Why is the Humble Cuttlefish in the Jewellery Industry?

The cuttlefish is a relative of the squid. It has one big difference in that is has a bone called the cuttlebone which is made of calcium carbonate and can allow the fish to float and sink at will. You will know the cuttlefish bone as the thing that you buy from pet shops to give your canary or other bird something to sharpen his beak with. But you don't see them as big as the one next to Sparky there!

That backbone is precisely why this fish has been an important part of the jewellery industry.

When a jeweller makes a piece of jewellery he sometimes has to forge the metal and then bend and cut and file just in order to get the correct shape.

Well, if he has something resembling the shape that he wants already then wouldn’t it be great if he could use that as a model and make another one just like it!

That’s where the cuttlefish bone comes into play.

In simple terms you take a piece of bone, slice it into two halves and then press the model into one half stopping about halfway through and then put the other half of the bone on top of that and press them together like a sandwich. You then take out the model, put the two pieces together again and bind them up with wire.

You now have a mould of the shape you want. The next step is to pour molten metal into the mould and when it cools you have a copy of the item.

The reason why cuttlebone works is because it is soft enough to penetrate with the model but hard enough to stand up when you take the model out. Lastly, it is fire resistant and when you pour the metal into it there is no danger of fire.

This process is relatively quick and saves the jeweller a lot of time and wasted metal. It is messy and kind of primitive but is still used today by some jewellers with small workshops.

Author: Gary Hocking who has his own jewellery website http://www.jewelleryexpress.com.au

How to Care For Opal Jewelry.

Today one of my customers who had bought a $1,000 opal ring from me told me that her friends had told her to keep her opal ring in a solution of clear mineral oil.

Hmmm! Please don’t do that. I have also heard lots of other advice such as keep your opals in water, vinegar, and other solutions. Rub soluble oil on them is another terrible thing that I have heard given as advice.

Some twelve years ago I spent about three months with George Roberts who still cuts and facets gemstones for a living like he has been doing for a very long time. George is a miner and gemologist so he knows what he is talking about when it comes to opals.

When George put an opal in a small ultrasonic machine I was horrified. All that I have heard was that this would surely destroy the opal. George told me that he had never broken one this way.

As a rule I don’t tempt fate by doing that anymore but I did some experiments on opals because I wanted to see first hand what would happen when I did.

I got every conceivable solution that I thought people might put opals in and I put them in jars. I put a couple of opals in citric acid, a few more in vinegar, some more in oils, in pickling solutions, numerous solvents such as acetone, then petrol, methylated spirits and the list goes on. I left them there for weeks, months and years and some are still in their solutions.

The result? Nothing happened to the opals! Or, at least on a level that I could perceive.

As an opal miner I can tell you that when you are lucky enough to find opal it is in dry opal dirt, not soggy wet stuff. The mines are dry and the temperature is pleasant. The opals have been there like that for millions and millions of years so why should anyone think that they need to be put in oil or some other solution?

As an opal cutter I can tell you what I have been taught to do. In order to cut an opal you need to put it on a stick so that you can hold it to the grinding wheel. We heat the opal up a little and apply hot wax and push the stick and the opal together. After cutting we put the opal in the freezer for a couple of hours so that the wax and the opal contract differently and come apart. In my opinion that is pretty harsh treatment but the opal survives all of this and survives in those horrible solutions that I experimented with.

Here’s what my research eventually led me to believe is the best way to care for opal jewelry.

Keep it apart from your other jewelry so that it does not get scratched.
Occasionally clean it with a soft brush, perhaps the softest toothbrush in a solution of luke warm water and very mild detergent. Then rinse and lightly dry with an absorbent cloth but don’t rub it dry.
If your opals are doublets or inlays then they are held in place with glue so wash them only when necessary.

But they are reasonably hardy and they can be repaired and re-polished so enjoy them.

Life on the Opal Fields

You search the net looking for a lovely opal ring and you see something for $500 and at first you think: Hmmm…that seems a bit expensive! Well, spare a thought for the poor old miner!

When I first arrived at the opal field called The Sheepyards just 70 kilometres on a dirt track from Lightning Ridge in NSW, Australia an old miner asked me if I was here to make some money. Well, of course I was. He pointed to the track behind me and said the easiest way to make money here is to get in your car and go back along the way you came until you get home again.

I started to take some photos of a few mining camps and another old miner asked me what the hell I thought I was doing? I said I thought the camps looked quaint and wanted a photo or two. He told me that was the easiest way to get shot!

So, they were two of the easiest things to find out on the opal fields and I now began to find out the hardest things but that would take years.

After spending the first $100,000 searching for elusive opal I knew that first old miner’s advice had been sound and not the usual scare tactic that I thought it had been.

It was the middle of a seven year drought and we had to buy water which was delivered by water cart. There is no electricity so you have to make your own using a generator which takes diesel fuel which you have to buy at probably the premium price in the entire nation.

Was it a dangerous place? Well, the last major town before you arrive at the field is Walgett and as you enter the town a sign on the bridge declared that you had to give way to horses. That was an indication that the area had a bit of catching up to do. Then I noticed another sign that declared the city was under constant video surveillance, and they weren’t even making a movie here! I noticed that every shop had bars the full length of every window and door. Something was seriously wrong in this place and this place was the last outpost of civilization!

I was intent on buying an old mining lease which had been mined for some time. During the inspection the vendor was pointing out where he had found opals. At one point he nonchalantly mentioned that he had found about $15,000 worth just up near the dead man. I thought I didn’t hear him right and I asked him if he, in fact, had said “near the dead man.” He said yes that was true. I exclaimed I was amazed that there had been a dead man there. He chuckled and said well he is still there. I walked around the bend in the drive and here was a skeleton buried under many tons of dirt. We were forty five feet below ground. Now, that was no ordinary burial!