Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained is pretty much the motto of any opal cutter.
The risk can become somewhat calculated over time, but you never really know what is happening inside that piece of rough.
Tools like the Gemfish Flashlight can help find inclusions, which allows you to make a better assessment of the gem outcome.
However, whichever way you look at it, cutting opals will forever be a financial risk!
Wyoming Nobby
We’re working on a piece of Wyoming Nobby that I’ve had for quite a while.
It’s an interesting-looking piece with a lot of grey potch, but the color bar looks bright.
The color is sitting predominately down one end, however, 1/3 of it should cut a good gem.
I’ve got my sights set on a 2ct to 3ct opal 🤞
This one has turned out to be quite an easy cut.
Did you notice that a chip on the face of the gem came off while on the wheel?
I believe there is enough of a dome on the color bar for me to get this chip out though, so fear not!
We Ventured and We Gained!
Hooray!
The outcome is a lovely 2.44ct Dark Opal, showing Flagstone, Chaff and Script Pattern.
Just look at those vibrant colors dancing across the gem.
Gold, Orange, Red, Green and Blue! Woo Hoo!
According to Ruth, this is a perfect gemstone to set into one of our Tatiana Ring Designs, which you can explore here.
It’s such a key down to see the final Opal before seeing the video of cutting it.
Totally understandable, sometimes we just put the link, other times the product listing.