You did it, well done!
You braved the dusty outback night and found some opals - hopefully some with colour and not all potch! Now what? Let's learn how to clean our opals and get them appraised, cut and polished, maybe even turned into some jewellery! Leon also gets a dopamine hit with every positive review, so find quick links at bottom of this page to leave a review and spread word of the experience to others!
Cleaning your opals
You probably had a quick look at your opals with Leon at the end of the tour, but they were still dusty, so we may have missed some bits with colour! Give them a wash - Leon likes to put them in an iced-coffee container, but you can use any delicious beverage container or an empty jar or bucket. It helps to have a lid on it, so you can pop your opals in with some water and pretend you're shaking up a gemstone cocktail! Rinse a few times until water is clear, then examine your opals while they're still wet, as this will help the colours to pop out!
Check your opals for colour
The colours in your opal will jump out at different angles and different types of light. Sunlight is great, but try various lights from your room, flashlight or phone light while rotating each piece in your hand or rolling them on the table. Think you've found all the bits with colour? Double-check, sometimes they're hiding!
Get your best bits appraised and touched by a master's hand
First port of call - Trevor at The Opal Cave. One of our expert cutters, he'll be honest with you which pieces, if any, are worth cutting and polishing, then you'll get to see him at work on the cutting and polishing wheels!
If Trevor's not in, next try Opalios, where the wonderful Stella, George and Lyn will take care of you!
Leaving town too early? No worries, once you're settled in a town, look up their lapidary club or rockhound group. Someone there should be happy to take a look at your opals and help you clean them up. If you're lucky, there'll be a silversmith or goldsmith there to set into some jewellery!
Boost Leon's dopamine with a review!
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