little opal. 
Same wrap- this time with a side pic.
Another very small opal. This time it is sculpted gold fill. I believe this is a black opal, though not the best.  18x13 high dome. Lots of carats. I believe this is Mintabie. I bought a parcel and had it cut for me before I knew how to cab.  Another tiny opal in the simplest wrap. This is a crystal opal with a red body. Against black it is ON FIRE!  I wish to God I had never sold this. The opal is to die for and it is HUGE. I'm thinking it was 9 carats. Very big, very stable and very colorful.  Cute little sculpted wire earrings. They look much better in person. One of my daughters has these. 
I have done other opals, but a long time ago, I used a duplicate finder and really messed myself up by accidentally deleting the originals and keeping the small gallery photos I had for eBay. That was a big loss.
I still have a few big, beautiful opals, but I guess I am hoarding them.
Thanks for coming along on a trip down memory lane.  |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721 
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Post by julieooly on Sept 21, 2019 17:34:55 GMT -5
OMG damn girl! Hope I can say that here.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,060 
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Post by gemfeller on Sept 22, 2019 1:04:57 GMT -5
Tela, your skills and creativity never fail to amaze me. I'm an opal fancier and you've done marvelous work with them and all your other wire work.
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Post by fernwood on Sept 22, 2019 3:58:34 GMT -5
Beauties. Both the opals and the wraps.
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Post by MsAli on Sept 22, 2019 6:25:15 GMT -5
You are so good!
I love the one that she wore to graduation.
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Post by miket on Sept 22, 2019 7:09:34 GMT -5
Wow.
Thanks for sharing these. They are al absolutely gorgeous!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 22, 2019 10:14:38 GMT -5
Love looking at all your opals. The Mintabie is stellar and I believe that large honkin' one is probably Mintabie too. Mintabie is Vince's favorite opal field. Mine is Lambina, but you don't see them as often. Both of those fields are closed to mining anymore, so those will become very rare.
Looking at the tiny ones made my fingers hurt! LOL!
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 22, 2019 11:05:22 GMT -5
Love looking at all your opals. The Mintabie is stellar and I believe that large honkin' one is probably Mintabie too. Mintabie is Vince's favorite opal field. Mine is Lambina, but you don't see them as often. Both of those fields are closed to mining anymore, so those will become very rare.
Looking at the tiny ones made my fingers hurt! LOL!
Thank you and thank you for the ID. I love Lambinas, too. Shoot, I just love Aussie opals period.
Yes, the small work is killer on the hands. I rarely do anything that small anymore.
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Sept 23, 2019 20:56:54 GMT -5
Hi Tela.
So glad you posted pics of these pieces. I love the seed pearl and opal combinations. Those were great opals and equally impressive pieces you created with them.
You just keep "hoarding" those other opals, and be happy. Are they all already finished, or do you still have rough?
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Post by woodman on Sept 23, 2019 21:05:24 GMT -5
Those are really all very nice. Wish I had your talent!
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Post by Pat on Sept 23, 2019 21:35:49 GMT -5
Wow!
A feast for the eyes. Thanks, Tela!
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 24, 2019 5:56:43 GMT -5
Hi Tela.
So glad you posted pics of these pieces. I love the seed pearl and opal combinations. Those were great opals and equally impressive pieces you created with them.
You just keep "hoarding" those other opals, and be happy. Are they all already finished, or do you still have rough?
I have a small piece left from the parcel, the rest are already cut. When I think of how many I had, it makes me sad. Wish I still had each and every one. I just love opals. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Sept 24, 2019 8:37:28 GMT -5
Know what you mean about missing them. We still look at photos from time to time of a couple of the ones we've sold.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 24, 2019 17:20:14 GMT -5
Hi Tela.
So glad you posted pics of these pieces. I love the seed pearl and opal combinations. Those were great opals and equally impressive pieces you created with them.
You just keep "hoarding" those other opals, and be happy. Are they all already finished, or do you still have rough?
I have a small piece left from the parcel, the rest are already cut. When I think of how many I had, it makes me sad. Wish I still had each and every one. I just love opals. Opal remorse. It happens to all of us. There are a couple opals we really can't bear to part with, so we put a stupid price on them and if someone really wants them that bad, we'll sell them. I'd still miss them though ... all the way to the bank.  |
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Sept 25, 2019 13:34:04 GMT -5
I like them all! I think the smaller ones are a real challenge. I have real trouble with small ones, and actually I have not attempted anything as small as some of those yet. I like the use of beads to go with the Opals. That is a really smart choice. If I ever get an Opal from N. Nevada, then I will try to remember that idea. The only Opal I have is set in a ring, which my dad had made for himself once. I don't know anything of its origin.  I agree with you about photographing one though. I found this to be a pain in the butt. For some reason the fire of the Opal just doesn't come out with the picture. I am sure there is some photographic trickery to this! Thanks for sharing all of these great creations. I have a couple of new ideas now! |
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 25, 2019 14:03:51 GMT -5
@neveadbill, that is an awesome ring and a gorgeous opal!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 25, 2019 18:08:01 GMT -5
I like them all! I think the smaller ones are a real challenge. I have real trouble with small ones, and actually I have not attempted anything as small as some of those yet. I like the use of beads to go with the Opals. That is a really smart choice. If I ever get an Opal from N. Nevada, then I will try to remember that idea. The only Opal I have is set in a ring, which my dad had made for himself once. I don't know anything of its origin. I agree with you about photographing one though. I found this to be a pain in the butt. For some reason the fire of the Opal just doesn't come out with the picture. I am sure there is some photographic trickery to this! Thanks for sharing all of these great creations. I have a couple of new ideas now! Very nice opal! I would almost bet that it's a Brazilian opal. Back in the day a lot of opal from Brazil was passed off as Australian but imported from Brazil. Beautiful stuff.
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 25, 2019 20:43:45 GMT -5
I like them all! I think the smaller ones are a real challenge. I have real trouble with small ones, and actually I have not attempted anything as small as some of those yet. I like the use of beads to go with the Opals. That is a really smart choice. If I ever get an Opal from N. Nevada, then I will try to remember that idea. The only Opal I have is set in a ring, which my dad had made for himself once. I don't know anything of its origin. I agree with you about photographing one though. I found this to be a pain in the butt. For some reason the fire of the Opal just doesn't come out with the picture. I am sure there is some photographic trickery to this! Thanks for sharing all of these great creations. I have a couple of new ideas now! Very nice opal! I would almost bet that it's a Brazilian opal. Back in the day a lot of opal from Brazil was passed off as Australian but imported from Brazil. Beautiful stuff.
Some of those at the link have a Gilson opal look. I have some black crystal red Gilson I got for glassblowing before they went under. Beautiful!
Were they stable for very long. I don't think I have ever seen one.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 25, 2019 21:00:17 GMT -5
Very nice opal! I would almost bet that it's a Brazilian opal. Back in the day a lot of opal from Brazil was passed off as Australian but imported from Brazil. Beautiful stuff.
Some of those at the link have a Gilson opal look. I have some black crystal red Gilson I got for glassblowing before they went under. Beautiful!
Were they stable for very long. I don't think I have ever seen one.
Yes, there were (are) just as stable. They really were quite coveted.
I have some Gilson rough (include a black red) that I've been hoarding for forever. I'll probably never cut them since they stopped making them.
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Sept 26, 2019 9:25:11 GMT -5
Thanks for the nice compliments, and possible rock identification for the only Opal I have. I don't want to ninja this thread though.
I really like the first wrap. The little guy. And If I had not seen the 4th picture of it, then I would not have known how you managed to get a wrap around something that small. It is pretty clever really. And I believe that I might be able to duplicate something similar to that if I practice a bit.
I am being persuaded to wrap smaller and smaller stones now, and until I saw your examples above, didn't really have more than 1 technique to do it. So, this helps me out a lot, giving me more ideas.
Thank you again for posting these. I like all opals. The closest ones I can access are only about 6.5 hours away really. Some day.
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