I was visiting a friend yesterday, when he showed me a cooking pot with some brown liquid in it. On closer inspection i saw it had rocks in it.
When we started pulling out the rocks some beautiful color appeared. He explained to me that it was fairy opal and he was treating it with sugar to bring the color out.
He went on to say that it couldn't be cabbed because the rock was a sandstone and was too porous so he was experimenting by pre shaping and then cooking.
I was lucky enough to be given a piece to play with and started doing a little reading. From what i have seen it seems that fairy opal can be treated with either oil or sugar, but then it needs to be stabilized after.
The only hint to stabilization was when liquid glass was mentioned, but another company seem to have a method of stabilizing so they can grind and polish rather than relying on the epoxy as a finish.
Just wondering if anyone has had any experience in treating fairy opal and if there are any tips?
When we started pulling out the rocks some beautiful color appeared. He explained to me that it was fairy opal and he was treating it with sugar to bring the color out.
He went on to say that it couldn't be cabbed because the rock was a sandstone and was too porous so he was experimenting by pre shaping and then cooking.
I was lucky enough to be given a piece to play with and started doing a little reading. From what i have seen it seems that fairy opal can be treated with either oil or sugar, but then it needs to be stabilized after.
The only hint to stabilization was when liquid glass was mentioned, but another company seem to have a method of stabilizing so they can grind and polish rather than relying on the epoxy as a finish.
Just wondering if anyone has had any experience in treating fairy opal and if there are any tips?