On a cool, overcast winters day here on the Gold Coast, Justin takes us into his workshop and shows us the romance of opal.How does opal make you feel? Even in a job as great as Justins, it’s impor...
Black crystal opal is a rare and captivating variety of opal known for its translucent body tone and rich play-of-colour. While similar to black opal in appearance, black crystal opal allows light ...
Hey, hey, it’s cutting day! Watch Justin as he gives a rough gem makeover… how will it turn out?Assessing your optionsThis week, Justin starts with a 34ct nobby opal that has a nice, thick color ba...
Storytime! Let’s quiz Justin on some of the beautiful gemstones in his personal opal collection. Join us as Melinda (Black Opal Direct’s newest member!) is introduced and gets to ask Justin for th...
What exactly is play of color? Is it unique to opal—and how can you tell? This week, Justin dives into what play of color means across different gemstones, and why opal’s version is truly one of a ...
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 decided to try one more piece… which opal has the better gem?Justin starts wi...
Justin’s back this week and he’s got something on his mind… welcome to the opal color rant. In the early days of opals discovery, when someone stumbled across a gorgeous gem that resembled a rainb...
Justin explains the dangers of opal cutting and his change from sandpaper to the Nova wheel; why change? What difference does it make? And how did it help that annoying cough he used to get?! In th...
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 get out of the piece of rough opal by cutting that very piece.We...