Seam Country

This week we’re working with a seamingly good opal from Seam Country — the Grawin Fields (see what we did there?). We can see even as a piece of rough, that this has some beautifully bright reds running through the color bar. It’s showing a lot of potential and is going to be a bit of a heart-stopper, but we think you are going to LOVE it!

Seam Country Opal

A trait that is common with Seam Opal is that it can easily wedge. The color bar can be thick but as you go in it can begin to thin down into a wedge — especially those from the Grawin Fields. This doesn’t happen every time but often enough to be aware of it.

In our particular piece, I can already see a bit of moss pattern and bright reds at certain angles. The red color bar goes in a fair way but we can see that it wedges. When I take it to the wheel I need to be careful not to lose too much color. The color bar is quite visible, so I will only need to take the one side off. It has a nice healthy potch and my goal is to get that red to show up throughout the entire gem.

Evaluating the Cut

Let’s take a minute to evaluate the side with the thinner color bar. On one end of the gem, I have a concentrated amount of incredibly bright reds. The opposite end is where the color bar starts to thin out. Let’s slice that piece off the end and work with the thicker color bar — which seems to be forming into a heart shape.

As I work on the now two pieces, I notice something… something unintentional. But something that makes complete sense and I LOVE it, you’ll know it when you see it!

Shaping a heart on the wheel can be very difficult. You need a steady hand to be able to shape around the corners without cutting into the gem. This is a trick my dad taught me, among many others.

I Love Opal

We finish our opal-cutting session with not one but two gems. Two gems formed into something very special — and no doubt will find a special home. A gorgeous pair featuring an I and a heart, which can maybe be made into a special pendant or choker? With a combined weight of 14.87ct, we valued it at $4000 for the pair, which you can find here.