I’ve been at JCK’s LUXURY trade show since last Monday, and I’ve hardly left my booth! However, I did sneak out yesterday to go through the American Gem Trade Association’s ballroom because I need an aquamarine for a work in progress.
To my surprise, I never got to the aquamarines. When I walked in the door, the third booth I saw was the one where I got the black opal I used in last year’s FitzRoy the Cat necklace. I couldn’t drag myself away.
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I got several beautiful stones that I will show you soon(ish). In the meantime, here’s what I DIDN’T get.
Here’s another one that I was crazy about. I had to leave this one behind as well.
I used to dislike opals. They’re soft and therefore difficult to set in jewelry. If you squeeze them too tightly in the setting, they can break, but if there’s not enough tension in the setting, they can pop out. My mother had an opal cocktail ring back in the day, and its stones were always going AWOL. Plus, a lot of opals that are used in jewelry are very light-colored composite stones called doublets or triplets. That almost-white type of opal doesn’t appeal to me. But these opals with lots of color? I love them … too bad I can’t afford the most exciting ones!
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