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Peter's Opal Workshop




Part of my workshopWelcome 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 !

Workshop tools....

I hope you enjoy my Opal Workshop Corner!

Cheers .... Peter  





Current Projects



Cooberpedy Dark Gem Crystal OpalThis 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.Queensland 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



Dark Crystal opal
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 andQuilpie boulder opal 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.

Koroit Boulder opal
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.



Koroit Boulder opal
At the top of the boulder is a small number of flame-shaped deposits of Gem Matrix - perfect !








The natural rough opal  shape of the Lightning Ridge Crystal Opal has kindly presented itself to me in a likeness very closely resembling that of a "finger of fire" - what more could one ask !


The colors of this Lightning Ridge Gem are brilliant emerald-greens and aqua green-blues, with the color patterns themselves playing their part by exhibiting a "flame-like" movement.

From this point, I will carve and more clearly define that "finger of fire" into it's finished shape and once that step has been finished, the next step will be to mark out onto the Boulder the completed shape of the Gem Opal.



Just to slightly sidetrack here... when I was a child, my family would spend time on camping holidays in secluded areas of pristine rainforest. Often, I would gather up dried or semi-dried tree leaves from the forest floor, these would include different types of eucalyptus tree leaves.

Having thrown these dried  leaves onto our campfire,  I would be totally fascinated by the way some of these leaves would burn with a green or a deep green- mauve fire. I presume this was owing to the particular oils present in the leaves - this I found mesmerizing !

This opal reminded me of that "green-fire ...."


I will be bringing you more photos when I've finished shaping this piece of Gem Crystal !





Part II



Well.... next step completed.  Photographed here is the final carved shape for the beautiful piece of Lightning Ridge Gem Crystal.
Lightning Ridge Gem Crystal Opal
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.






Koroit Boulder OpalA 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 IV



Done !!Inlaying this difficult flame-shape opal certainly proved to beflame-shaped opal 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.

Peters Opal Workshop - Inlay-Intarsia.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



Boulder Opal Flame Pendant
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" inlayInlay Intarsia Gem Opal Pendant 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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