It's like Michelangelo taking a 400 ton piece of marble and creating a 6 ton David. It's not a waste of the 400 ton boulder. It's the joy of a 6 ton masterpiece!
I have no intent of ever cutting stones or mining opal, but I love Your channel. It’s so interesting and captivating. You do beautiful work. Thank you.
22:00 Thank you, Justin. You just gave me a lovely memory of my late mum. Whenever we did anything that required concentration, she always said "It's the way you hold your tongue that makes you do it right!". We lost her in 2013 and I still miss her every day! So... Thank you for the memory!
I don't have any experience with opals or cutting, but can agree with quality over quanitity. You are amazing, I am certain that your father would be so very proud of you! Thank you for sharing your wisdom, talents, and treasures!
Can you do a video about the rough opal buying process? Do you always buy from the same miners? Do you have to go out to lightning ridge, or do they come to you? Do you barter, or do they just decide the final price? How many pieces are usually in a rough opal parcel? How often do you buy? Etc
I too would like some info on buying in the rough. It would be very helpful to anyone who is thinking of trying a first time experience of hand rubbing a stone. Love your videos!
Many times when I see the rough opals carved, ground and polished, there is a point where I see the unfinished stone with it's sand and imperfections as just as amazing as the final stone. Just as with people, it's not the perfect or beautiful that attracts my eye as much as how our flaws make us vastly more unique, complicated, and precious IMHO.
@landofahhs_1 - I agree, sometimes I would love to have the untouched original piece to keep as a beautiful natural specimen, especially with this one, that nobby was gorgeous! The final gem was stunning, but the original piece had a wild, free beauty that had many stories to tell.
I'm not a cutter or professional in the gem trade but completely agree with your logic. The smaller stone is so brilliant and beautiful that it definitely warrants the effort. Well done!
I know that I'm years late, but NICE save and a real gemy stone. OpAl.. one of my favorite obsessions ! I'm NO pro like you but I have actually won awards for cutting.. in high school 1/2 a century ago and some fond memories. Life gets in the way of dreams. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. 👍
Yep, to me.. an absolute beginner, despite that having lovely colours. It looks like it would crack and break up into maybe 2-4 gem pieces that I would cut... but thats 40seconds in... so now I will sit back and watch how a pro does it! (thanks so much!). Edit: End of the video and I can see he did so much more than what I would have set out to do. I was thinking it would break (and I probably would hve heated it enough to break) into at least two probably three parts. So that is why I love these shows from a real expert. Every video helps. Thanks so much.
The finished work lasts forever and will represent the artist long after they're gone and forgotten. Why leave behind a "good" stone when you can leave behind a great one?
Hello from Southern Louisiana,, USA. You can certainly tell that you have a wealth of experience... the way your hands work magic of bringing these gems to life... love watching your videos
Am I the only one of us that honestly has anxiety when watching Justin’s videos. He’s incredible at doing this. I thought that piece was gone along time then whamo an another absolutely gorgeous gem is made.
I love watching your technique. I am retired bench jeweler but taught myself how to take customers damaged opals and recut and polish. I just used a dipping stick and held the stone with crazy glue until the job was finished. You have gorgeous opal .
I love the comment about holding your tongue in the right place. I hold my tongue out every time I concentrate. My parents said I staeted that before I was one year old. Still doing it at age 73. New subscriber.
opals are mesmerising but watching you work on them is spellbinding. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, and at the risk of sounding demanding; more please!
Exceptional content! Thank you for educating us on the wonderful world of Opal. Keep up the great work! Look forward to buying some Opal from you soon, would be an honour to buy from you in person if I’m ever in Australia 😊 A fan from the UK ✌️ God bless you
If i could afford that stunner, i would wear it as a pendant every day of my life. That's a magic stone you brought to life. You are an opal wizard! Absolutely gorgeous. That's my heart stone.
I feel I am experienced from your all of your experience in all your videos. You are a master craftsman...an artist. You have the eye for it and thank you for sharing your craft.
Out of chaos and madness comes serenity and beauty. The explanations were very useful. Your tips are always pertinent to the stone and more to follow. Thanks for sharing such a magnificent trip. Be safe and stay healthy 😁⚒
Funnily enough, I agree...but Im a massive fan of boulder opal and not so much of clean cut stones...a tad odd considering Im an opal cutters kid. And sister...and Ive pottered with it myself. I think its just more rustic, which I really like. Wonderful stone though and all the equipment brings back memories.
I don't know how anyone could have done better. It's a stunning stone. Thanks for the dopping tip, I've been pushing the stone to the wood. But the Ethiopian opal I work with is trickier to dop with the wax. Great video! Thank you!
I love your video because I am learning from you the things my father would not teach me because of his lack of patiences, thank you for such a gift I can never tell you how much it means to me to watch you.
just got my cabbing machine and I'd like to say " stop making it look so easy". At least drop it a few times so we know your human. lol. Love your show mate
You have kept my hunny and I entertained all through these days of quarantine. We love your sense of humor and talent!! Thank you. Lisa and Fred Fargo, North Dakota USA 🤩
I'll take 50% of awesome any day over 100% of crappy 😎 I've sacrificed some 75% Of really beautiful TOURMALINE to get even a nice 10mm stone.but it's worth it every time...
For a minute I thought you were going to cut a emerald or Cushing cut opal. Then I thought a cube shaped opal. Then I thought a trillion cut. Then pear shape cut. Then from the rock just like that a beautiful “flippy” (I like to call them that) gem opal.
That's the closest thing to polishing a turd I've ever seen. For you to get such a beauty from that nobby shows just what a master you are. Love your work.
That was amazing... I was looking at the the piece thinking where is the gem and you showed us exactly what was there. Double sided too - what a beautiful gem. Thanks for taking us on the journey!
That opal turned out beautiful with such amazing play of colour. I knew you had the confidence to turn a piece of rough into a gem. That flame from your burner was mesmerising. Well done Justin
Sure looked like a loser piece of rough. I think I would have just scrolled passed it to the next piece. Besides the sand it also looks like a breaker with all the sharp corners and the broken faces. Nice little beauty there Justin.
The sand giveth. And the sand taketh away. I bet there are days where you’d just love to take a ball bat to the sand lol. But your patience and perseverance paid off. Very beautiful gem, a true master at work.
I'm not a gemologist, I just love watching your videos. Around 1/4 of the way through I was like "oohs green/blue!! Cut there, grind away!" Lol and then that's what you did! Thanks for a beautiful stone!
This was my first opal experience, eventually cracked as well so I tumbled the chips and small oval pieces I hand sanded without machines, the rock tumbler was able to shake out all those sand spots leading to an opal gem, 15$ is extremely cheap for an Ethiopian opal and your struggles with this one really reminded me of my experience with my first gem. Thank you so much for this awesome video.
I think you did a wonderful job making that opal. Don't second guess yourself because of a few comments. I am looking forward to your next video !! Great cut !!
That was amazing! When you started cutting that nobbie, I had no idea how you would proceed, which side you were going to choose. But you, being the "Yoda of opal cutting" made exactly the right choices! 👍 And what a wonderful little gem you found in there! Congratulations, Justin! 👏
Beauty that only exists because of your skill. It is immensely satisfying to watch you work. I wonder if you would be so kind in a future video to explain how boulder opal is recovered from the rock it is found in and how it is worked. Regards from Scotland.
I really really like seeing videos like this, in fact I really wish you could show your failures because I’m extremely interested in when one fails at an opal, it could also help people not make the same mistakes when purchasing their opal. Also price is a tough thing for many, so I think a great idea is “what you get for this much money, like start out with a 15$ piece, then gradually go up in price by 15$ increments, I feel like this could also get the teenage lapidary hobbyists who don’t have the opportunity to spend 800$ on a rough opal. Have a good day.
hey Justin!? I just got home from my first lapidary class, and boy oh boy....what HAVE you started!? i think you may have shown me the career path that I've been looking for all these years. you bloody beauty!
Exquisite stone, just gorgeous, when you first put it on the Nova, the color was jumping out already. Ypu've talked about your Dads skills, well i don't think anyone could have done better with this stone, he'd be proud.
That was fun to see. Thanks! Beautiful results! It's not what you take away it's what's left behind. In my business I tell people "pleasing results guaranteed" maybe not perfect but as good as possible. Thankfully I can't keep the jobs I really please myself with as I clean carpets for a living. I would need a warehouse to hold them all.
That's an amazingly gorgeous stone. I was so worried, but you pulled it off and I love that you made it double sided. A decent compromise for all that you cut off. I wouldn't have had the nerve
When I saw that stone, I was like where's the gem in it. Then you made your first swipe and I saw that beautiful dark blue, said there it is. You went from dandelion to rosebud gem. GREAT JOB. keep up the great work you do. It's relaxing watching you work your magic.
It's like Michelangelo taking a 400 ton piece of marble and creating a 6 ton David. It's not a waste of the 400 ton boulder. It's the joy of a 6 ton masterpiece!
When I saw the statue of David my wife said. Your bum looks like that haha.
@@blackopaldirect Close. My wife said "I wish your bum looked like that!"
@@michaellindsey1543 the trick is to see the statue and just remove all the rock that isn't statue! Same with opal...find the cab, remove the rest! ;)
When I saw it, I said, not Jewish.
If the statue David was the size of a pebble it wouldn't be as impressive
I have no intent of ever cutting stones or mining opal, but I love Your channel. It’s so interesting and captivating. You do beautiful work. Thank you.
Me as an opal cutter: “that one is going in my collection” with every gem. 😍😍😍
Oh, I don't know, it works for me..
I kno, me too
22:00 Thank you, Justin. You just gave me a lovely memory of my late mum. Whenever we did anything that required concentration, she always said "It's the way you hold your tongue that makes you do it right!". We lost her in 2013 and I still miss her every day! So... Thank you for the memory!
Whoever tells you, too much was cut, you did it wrong or anything negative, they have never been you. Ignore their comments. I love what you do!!!
Thank you 🙏 Obie
Those sand spots had no idea who they were dealing with😁😁
I completely agree a perfect stone is always better than a bigger stone👍👍
I don't have any experience with opals or cutting, but can agree with quality over quanitity. You are amazing, I am certain that your father would be so very proud of you! Thank you for sharing your wisdom, talents, and treasures!
Can you do a video about the rough opal buying process? Do you always buy from the same miners? Do you have to go out to lightning ridge, or do they come to you? Do you barter, or do they just decide the final price? How many pieces are usually in a rough opal parcel? How often do you buy? Etc
Am very interested in this as well. Thank you.
I too would like some info on buying in the rough. It would be very helpful to anyone who is thinking of trying a first time experience of hand rubbing a stone. Love your videos!
That would be interesting.
Yes that would be interesting to see
Yes, That is a great idea!!!
Many times when I see the rough opals carved, ground and polished, there is a point where I see the unfinished stone with it's sand and imperfections as just as amazing as the final stone. Just as with people, it's not the perfect or beautiful that attracts my eye as much as how our flaws make us vastly more unique, complicated, and precious IMHO.
@landofahhs_1 - I agree, sometimes I would love to have the untouched original piece to keep as a beautiful natural specimen, especially with this one, that nobby was gorgeous!
The final gem was stunning, but the original piece had a wild, free beauty that had many stories to tell.
I see it almost like how as Christians God is always grinding away away at our sinlife to bring us closer to perfection in Christ.
I'm not a cutter or professional in the gem trade but completely agree with your logic. The smaller stone is so brilliant and beautiful that it definitely warrants the effort. Well done!
I know that I'm years late, but NICE save and a real gemy stone. OpAl.. one of my favorite obsessions ! I'm NO pro like you but I have actually won awards for cutting.. in high school 1/2 a century ago and some fond memories. Life gets in the way of dreams. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. 👍
You have a masters’ eye for spotting the gem in the rough! Well done! It’s beautiful!
🙏
Yep, to me.. an absolute beginner, despite that having lovely colours. It looks like it would crack and break up into maybe 2-4 gem pieces that I would cut... but thats 40seconds in... so now I will sit back and watch how a pro does it! (thanks so much!). Edit: End of the video and I can see he did so much more than what I would have set out to do. I was thinking it would break (and I probably would hve heated it enough to break) into at least two probably three parts. So that is why I love these shows from a real expert. Every video helps. Thanks so much.
I was thinking similarly. Looked like he could carve one good stone off and still have a good or even great stone left to grind out. Gorgeous result.
What a tiny beuty! Love how clear it is and that you managed to get a double sided cut, well done 👏
I am in loooove to Karen. It’s awesome and fell into my collection accidentally after I made the video. 😂
It's amazing to think about how long it has taken these pieces to form in the earth. Just beautiful.
I had no idea I would be so enthralled by Opals, and the process of cutting - wow, you are a master!
Thank you Pat
@@blackopaldirect first time ever on YT someone responded specifically to my name Pat - wow, thank you!!
Who argues with the master! Awsum job Justin. Weĺl done really enjoyed it. Worth the wait.x
Superb work Justin
Been waiting to see a rough turned into an all around gem! Beautiful result.
That was an amazing Lesson Justin. Thank you so much, can not wait to have all my tools to start cutting opals of my own.
I love this show because it is a real adventure into what can be created out of some pretty rough looking stones. This gem is just beautiful!
The finished work lasts forever and will represent the artist long after they're gone and forgotten. Why leave behind a "good" stone when you can leave behind a great one?
I am glad to hear you're keeping this one. It's truly superb.
Justin you did it again. A spectacular job on cutting the bad parts off the original piece.
You come off so friendly and positive its hard to imagine you in serious negotiations for the purchase of a parcel.
I'm not even serious then haha
Hello from Southern Louisiana,, USA.
You can certainly tell that you have a wealth of experience... the way your hands work magic of bringing these gems to life... love watching your videos
So nova wheels are like people....
the more noise they make the less work they do! 😂
Hahahah spot on
Now that’s funny as hell.
He sells a lot.
I kept going back to the beginning and it was such a pretty piece to start would have made such a nice necklace.
I seem to be the only one who finds this satisfyingly relaxing, not anxiety provoking lol
Am I the only one of us that honestly has anxiety when watching Justin’s videos. He’s incredible at doing this. I thought that piece was gone along time then whamo an another absolutely gorgeous gem is made.
So crazy how something so small can warrant such a high price tag. Although, opal is priceless. Food for thought
I love watching your technique. I am retired bench jeweler but taught myself how to take customers damaged opals and recut and polish. I just used a dipping stick and held the stone with crazy glue until the job was finished. You have gorgeous opal .
You are making me fall in love with opals even more, this is incredible! I would love to learn how to do that myself one day.
I love the comment about holding your tongue in the right place. I hold my tongue out every time I concentrate. My parents said I staeted that before I was one year old. Still doing it at age 73. New subscriber.
It honestly works.. haha.. welcome to our channel Janise!
Content is king and Justin is wearing the crown.
Like a tiara or something? 😆
opals are mesmerising but watching you work on them is spellbinding. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, and at the risk of sounding demanding; more please!
Haha Max I’m not going anywhere and thank you
Exceptional content! Thank you for educating us on the wonderful world of Opal. Keep up the great work!
Look forward to buying some Opal from you soon, would be an honour to buy from you in person if I’m ever in Australia 😊
A fan from the UK ✌️
God bless you
This video right here is why I continue to watch and learn from you. Always quality over quantity. Beauty is the focus.
Thanks for all that you do.
What a pleasure to watch that magic gem come outa that mess of sand throughout it at the start! I would be keeping it too haha!
If i could afford that stunner, i would wear it as a pendant every day of my life. That's a magic stone you brought to life. You are an opal wizard! Absolutely gorgeous. That's my heart stone.
Beautiful gem..been waiting "patiently" all week and you never disappoint.
Thank you for the video, There is nothing better than watching a Master at work with his craft.
Nerves of steel required, and that’s just me watching!
You can't have regrets. Nor can you judge. The artist is in a position we can never be in. Beautiful opal!
I love your passion for opal! It's what keeps me coming back. This one turned out magnificent.
The passion is infectious
I feel I am experienced from your all of your experience in all your videos. You are a master craftsman...an artist. You have the eye for it and thank you for sharing your craft.
mother nature is such a tease sometimes mixing such great colour with so many challenges :-)
Thanks mate. Sharing knowledge is the only way to keep the olds ways alive, you're doing a good thing. Keep up the good work.
Much appreciated
The color always looks amazing when the stones 2 jacked up 2 cut love these videos
Out of chaos and madness comes serenity and beauty. The explanations were very useful. Your tips are always pertinent to the stone and more to follow. Thanks for sharing such a magnificent trip. Be safe and stay healthy 😁⚒
I can't believe how much you wasted there, you completely cut out all those lovely patches of brown opal 😉.
😆😆
Lol love it
Funnily enough, I agree...but Im a massive fan of boulder opal and not so much of clean cut stones...a tad odd considering Im an opal cutters kid. And sister...and Ive pottered with it myself. I think its just more rustic, which I really like. Wonderful stone though and all the equipment brings back memories.
Yeah! Gotta get me some of that quaity matrix! The red opal pill or the blue opal pill....?
Funny!
I don't know how anyone could have done better. It's a stunning stone. Thanks for the dopping tip, I've been pushing the stone to the wood. But the Ethiopian opal I work with is trickier to dop with the wax. Great video! Thank you!
I always get so excited when I see there’s a new video from you! Yay!
🙏🙏❤️
Once again, an amazing transformation. I'm surprised anything came out of the mess you started with. You are a genius.
well done as usual , keep the uploads coming sir
Thanks John
Thanks for responding to the “opal in the fire” mystery ! Loving this stone today! Great work!
I literally just got around to checking your channel today for a new video!
Yay 😁
I love your video because I am learning from you the things my father would not teach me because of his lack of patiences, thank you for such a gift I can never tell you how much it means to me to watch you.
Justin to us: "you're going to be okay. You're going to be okay!"
Your crazy 4 or 5 grand
It's not about cutting to much off it's about getting it clean and right and sometimes i can see you have to do what you have to do. Love your work
This is trues thank you 🙏
just got my cabbing machine and I'd like to say " stop making it look so easy". At least drop it a few times so we know your human. lol. Love your show mate
😆😆😆❤️❤️🙏🙏
Stunning, well done coaxing that beautiful piece out of such a difficult nobby!
Thank you! Cheers!
"How to turn a rock into a multicolored m&m".... :-)
Skittle
Mmmmm skittles......
@@blackopaldirect Used to be called "Smarties" when I was a kid.
@@ianrobertson2282
They are still called "Smarties" here in Germany.
And it's still impossible to just eat a handful...
10 mins later the cat eats it >.
You have kept my hunny and I entertained all through these days of quarantine. We love your sense of humor and talent!! Thank you. Lisa and Fred Fargo, North Dakota USA 🤩
🙏❤️❤️
I'll take 50% of awesome any day over 100% of crappy 😎 I've sacrificed some 75% Of really beautiful TOURMALINE to get even a nice 10mm stone.but it's worth it every time...
Well said
awesome
Wow the colours are spectacular. What a beautiful Opal
That's like using a vegetable peeler on a large carrot and ending up with a single carrot stick
I did end up with a single carat.....
But what a TASTY carrot stick it will be!
To be honest I liked it as it was before...with all the respect to your craftsmanship..
For a minute I thought you were going to cut a emerald or Cushing cut opal. Then I thought a cube shaped opal. Then I thought a trillion cut. Then pear shape cut. Then from the rock just like that a beautiful “flippy” (I like to call them that) gem opal.
Haha
That's the closest thing to polishing a turd I've ever seen. For you to get such a beauty from that nobby shows just what a master you are. Love your work.
What's up justin looks great!
Enjoy
It's the blue sweater! Great color for you. Nice gem!!
That was amazing... I was looking at the the piece thinking where is the gem and you showed us exactly what was there. Double sided too - what a beautiful gem. Thanks for taking us on the journey!
my friend first dremils the sand out then he makes the shapes... he says its a better 3d view
Absolutely love these videos! Best part of my day. Please keep these long videos coming, its therapeutic 🥰
Glad you like them John
6:25 It's in its prime right there.
That opal turned out beautiful with such amazing play of colour. I knew you had the confidence to turn a piece of rough into a gem. That flame from your burner was mesmerising. Well done Justin
Sure looked like a loser piece of rough. I think I would have just scrolled passed it to the next piece. Besides the sand it also looks like a breaker with all the sharp corners and the broken faces. Nice little beauty there Justin.
So beautiful done, love the colors and opals too!
Wonderful! Many times less is more!
Always enjoy your play by play analysis.
That is gorgeous!!!!! You definitely made the right decision.
Good day to you sir, i start cutting opals because of your videos. Thank you for inspiration! You are the best
The sand giveth.
And the sand taketh away.
I bet there are days where you’d just love to take a ball bat to the sand lol.
But your patience and perseverance paid off.
Very beautiful gem, a true master at work.
Round and round and round it goes where it stops nobody knows. Ended up a beautiful little gem. Interesting video. Thanks Justin 😊
Beautiful stone!! Opal is my birthstone & I love them!! Nice job!!
I'm not a gemologist, I just love watching your videos. Around 1/4 of the way through I was like "oohs green/blue!! Cut there, grind away!" Lol and then that's what you did! Thanks for a beautiful stone!
This was my first opal experience, eventually cracked as well so I tumbled the chips and small oval pieces I hand sanded without machines, the rock tumbler was able to shake out all those sand spots leading to an opal gem,
15$ is extremely cheap for an Ethiopian opal and your struggles with this one really reminded me of my experience with my first gem.
Thank you so much for this awesome video.
I think you did a wonderful job making that opal. Don't second guess yourself because of a few comments. I am looking forward to your next video !! Great cut !!
Thank you 🙏
That was amazing!
When you started cutting that nobbie, I had no idea how you would proceed, which side you were going to choose.
But you, being the "Yoda of opal cutting" made exactly the right choices! 👍
And what a wonderful little gem you found in there!
Congratulations, Justin! 👏
Hey I resemble that yoda comment 😆 thank you
That was an awesome Journey! I'm glad that you kept it in your collection, a true gem. I would hope to see the collection someday.
Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! Absolutely beautiful work, Justin.
🙏
Beauty that only exists because of your skill. It is immensely satisfying to watch you work. I wonder if you would be so kind in a future video to explain how boulder opal is recovered from the rock it is found in and how it is worked. Regards from Scotland.
I really really like seeing videos like this, in fact I really wish you could show your failures because I’m extremely interested in when one fails at an opal, it could also help people not make the same mistakes when purchasing their opal.
Also price is a tough thing for many, so I think a great idea is “what you get for this much money, like start out with a 15$ piece, then gradually go up in price by 15$ increments, I feel like this could also get the teenage lapidary hobbyists who don’t have the opportunity to spend 800$ on a rough opal.
Have a good day.
Think that was one of my favourites so far. Would love you to do a video showing all your favourites in your collection
hey Justin!? I just got home from my first lapidary class, and boy oh boy....what HAVE you started!? i think you may have shown me the career path that I've been looking for all these years. you bloody beauty!
Quality not quantity!
Good job...fantastic jem!
Exquisite stone, just gorgeous, when you first put it on the Nova, the color was jumping out already. Ypu've talked about your Dads skills, well i don't think anyone could have done better with this stone, he'd be proud.
🙏❤️
You manage to look in the right place to discover the beauty in so many stones when sand is fighting you every step of the way.
That was fun to see. Thanks! Beautiful results! It's not what you take away it's what's left behind. In my business I tell people "pleasing results guaranteed" maybe not perfect but as good as possible. Thankfully I can't keep the jobs I really please myself with as I clean carpets for a living. I would need a warehouse to hold them all.
That's an amazingly gorgeous stone. I was so worried, but you pulled it off and I love that you made it double sided. A decent compromise for all that you cut off. I wouldn't have had the nerve
When I saw that stone, I was like where's the gem in it. Then you made your first swipe and I saw that beautiful dark blue, said there it is. You went from dandelion to rosebud gem. GREAT JOB. keep up the great work you do. It's relaxing watching you work your magic.