Opal jewelry - why is it so special

 There are so many different types of buy opal necklace  that can be made from opal. Sure, we all know that there are opal pendants, opal rings, opal earrings and so on, but opals, unlike other stones like diamonds and rubies, etc., can be made into special types of jewelry.

 

There is a variety of opal from Australia called Koroit and it is an unattractive type of stone when compared to Australian black opal. It is mostly a reddish, dark brown lump of ironstone with random streaks of opal. An opal pendant  probably won't do much with it, but you simply drill a hole in it and attach a chunky chain or cheap leather thread and it makes a beautiful chunky necklace that looks great on both men and women.

 

Then there is boulder opal, which is often found as a piece of opal naturally associated with a piece of ironstone or sandstone. An opal stone is wavy and may not have any of the fire associated with gem-quality opal, but when looked at closely, it has a pattern that can look like a seascape or a mountain view or all sorts of other things. It can be a thing that you like to look at and imagine seeing all sorts of things in it. Try doing it with a diamond! The beauty of such a piece is that it is not a gem and is very cheap.

 

I love this kind of jewelry because not only are they cheap to buy, but when you wear them, people ask about them and want to see them up close. It's a great conversation starter. You will never have people ask if they can look at your topaz ring. 

 

Then there is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry Opal Inlay. The opal is finished flush with the surrounding metal. We often see this in dull stones like Onyx and other lame looking minerals with very little color. But when you make inlaid opal jewelry normally, you use high quality opal and the results are fantastic.

 

You can put almost any other gemstone with an opal and the jewelry will accentuate it. 

Opals can be inlaid, prong set or lunette set. They can be glued to a place where, like other stones, they will not be attractive in this way.

 

One of the reassuring aspects of opal jewelry is that the stone will be mined by lone men or husband and wife teams living in the harsh conditions of outback Australia. There are no big companies involved and there is no forced labour. It's a labor of love. Think of the cutting of rubies and other stones that are often done by children who should be in school. I'm an opal cutter and although it's hard work, I love doing it and I've never met an opal cutter who wasn't passionate about opals, so there's a certain underground man love attached to these stones all the way. in the middle of nowhere to a wife or enthusiast of meticulous stone cutting and polishing.