DG Anonymous

The superstition about opals is said to come from the Egyptians. The stone contains so much water it was used to monitor fever. If the person's fever is high enough, it's said to break the opal, so its association with sickness is what has given it its bad reputation.

Luckily, it's my birthstone so I can have as many as I want!!! And I have quite a few, including one in my great grandmother's old locket. All still in great shape (knock on wood) and beautiful. I wonder how many Libras have success with them as opposed to other signs? It would be interesting to find that out.

Bama - That opal is really pretty!
Brigid - I'm a Libra - have never had an opal break or crack.
Sharon

The base of the opal in my ring is a light color - so probably a doublet? With my setting, a black onyx base would show. The pendant is fine, but it hasn't got the wear the ring has.

I'd take a photo, but my camera died yesterday (and I am grief-stricken at the moment!!! I think I'm in the anger stage. What d'ya mean, you won't work?? You're only two years old you piece of - uh - junk!

But no way to clean the diamond mountings surrounding the opal?

Thanks for all of the information, Bama. You are a treasure yourself.

Oops. I think we high jacked a thread. And it was a good thread, too. Sorry.....

This message was edited Oct 18, 2006 1:29 PM

That's why you all belong to DG Anonymous!!

I'm a LIbra and I haven't had good luck with them...but I was born in Spetember and my month birthsone is Sapphire.

I clean my opal (now) by covering the stone with my fingers to protect it from the caustic amonia, then I take a toothbrush and use a warm water/amonia combination to clean around the stone (and the diamond).

If your stone is light colored it is probably a doublet. Look at the back of the stone (if you can see it). If the back is light colored, it is probably a doublet. If it is dark, it is a triplet.

Yeah, we did hijack it...ooops. But that is the way of all god conversations. They don't stay on topic...they evolve. Eventually they come back on topic.

LOL, Garden6. You're right!

I clean all my good jewelry with my waterpik on a gentle setting.....and I've never had an opal crack or break. I do remove this ring in winter because it gets very cold here, but I wear it all summer. I have earrings that I bought in Australia that have nice color but I love this one. The rubies came from a ring from my sister sent me when she was living in Thailand. There is a lot of red fire in it, although it doesn't show up much on this photo. I see a lot of scratches on the setting though! I have had it for over 25 years so that's to be expected as it's been worn a lot. Picture came out kind of crummy. Oh well.

This message was edited Oct 18, 2006 2:15 PM

That is a beautiful ring!!!

Beautiful! Definitely an Australian opal. they have such distinctive color..as do the Mexican Fire opals. In fact, your ring would go really well with my necklace if you need someone to leave it to in your will (hint, hint). Water pik is a great idea! Those sonic cleaners are not good for opals or emeralds. But waterpiks are so gentle....

Thanks, I bought the opal at a gem show and had a jeweler design the ring with my rubies and some small opals I had. Now I'm going back to pull up a chair, or yahoo, so see ya later.

Yep, we sure did hijack it - ooops! That's a pretty ring meezers! I never thought about using the water pik!

Proof positive that you need to meet regularly at your DG Anonymous Group Meetings!

Well, this has been an interesting discourse! And then you mentioned emeralds, and I could cry. I have a 3.5 carat Colombian emerald ring that I banged up against something, and now there's an internal crack. It totally destroyed its value, but I wear it because it's still beautiful. You just don't want to look at it too closely. :( The ring was a gift from my ex after he was my ex. I guess it would have been larger if I'd stayed with him. LOL

BIVBIV~ goodness gracious..what kind of jewely did he indulged you with when you were together? LOL! ;0)

I have a rally nice emerald that my grandmother gave me when I first got ill. It is rectangular, surrounded by small diamonds and set in an 18k hand made moutning with delicate filligree work underneath. She had bought it in Hong Kong when she was there on a cruise. I've never had it appraised, so I don't know what size the emerald is....and I recieved it after I left the jewelry biz, so I didn't have access to weigh it. Anyway, it has a really cool triphasic inclusion in it. Genuine Columbian emeralds are rarely flawless. Anyway, the triphasic inclusion is ONLY fond in Columbian emeralds and are prtty much impossible to imitate in a fake. They are made up of a crystal flaw, inside a liguid flaw, inside a gas filled flaw. Very distinctive flaw and neat looking under a microscope. I probably couldn't see it now. LOL!

Speaking of breaking stones, my grandmother had a one carat or so diamond that she had for years and years. She worked in a bank and over the years of counting money on a marble teller's cage window and hitting the diamond against the marble as she counted out each bill, one day the diamond just shattered. We don't know if it was from repeated hits against the marble (assuming that the diamond had in feather in it to start with and the repeated vlows causd the feathr to expand), or if it is because she hit it at just the right angle to split the crystal matrix. In any case, she got a better quality, larger diamond to make up for it. LOL! Very smart lady...

In Spanish, the inclusions in Colombian emeralds are called jardines (gardens). Colombian emeralds are my favorite stones; they're a gorgeous shade of green.

I love them, but they are SO expensive!!!

Zambian emerlads are also pretty. They have a sort of blueish shade of green isntead of the yellowish shade. But I prefer the Columbians. We had one piece for sale one time that had a 30 ct Columbian in it. In fact, here is a pic of my old boss, Rocky, (yes that is really his name) looking at the stone. Guess he decided it would sell better remounted. Check out some of his stuff. I love the one winged angel pieces. Not sure if he still has them on the website. Been a while since I looked at all of it.

http://www.rockharddesigns.com/

I have a wire-wrapped pendant that's a chunk of tiny emerald crystals from the Ukraine. Quite striking. I'll have to find it and get a photo. I used to be a real jewelry junkie!

WOW!!!! And drool, too....

Aww, let's face it, I'm still a jewelry junkie.....

Me too. My dad used to tease that I had so many rings, I'd have to start on my toes next. I always told him, "If you want to catch a big fish, you have to use big bait!" Fat lot of good it did me. Never caught any rich men worth keeping. The rich ones I dated were all big jerks and I always ended up throwing 'em back. LOL!

OTOH, havign all that jewlery has come in handy a time or two when I needed to put food on the table and had no money short term. That was my ohter excuse to Dad....as long as I have jewel;ry, I will never starve. OF coure, you only get pennies on the dolar, but as long as you just pawn it and then get it back right away, it works out OK....although 10% per month is a bit steep for internest....Still cheaper than a title loan or payday advance.

Darius, if you have a scanner, sometimes you can just put the jewelry i the scanner. That is waht I did with my opal pendant because my camera doens't take good close ups. LOL! But Santa is bringing me a new camera with a zoom feature.

I just may, Bama. I still have a few good pieces but seldom wear them except the gold nugget ring I haven't had off for years. Used to have over 200 pair of earrings, most from high end art/craft stores (except a few gold pairs). Sold all the porcelain, etc. pairs for a pittance when I needed food or rent $.

LOL! Yep, been there, done that. Long as yo have jewelry, you can eat. I dated a guy who went down to an island near Panama. The women on the island own all the wealth. They buy solid gold bracelets with whatever money the men bring in and they wear the bracelets. It is their 'bank account'. They trade the bracelets for whatevr they need taht the island doesn't provide. Similar to how the Vietnamese used to do Bott chains.

plantladylin

RE: your rock obsession...........

more rocks...

...ROCKS!!!!

6 ft square firepit built ENTIRELY WITH ROCKS!!!

I think I hate all of you folks who live in Rock Country...sigh....

I'll trade sand for some rocks...... LOL

I got rocks.....

Meezer - you've got beautiful rocks!! I've got sand, sand and more sand! I have to BUY rocks and potting soil (dirt per the DH)!
Sharon!

There's never a happy medium, either you have rocks and clay or you have sand. Somebody somewhere has all the good dirt.

I just have clay...no rocks, no sand. Just clay. The only place I have rocks are the few that the previous onwers had around the mailbox, which I was able to parce out and use as a border for my front garden...and on the fireplace in my son's bedroom (which really does not fit the architecture, but I'm not about to redo it at this point!) Oh well, at least with clay, you have something substantial to hold things like glads up. When I lived in a sandy area, all my glads fell down if they weren't staked. And I only live a couple of hours or so south of rock country, so instead of paying the nursery $750 for a pallet of rocks, I can drive up to a quarry and get them for $75 a ton.

I asked, and got, a leaf-blower-sucker for my Christmas. My husband and I argue all the time about the front yard (too full=him, not so=me)
I work on plants even after dark with a flashlight in my mouth. I spend more money on plants than I could earn ( thank you DH for paying, you spoil me) If I am not gardening I am reading about plants, if I'm not reading about plants I'm thinking about them.When I sleep I dream about my garden in 20 years, when I will be picking fruit with my grand children.
Too much is not enough, and I DON'T WANT TO QUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christie
http://mrschristiecolla.spaces.live.com

Christie, I love what you have done to your yard!!! Keep eating away at that grass!!! LOL!!

Mrs_Colla~I love the gardens! I think you're a bona fide member of DG Anonymous!

Christie......you need to join the 'headlamp club'. There is no better way to work after dark than with your little headlamp in place. (I've also found other in-home uses as well.)