Rough opal is a fun way to engage with the hobby of gemstone collecting. Meanwhile, you find rough opal for sale, and you can buy them at the same price as you would for finished opal, which is relatively inexpensive.
Rough opal is a naturally-occurring stone that is found in Australia. It’s a variety of opals and is most often used as an ornamental or decorative stone. Rough opal comes in many colors, including black, white, red, and green. It’s also called “common opal” to distinguish it from precious varieties like black fire and white-fire opals.
If you’re considering investing in rough opal, keep in mind that although rough stones are typically less expensive than polished ones, they may not be suitable for jewelry making because they’re more fragile when not cut and polished properly. However, if you’d rather allow yourself to collect beautiful natural stones for their beauty alone–and maybe, later on, turn them into something special–then this might just be the right choice for your collection!
It Is Relatively Inexpensive
It’s possible to buy rough opal at the same price as you would pay for finished opal, and it may even be less expensive. How much you can expect to pay for rough opal depends on the size of the stone and its quality.
You Can Cut Your Opal and Use It to Make Jewelry
You can cut your opal and use it to make jewelry. You can make jewelry from rough opal, polished opal, opal chips, and slices.
To make your jewelry from rough opal, you will need:
- Saw (a band saw works best)
- Rough Opals in various sizes depending on what you are making
- Round nose pliers (to hold the rough while cutting)
When selecting rough for cutting into cabochons or beads, remember that some colors will have more “fire” than others. Fire is a reflection of color called luminescence that occurs when light passes through a transparent substance such as glass or polished rock crystal with parallel internal surfaces at 60 degrees to the direction of light travel. A gemstone with lots of fire is considered valuable because it’s rarer than stones with less fire due to their high refractive index, which causes them not to be as reflective when light hits them. However, they still give off a shimmering effect that makes them stand out from other less shiny stones like diamonds.
Rough Opal Is Quite Tough and Resilient
The most obvious difference between polished opal and rough opal is the presence of a finish. Rough opals are what they sound like—rough. They haven’t been polished to make them shiny and lustrous like their more expensive counterparts. Conversely, polished opals have been cut, shaped, and finished into jewelry pieces by skilled artisans. This process involves removing all imperfections from the stone so it can be used in jewelry or other decorative items without leaving an unsightly appearance on your piece of art or clothing.
However, this method has one major drawback: it makes the stone less durable compared to its unpolished counterpart because it has no protective layer covering its surface anymore (which would protect it from scratching). So if you want something that looks beautiful but can still withstand everyday wear-and-tear situations such as work or school, then go with rough opal instead!
Rough opal is a fun way to engage with the hobby of gemstone collecting. It’s inexpensive, durable, and can be cut into beautifully finished stones. When you’re ready to get started in rough opal collecting, here are a few things you should know:
Rough opal is a great place to start because it’s inexpensive and will allow you to learn about cutting your stones. You can find rough opal for sale, so you may buy and try cutting it yourself or ask someone else who has experience in cutting stones from this type of material. Be careful, though—when working with this kind of stone, there’s always a risk that something might go wrong during processing which could result in losing part of your investment!
