Great rings, personally I like the solid wood best because it shows off the grain pattern, but the turquoise and lapis are also beautiful. Thanks for posting.
Great rings, personally I like the solid wood best because it shows off the grain pattern, but the turquoise and lapis are also beautiful. Thanks for posting.
Thanks Lynne, I want to do some with opal so I was looking on line for some. Did you know that real opal is extremely expensive? One site said that real opal can go for over $15,000 a ct. I found some man made opal for $12-$14 for 1 oz. They claim it has enough to do 2 rings and comes in 78 colors. https://www.etsy.com/market/crushed_opal?ref=l2
Look for unfinished strands of opal beads - for the DIY bead jewelry makers. Still more expensive than turquoise or lapis lazuli, but not thousands of dollars. I worked in a jewelry store for 10 years - those expensive opals are the very top quality (and jewelers get a big markup on them), for something you plan to crush to inlay into a ring the man made will be your best bet.
Thank you Mike. Sorry I can't tell, I soaked some strips of different woods in a crock pot and left them in the water for days. They all came out a different color than what they went in to the water as because the water soaked the color out of the darkest one and added to the darkness of the lighter ones. They are all so much different than they were, I'm not really sure what I used. I think the darkest one is Brazilian ebony and the others African Mahogany but not sure.
Look for unfinished strands of opal beads - for the DIY bead jewelry makers. Still more expensive than turquoise or lapis lazuli, but not thousands of dollars. I worked in a jewelry store for 10 years - those expensive opals are the very top quality (and jewelers get a big markup on them), for something you plan to crush to inlay into a ring the man made will be your best bet.
Thanks, I'll look into that. I'm trying to find out if the man made opal can be crushed if purchased in a large chunk (5-7 grams) because it seems to be much cheaper if purchased this way.