Peter's Opal Workshop Welcome to my Opal Workshop; a place for those of you who are interested in what is being planned next.... my creative ideas and the steps involved in bringing that new creation into completion - from an idea to finished article to being launched onto our website.Discussion of the various stages of working with one of my new creations - points of interest may arise or just interesting points about opal in general which I will include along the way !  I hope you enjoy my Opal Workshop Corner! Cheers .... Peter Current Projects This project is gong to feature a stunning piece of Coober-Pedy Dark Crystal Gem Opal - exhibiting the glowing colors of a deep and beautiful sunset and inlaying it into a beautiful piece of Gem Queensland Boulder Opal.My intention is to carve the dark Gem Crystal Opal into the shape of a "leaf" - ( the straight line that can be seen in the opal's centre is simply a line I drew to orientate the lay of the color play.) The Boulder Opal is a beautifully patterned piece of Quilpie Gem Boulder Opal.  The brilliant emerald greens showing in the photo will sit positioned at the bottom, with the Cooberpedy Gem Opal being inlaid above, with the top of the "leaf shape" being aligned towards the top of the apex. The shape of this stunning pendant will be that of a Teardrop and will measure approximately 23mm or 7/8" inch long. The colors of the completed pendant will be a lovely combination of emerald green, coppery reds and earthy yellows and browns. The next segment will show the finished carved "leaf shape" of the Gem Crystal Opal, with it's outline drawn onto the boulder opal gemstone - ready for the carving process. Cheers for now, Peter Part II Here we have the piece of Dark Crystal carved and shaped and I have now also marked the outline of it onto the Boulder Opal. The Boulder Opal itself has been trimmed close to the final shape of how the pendant will appear when completed. Again, the carving out of the leaf shape into the piece of Queensland boulder opal will be a careful process, as I really am looking at making this as close a fit as possible for the finished outcome to appear clean and  sharp. ( Nothing like setting myself up here - I certainly hope all goes to plan !)Anything else and it would look untidy. Next update will see the carving out process well underway in readiness for the inlaying in of this beautiful piece of dark gem crystal opal. Also I will be giving a couple of tips on how this piece of opal gem is locked into the parent boulder opal, securing it permanently in place. ..... Peter  Here are some of our Past Projects !This interesting Opal Workshop project will be for a Boulder Gem Inlay Opal Pendant ....."The Flame".I intend inlaying a beautiful piece of Lightning Ridge Crystal into an attractive item of Koroit Boulder Opal ironstone.  I love the deep red-browns in this boulder piece as it has lovely bright lines and markings of green and blue Gem Matrix Opal running through it.
Part IIWell.... next step completed. Photographed here is the final carved shape for the beautiful piece of Lightning Ridge Gem Crystal.  As you can see, I've managed to keep very close to the original unfinished rough opal shape, but just to make it more interesting and challenging ... a couple of small "fire" shaped flickers have been added.  A clearer close-up of the Koroit Boulder Opal has been added here to show more of the Boulder Opal itself before the inlay work takes place.An outline of the flame shape will be marked out on the boulder opal so all that is needed for the next stage is to carve the mirror image into the Koroit Boulder. No problem... ?? Well then again, this may take a little while! If all goes well with this stage and nothing goes wrong and gets flung out of the window into the garden below (!) - I'll be back with the next update showing a successfully carved out mirror image of the flame into the boulder opal. Cheers for now.... Peter Part III Well....as the photo shows, the carving out of the "flame" shape from the boulder opal, is under way.A bit more depth is required yet and the more exacting task of carving out those intricate flame "fingers". This is what will take the most time as I do desire a snug fit, so a lot of attention to detailed matching of opal to boulder is required here. So for now, back to the carving... I am also working concurrently on another challenging but highly rewarding piece - a beautiful Gem Opal Pendant featuring inlay centre piece and intarsia/mosaic surround. (I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished outcome of this special one!). Cheers for now... Peter Part IVDone !! - Inlaying this difficult flame-shape opal certainly proved to be  challenging - but it worked out very well !All the remains now is to give the Gem Inlay Boulder piece a backing to complete it as a Pendant. The thickness of this boulder is 2.4mm and for a nice touch I decided that Matrix Boulder on Black should look very attractive by utilising a 3mm thick slice of jet black leadlight glass. The cut and polished Pendant will measure approximately 24.4mm long, 16.5mm wide and 5.2mm thick, excluding the bail. "Watch This Space for the Final Outcome" !!!! Now ........Included here is an inlay-intarsia piece that I have also been working on. This beautiful piece has yet to be trimmed to it's final shape and constructed into a Pendant.The finished article should prove to be quite stunning and as you can see from the photo, totally ablaze with color ! Note: I will not be updating this workshop piece again on Opal Workshop ....however I will exhibit the finished Pendant photo here and as one of our Special Features ! Cheers, Peter.... Part V The finished article ! And.... I must say that I am very happy with the end result. The cutting and polishing was straightforward and the Boulder itself showed a little more of the Gem Matrix at the top of the stone, than I had previously envisaged. That's the beauty of Boulder Opal - one never quite knows what will show itself until the final cut and polish. I have fitted a very solid 9ct. yellow gold bail to this very unique and unusual "flame" inlay pendant, so it should prove to be very robust and long wearing. ~~~~~~~~~~ And here too is the photograph of the finished inlay/intarsia Gem Opal Pendant that I was working on at the same time as the "flame" inlay  Boulder Opal Pendant.This piece was quite involved in it's making and construction and I will say that all the fitting and joining was done by "hand & eye" alone - no angle cutting machinery was used here ! All the fusing of opal to opal and opal to glass, was with my very special compound. (Read more about this special compound on Your Opal Questions). My final summing up on this beautiful inlay/intarsia Pendant ? I am thrilled to bits on the finished outcome - it would be a stunning and wonderful heirloom piece, or alternatively a very unique Opal Investment. The bail for this beautiful piece is a lovely and very solid 14ct.yellow gold item, which completes the presentation of this magical opal pendant perfectly!. Until the next workshop project.... Cheers for now, Peter If you are interested in any particular aspect of opal or my work- in -progress, and you have a question or comment -then please Contact Us and I will be happy to reply to you as soon as I can ....
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