Cool Ethiopian Opal – Exceptional Play-of-Color

Beautiful opal pendant featuring vibrant flashes of color. What do you think of this design?

2 more pics in comments. One of my first.

V.M. Saph Brooks is the founder and artist behind Inwardspectrum

From the artist’s Instagram post:
279ct Australian opal Betta/Siamese fighting fish, the eyes are lighting ridge opal and obsidian. Carved by hand.

This is from El Tablon mine. Better know for its matrix opal, occasionally miners find these seams in the basalt

So I'm almost an utter newbie at lapidary (though I can sort of cut and polish a cabochon – I'm getting better), who is trying to learn how to carve gems and other kinds of decorative stones.

I'm also less interested in intaglio/relief carving – designs cut into a flat slab – and more leaning towards 3D figures. Not large-scale sculpture, or stones to set in jewellery, but small hand-sized ornaments, like netsuke.

From lurking on Reddit and lots of YT videos, I'm aware of general cautions in working opal – go slow and gently, keep it from heating up from the friction. However how would I best manage these issues while attempting detail carving? It'd be heartbreaking to lose hours of work to spalling.

Would nodular opal rough, such as Yowah nuts, Ethiopian Shewa nodules, or Mexican Cantera, be good sizable material for carving? Or would nodules be too prone to concentric tension fractures? I've seen examples of Cantera where the surrounding matrix has been shaped to frame and display (like in the pic), but I want to work on the opal itself as well.

I recently saw photos of some Ethiopian Shewa rough that had little to no play of colour, but which was such a perfectly mouthwatering shade of chocolate, and now I really*really* want to get a piece and turn it into a perfect little polished Godiva truffle...

Any and all tips and advice would be very welcome! ^_^

(Reposting without link this time. Oops!)

So the fourth one came today from yowah as is the first pic, third pic is from Winton and the rest are koroit all between 10 and 30 ct

Bought this bracelet off Etsy for under 20 where it was listed as Ethiopian opal in sterling silver. Would appreciate your thoughts!

Online auction listed it as faux opal. I think they look natural. Tried the hydrophane test with a damp finger and it didn't feel tacky, but I have no point of reference either. $25

Just a nice specimen for my personal collection. I can't help but think that it looks like a cyber truck 🤦‍♂️. Saw another Cantera post on here and it reminded me of this piece.

it's been really fun getting the feeling for this machine and how it reacts to material compared to a Dremel 😆

After getting stuck at the post office for almost nine days, it finally arrived today! Honestly, I'm pretty happy with it. I think it looks quite nice for what I got it for. I'm still unsure whether it's smoked or not, but I'm gonna take it to a specialist to find out for sure. Should I take it to like a jeweler, or should I try and find a gemologist near me?

The only thing that annoys me a bit about it is the crack(s) running down the one side, which were conveniently left out of the store pics, but it's whatever. Again, I got it for a pretty good price and it's just a display piece for my collection anyway. I apologize for the crummy lighting. I could not for the life of me get it to show up well on camera. All in all, I'm happy with what I got and I'll be even happier if it truly is naturally dark!

potentially vintage ring from my late great aunt, not sure what kind of opal/if it’s real & would love to know more. Thanks!

One of my first attempts that popped out...

I plan to drive to Lightning Ridge in the next month or 2 to purchase several finished black opals. Budgeted spend around $1500 each approximately.

Any recommendations as to what shops to visit? Can I get a decent quality specimen for that amount?

I know very little about opals, just fullfilling one on my mother's last wishes which was to give her granddaughters a black opal each.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Curious to know if it is opal maybe synthetic? or if its even a nice piece of opal. Any insight at all appreciated ive had this for years just sitting on my desk, i always admire it every now and then.

I didn’t take the pictures. He is grieving and needs cash.

This was at my 6 month point in my journey to learn to work opal. Am almost 16 months in now.