Very nice video, C. I haven’t had any Stayish in a few years. I think that I will get some in Tucson just to refresh my memory about it. My previous experiences with it tells me “Stayish the hell away from it,” I want to experiment with it to try to figure out more about it. The background is black, but it isn’t potch. Anyway - keep up the great work! dp
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I had high hopes for stayish, but it's good to know that it can be finicky. I'd love to see tour video experimenting with it when you eventually do. I've got several more stayish peices I've been avoiding working on due to lack of confidence with the material.
Thank you for commenting! I really enjoy sharing my failures so that others can learn from my mistakes and we can all have success In the future. If I only shared my wins I wouldn't really be teaching anything. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Wow, what a beautiful stone! I had never heard of it before, so I had to look it up. Your video is fantastic, and I love how you explain everything, especially for someone like me who is new to this. It was the acetone that caused the damage? That’s so unfortunate after all the work you put in. Is there any way to fix it now? You are such an inspiration! Your ability to turn this into a learning experience is amazing. I appreciate that you shared it as a teaching moment for the rest of us. I never would have thought not to put a stone like this in acetone. Now I know what to avoid in the future. Thank you so much for sharing!
I'm glad you liked the video! At this point from what I've heard from others, it might not have been the acetone, it could've just been the stayish mine material being unreliable. But it breaking was a fun excuse to make a movie edit, so I'm happy.
Thanks for commenting! That's really interesting, I've got a few more peices of stayish chilling in my opal drawer, let's hope one of them will turn out, it makes me wonder about the structural integrity of stayish in general.
@@carlynscolorfulcreations I just widdle it down to the most structurally integral part of the piece and work with what’s left. For me it’s always around 35%-45% of the original stone I started with
Hey my friend, good video. Sorry for the sad ending. Those colors were crazy beautiful. I was surprised how vivid the colors got after it dried. I totally understand your frustration. I spent a nice chunk on a honeycomb phantom and just seconds after hitting the first wheel it crumbled in my hands. Didn't know whether to cry or be pissed. lol Anyways keep plugging away and have a wonderful week!!
Thanks for commenting! Sometimes cracks are going to happen, I think this time it was user error, but it was definitely like a full rainbow peice. I was also surprised by how bright the colors got when it dried, the rough peice definitely washing showing all that much flash. But I've definitely had my fair share of peices in the past that have crumbled on me aswell, when something like that happens I always blame the structural integrity of the peice or maybe it has a imperfection I couldn't see before, but either way I see it as fate and as long as I film it then It's not too much of a failure because then others can learn from my mistakes. I had this 80ct chocolate honeycomb peice a couple years ago that was so flashy, then it just crazed and crumbled, I ended up using the peices for crushed opal earrings, there's always a use for failures.
So sorry to hear 😢 I know how you feel. Shows how tricky it can be working with opal. We can only learn and move on, like you said! I hope you find that ripper in 2024 👍🏼
Thank-you for commenting! Everything is a learning process and along as others can learn from my mistakes it wasn't a total fail. Here's to 2024, I hope you get some brilliant winners this year too friend!
All I can suggest is to start a chip jar with no water, unlike the other chip jars. The "water opals " I wrote to you about look almost dry and so far nothing has changed.
Thank you for commenting! Ive actually got a sort of chip vile going with most of my broken peices chilling in it, I might show that in a future video.
I’m pretty sure that those stones were smoked. I’ve had similar experiences using acetone, which interacts with the smoke and leaves it cloudy. As for the cracks, it’s a big reason why Lightning Ridge black opal runs so much, much more money. I’ve pretty much given up on hydrophane opal, unless it’s cheap and I’ll treat it with opticon, primarily for inlaying. I’ve been lucky on some occasions. Back when I knew nothing about opals, I bought a big bag of Virgin Valley opal off of a broke miner. I brought it to someone who said it was probably not worth much because it crazes very easily. I lucked out and hardly any of it did. So, sometimes I do take a gamble, especially if the downside is that I get to learn something and/ or try something new. You could try resmoking the stone. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Leave the stone for a few weeks in a warm, dry spot and then try smoking it. Thanks for your very honest videos and best of luck.
There is a possibility this particular stone could be smoked, bit it was sold as stayish mine opal which is kinda known for having imperfections in the stone that you can't see because you can't see through it with a flashlight. Idk if re-smoking is the best idea because it's already cracking and in my experience smoking a opal increases chance of it cracking, which is one of a few reasons smoked opal isn't worth very much. I appreciate you watching and leaving such a long informative comment. I very much value information on other people's experiences so we can all learn from each other about gemstones.
It's a very stable opal and u can freeze it, heat it, ut it in acid or Acetone with no change at all. It's not a volcanic opal so it's much better sound structure.
Thank you for commenting! I've been in the process of getting my hands on some of the good stuff, I got a few very small chip pieces of dark & black opal from 53frogs I'm gonna cutt on the channel here soon. I've also got some of his emu lucky dips coming in the mail here in February, hopefully I've won something bigger than a chip lol, but either way I'm super excited to finally be working with some aussie opals in the future.
Thank you for commenting! Cracks will happen sometimes, and I honestly think it's good to make mistakes on camera so that others learn from your mistakes and we can all have success in the future. Overall I'm at terms with the cracks, and it still has some beautiful flash to stare at.
Carolyn thanks for the video I bought 4 pieces of stayish opal worked 3 of them and had similar experiences. I didn't use acetone and still got the crumbling and cracking etc. not sure what to do with the fourth piece
Thank you for commenting! You know, that's really interesting and your not the only one who's said that to me here in the comments, it makes me wonder about the structural integrity of stayish in general, I wonder if the cells are not linked up, or if it's softer in general. I've had white chalky peices in the past that had a similar result and those chalky peices have never worked out for me. I've got a few more peices of stayish in my opal drawer, I wonder if they will predominantly have this result. Thank you for sharing your experience with us, it's really valuable knowledge to have. When ive had peices crumble on me in the past, as long as they have good color, I'll use them for crush bottle jewelry or resin projects.
If you get yourself a metal top stick. Then you can heat the steak it won't heat the stone as long as you don't hit the stone with the torch. Then you just got to pull off the little bit of super glue that's left on it and you don't have to soak it in acetone so you don't get that vibration from it cuz that's what your white as you almost pretty much have to repolish that
Hey Thanks for commenting! I love your channel! It usually takes me a couple hours from start to finish for a stone this size, I think this one took me 1.5 hours total. With a big peice more than 15cts it'll take me at least 3 hours if not more, but it may vary depending on the hardness of the stone, some ethiopian opals are really soft and some are as hard as Australian. Stayish opal is some of the softest ethiopian I've worked on, it's kinda weird to work with. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, your content is pretty awesome too.
@@carlynscolorfulcreations thank you for complimenting on my work I like yours specially your voice and explanations so clear learning from you I love it will supporty you as much as I can and thank you for your support :)
Great job explaining the techniques you use. Love the videos. Great voice work, easy to listen to and follow. Keep up the good work!
Very nice video, C. I haven’t had any Stayish in a few years. I think that I will get some in Tucson just to refresh my memory about it. My previous experiences with it tells me “Stayish the hell away from it,” I want to experiment with it to try to figure out more about it. The background is black, but it isn’t potch. Anyway - keep up the great work! dp
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I had high hopes for stayish, but it's good to know that it can be finicky. I'd love to see tour video experimenting with it when you eventually do. I've got several more stayish peices I've been avoiding working on due to lack of confidence with the material.
Thanks for sharing the fails as well as the wins, makes it more real for the rest of us trying our hand at this btful stone! Keep up the great vids! 😊
Thank you for commenting! I really enjoy sharing my failures so that others can learn from my mistakes and we can all have success In the future. If I only shared my wins I wouldn't really be teaching anything. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Wow, what a beautiful stone! I had never heard of it before, so I had to look it up. Your video is fantastic, and I love how you explain everything, especially for someone like me who is new to this. It was the acetone that caused the damage? That’s so unfortunate after all the work you put in. Is there any way to fix it now? You are such an inspiration! Your ability to turn this into a learning experience is amazing. I appreciate that you shared it as a teaching moment for the rest of us. I never would have thought not to put a stone like this in acetone. Now I know what to avoid in the future. Thank you so much for sharing!
I'm glad you liked the video! At this point from what I've heard from others, it might not have been the acetone, it could've just been the stayish mine material being unreliable. But it breaking was a fun excuse to make a movie edit, so I'm happy.
Pretty much my exact experience working with stayish 😅
Thanks for commenting! That's really interesting, I've got a few more peices of stayish chilling in my opal drawer, let's hope one of them will turn out, it makes me wonder about the structural integrity of stayish in general.
@@carlynscolorfulcreations I just widdle it down to the most structurally integral part of the piece and work with what’s left. For me it’s always around 35%-45% of the original stone I started with
Hey my friend, good video. Sorry for the sad ending. Those colors were crazy beautiful. I was surprised how vivid the colors got after it dried. I totally understand your frustration. I spent a nice chunk on a honeycomb phantom and just seconds after hitting the first wheel it crumbled in my hands. Didn't know whether to cry or be pissed. lol Anyways keep plugging away and have a wonderful week!!
Thanks for commenting! Sometimes cracks are going to happen, I think this time it was user error, but it was definitely like a full rainbow peice. I was also surprised by how bright the colors got when it dried, the rough peice definitely washing showing all that much flash. But I've definitely had my fair share of peices in the past that have crumbled on me aswell, when something like that happens I always blame the structural integrity of the peice or maybe it has a imperfection I couldn't see before, but either way I see it as fate and as long as I film it then It's not too much of a failure because then others can learn from my mistakes. I had this 80ct chocolate honeycomb peice a couple years ago that was so flashy, then it just crazed and crumbled, I ended up using the peices for crushed opal earrings, there's always a use for failures.
So sorry to hear 😢 I know how you feel. Shows how tricky it can be working with opal. We can only learn and move on, like you said! I hope you find that ripper in 2024 👍🏼
Thank-you for commenting! Everything is a learning process and along as others can learn from my mistakes it wasn't a total fail. Here's to 2024, I hope you get some brilliant winners this year too friend!
All I can suggest is to start a chip jar with no water, unlike the other chip jars. The "water opals " I wrote to you about look almost dry and so far nothing has changed.
Thank you for commenting! Ive actually got a sort of chip vile going with most of my broken peices chilling in it, I might show that in a future video.
I’m pretty sure that those stones were smoked. I’ve had similar experiences using acetone, which interacts with the smoke and leaves it cloudy. As for the cracks, it’s a big reason why Lightning Ridge black opal runs so much, much more money. I’ve pretty much given up on hydrophane opal, unless it’s cheap and I’ll treat it with opticon, primarily for inlaying. I’ve been lucky on some occasions. Back when I knew nothing about opals, I bought a big bag of Virgin Valley opal off of a broke miner. I brought it to someone who said it was probably not worth much because it crazes very easily. I lucked out and hardly any of it did. So, sometimes I do take a gamble, especially if the downside is that I get to learn something and/ or try something new. You could try resmoking the stone. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Leave the stone for a few weeks in a warm, dry spot and then try smoking it. Thanks for your very honest videos and best of luck.
There is a possibility this particular stone could be smoked, bit it was sold as stayish mine opal which is kinda known for having imperfections in the stone that you can't see because you can't see through it with a flashlight. Idk if re-smoking is the best idea because it's already cracking and in my experience smoking a opal increases chance of it cracking, which is one of a few reasons smoked opal isn't worth very much. I appreciate you watching and leaving such a long informative comment. I very much value information on other people's experiences so we can all learn from each other about gemstones.
Try cutting lightning ridge black opal as it won't crack like Ethiopian opal and is the best in the world. Not cheap but absolutely beautiful to cut 👌
It's a very stable opal and u can freeze it, heat it, ut it in acid or Acetone with no change at all. It's not a volcanic opal so it's much better sound structure.
Thank you for commenting! I've been in the process of getting my hands on some of the good stuff, I got a few very small chip pieces of dark & black opal from 53frogs I'm gonna cutt on the channel here soon. I've also got some of his emu lucky dips coming in the mail here in February, hopefully I've won something bigger than a chip lol, but either way I'm super excited to finally be working with some aussie opals in the future.
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
great work great colours ,shame about it going pale from the acetone and cracks but still a nice stone
Thank you for commenting! Cracks will happen sometimes, and I honestly think it's good to make mistakes on camera so that others learn from your mistakes and we can all have success in the future. Overall I'm at terms with the cracks, and it still has some beautiful flash to stare at.
yes i make a few mistakes a lot of times its Prt of learning and each stone is differant@@carlynscolorfulcreations
Carolyn thanks for the video
I bought 4 pieces of stayish opal worked 3 of them and had similar experiences. I didn't use acetone
and still got the crumbling and cracking etc.
not sure what to do with the fourth piece
Thank you for commenting! You know, that's really interesting and your not the only one who's said that to me here in the comments, it makes me wonder about the structural integrity of stayish in general, I wonder if the cells are not linked up, or if it's softer in general. I've had white chalky peices in the past that had a similar result and those chalky peices have never worked out for me. I've got a few more peices of stayish in my opal drawer, I wonder if they will predominantly have this result. Thank you for sharing your experience with us, it's really valuable knowledge to have. When ive had peices crumble on me in the past, as long as they have good color, I'll use them for crush bottle jewelry or resin projects.
If you get yourself a metal top stick. Then you can heat the steak it won't heat the stone as long as you don't hit the stone with the torch. Then you just got to pull off the little bit of super glue that's left on it and you don't have to soak it in acetone so you don't get that vibration from it cuz that's what your white as you almost pretty much have to repolish that
Thank you for commenting! I'll keep an eye out for something I can use as a metal dop, sounds like a good idea, I'd be interested in giving it a try.
good job on the video and you information is very valuable, how long did that take to do with the dremel? you are very good i enjoyed this a lot
Hey Thanks for commenting! I love your channel! It usually takes me a couple hours from start to finish for a stone this size, I think this one took me 1.5 hours total. With a big peice more than 15cts it'll take me at least 3 hours if not more, but it may vary depending on the hardness of the stone, some ethiopian opals are really soft and some are as hard as Australian. Stayish opal is some of the softest ethiopian I've worked on, it's kinda weird to work with. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, your content is pretty awesome too.
@@carlynscolorfulcreations thank you for complimenting on my work I like yours specially your voice and explanations so clear learning from you I love it will supporty you as much as I can and thank you for your support :)
OOOOO BOY!
well...shit happens. Still really like the stone though.
Thanks for the support, I'll have a good black one one of these days
@@carlynscolorfulcreations same for me. one day I will share my black opal mistake.
Sorry dude spell check got me a couple times didn't look
No worries man, if you knew how often I type the wrong word responding to comments you'd probably laugh lol.