My biggest challenge ever! A massive chunk of Andamooka opal
What do you get when you cross a huge piece of Andamooka opal and a lot of very hard quartz? My biggest challenge ever! (literally!) … Read more
From rough to riches! Cutting, polishing, and valuing an opal
Sometimes all you want to do is watch some therapeutic opal cutting without some dude talking the whole time. Well, today’s your lucky day! We’ve … Read more
Cutting and pricing $30K of black opal
Cutting and pricing black opal can be a tricky task, it’s no wonder that it’s one of the most common questions we get! How do … Read more
Cutting opal mined in Lightning Ridge
Ever wanted to know what really goes into mining, finding, and cutting opal? In last week’s episode, we went underground in Lightning Ridge on the … Read more
Romancing the Stone
On a cool, overcast winters day here on the Gold Coast, Justin takes us into his workshop and shows us the romance of opal. … Read more
A rough gem gets a makeover
Hey, hey, it’s cutting day! Watch Justin as he gives a rough gem makeover… how will it turn out? Assessing your options This week, … Read more
Which Opal Has the Better Gem?
This week Justin has some bad luck with a piece of nobby opal that looked promising but ended up a bit of fail! Then he … Read more
What’s inside the nobby opal: Part 2
Last week I explained in detail the features of rough opal nobbies and what to look out for. This week I’ll show you exactly what we … Read more
Watch a rough opal piece transform and then be appraised.
So many times now I have taken a video of a rough opal that I’ve cut and polished. For once I wanted to show you … Read more
Making decisions on what shapes to create with rough crystal opal: Part 2 video
In todays video Justin shows us the results of the rough crystal opal which he sliced instead of polished. He decides to cut several pairs … Read more
Finding the best color and pattern in a rough opal: Part 1 video
Watch Justin make the most of a very large piece of rough opal. Finding the best way an opal faces and pattern quality. A very … Read more
Results of slicing up the large Andamooka opal piece
Thanks to all that commented and helped along the way with the decision of how to cut this opal. We decided take your advice and … Read more
