FAIRY OPAL ROUGH 

NOW YOU CAN HAVE SOME FUN DISCOVERING THE COLOURS.

This is natural treated fairy opal . We have treated the slabs so you can cut as a specimen or cut into smaller stones. They will have to be re treated if cut up. Ideal as carvings. We bought a few 44 gallon drums and only selected the pieces showing some colour. There is a large amount of wastage.
It is precious opal embedded in the natural sandstone and mined in Queensland Australia. Only by carbonizing it does it become like black opal. You can cut into smaller stones or leave as is. We have chunky pieces you can carve.The treatment  are listed below
TREATMENTS
--On the opal field the normal treatment is to wrap the stones in aluminum foil with a some sugar and olive oil and throw into the hot coals for 15 minutes in a out side fire. I have tried this with varying success.
-This treatment you could also try with some oil.
You can heat the stones in a oven to 90 degree F  for a hour to dry them out
Place gently in a bowl with syrup of sugar. Heat for 8 plus  hours but not to boiling as you will loose the water so the sugar seeps in to the stone-i once left for over a week and had good results.
Wrap in aluminum foil and heat to 400 F for 4 hours-you can check earlier. This is best done on a out door bbq  kiln or oven.
-You can treated like Andamooka matrix with acid-details are in the learning section on the site.

TREATMENT FOR FAIRY OPAL AND ANDAMOOKA MATRIX WITH SUGAR ONLY.


MATERIALS
250 grams glucose,white castor sugar,pot or pressure cooker,plastic tweezers.
STEPS
-Pre shape the material

- Thoroughly dry the material in oven sun or hairdryer. You can also soak in aceton for 10 minutes to dry the stones out.
- Put water in pot on low temperature and add glucose and castor sugar. DO NOT BOIL.
-Place warmed stones into warm solution and cover the stone with liquid.
-leave on low temperature for 24 hours but DONT BOIL.
-Remove with tweezers and let cool.Use a paper town to wipe away access.
The next steep is to carbonize the sugar in the stone. Place the stones on a metal or pyrex dish and place in a kiln at 500 F degrees for one hour.This will burn or carbonize the sugar in the stone.
_When the stones have cooled clean on a grinding wheel.
Remember to take all precautions with gloves and mask and clothing with good ventilation.
This is a natural product so results may vary a bit due to how porous the sandstone is. Some material will have to be treated a few times to get good results. You can also experiment with various temperatures as i like to cook with lower temperatures.
Remember to have fun!
WE HAVE TAKEN THE PHOTO WITH THE ROUGH WET.
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POLISHING
This parcel The surface is porous so its hard to get a good finish.
You can polish as a natural stone or coat it with resin to get a better finish.
We suggest a polymer resin as its stable.inert and nontoxic and dosent yellow..Check out our listings of fairy opal polished in sedaopals.Some of there were polished in china under vacume with a amazing finish.
We have also used mono-compontent thermo set resin,cynoacrylates and 2 parts resin but these can turn yellow over time. ive even heard of nail polished used and hardened under uv lights.

The weight and size is app
It is similar in appearance to Honduran opal.