OpalsUnderGlass.com Updated June 7th, 2009
Our "Opal Under Glass" line of Pendants came about after a trip to the High Desert of Nevada in 2003. I was lucky enough to find some Precious Black Crystal Opal at one of the "Pay to Dig" Opal mines in the Virgin Valley area. I found out the hard way, that the Opal from this area could be unstable and shatter easily. After having two beautiful pieces shatter while I was trying to finish them, I came up with a method of incasing a piece of natural opal in a protective shield. This method worked so well with the Virgin Valley Opal that I have started incasing most of my precious opal. I like the unique, rough look of the natural opal,
So if you are looking for a One of a kind piece of jewelry, you have found the right website.
Some information about our "Opal Under Glass" natural opal pendants:
The First Step is finding a nice colorful piece of natural opal. This is the treasure hunting part of the business (and my favorite part).
The Second Step of the process is cleaning off the opal and getting the "play of color" to show as much as possible, while not making the natural opal look un-natural. This is done with grinding wheels and a small gem saw.
The Third Step is the "casting". The casting keeps the opal from drying out and protects the opal from cracking (or cracking more since some of the opals will have natural fractures).
The Fourth Step is the "finishing and polishing" of the casting material.
The Final Step is the wire wrapped setting in 14kt solid gold wire.
Each "Opal Under Glass" pendant is given an individual number and a personally signed Certificate of Authenticity.
If you buy an "Opal Under Glass" pendant from us, you can be certain that there will not be another pendant exactly like yours. I could never find two pieces of opal exactly alike. That’s what I like about natural opals. They are all different.
The "Opals Under Glass" pendants (without chain) start at $3,999.97 and go up in price from there. The size does not affect the price as much as the amount and brightness of the "play of color".
