I recently asked my very experienced jeweler to set Welo opals in a ring and earrings. He had never worked with this gemstone before so he was a bit at loss. Welo opals are transparent as opposed to Australian opals which are not. He set it into a bezel with a 100% silver filled backing. In my view this has dramatically reduced the color play of the gemstone. He claims that without the solid silver backing, the opal would look very dull. I did not say anything as I was at a loss. I trust his skills (NB he uses a professional gem setter to place a stone in a ring, earring, etc), but have doubts whether he knew what he was doing in this case.
Transparent Wello Opals benefit from a dark background. Take a loose stone, put it on a white piece of cloth or paper, and then on a dark one and you will see the diference. Much more colour play on the darker background. What i usualy do is oxidizing the silver plate underneeth the opal.
It depends on the stone. Some look great without backing. Others look a lot better with backing, but the backing has to be a dark color, preferably black. I can't think of a single instance where a non-dark backing improved the look of a welo.
Personally I like to try it, put the opal on a bright metal backing, then on a frosted backing, then on a black backing. Then try it without and decide what would be best.
I was just commisioned to make a pair of Gold studs with transparent Welo Opals. Since i can not oxidize gold, i'll have to come up with another solution. I'll keep you updated as work progresses.
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:20 am Posts: 2756 Location: Southern California, U.S.A.
Barbra Voltaire wrote:
I think you are referring to black rhodium.
So it's a plating process, not mere oxidation or similar? I know low-karat gold may oxidize but high-karat's very stable.
I used to use an acid-based liquid of some sort that worked well blackening high-karat gold. It required the workpiece to be heated and was applied with an iron nail. I've lost track of the name and would like to find something similar.
It wasn't a plating process, you just painted it on, it seemed to be some sort of electrochemical deposition process, etching out one of the alloying metals in the gold and preferentially depositing the platinum to give the black colour (I'm guessing here, but it's an educated guess).
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:04 am Posts: 257 Location: Idaho
This is one brand of the stuff you are talking about. Paint on silver and it goes black. Apply with an iron/steel (not stainless) nail or wire, and it will go on black on gold.
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