Opal is for October

October is a beautiful month with all the wonderful colours of Fall, but it's also beautiful because of the wonderful colours of Opal; October's birthstone.

Opal is an interesting gemstone because of its play of colours or "fire". A good natural Opal has flashes of red, blue, green and sometimes purple. The red flashes are the most desirable.

You can see (even with my poor photography skills) the pretty red flashes in this opal. And in person it has incredible flashes of colour. This beautiful 14KY ring sells for $549.

The thing about natural opal is that every one is unique; you won't find two natural opals exactly the same. And the quality of natural opals is really variable.

This natural opal is obviously less "opalescent" than the previous one. While still a very pretty stone, the flashes of colour are a real mixture of red, green and purple rather than predominately red like the previous stone. This stone is also larger but set in sterling silver. Because of the difference in quality of the stone and the metal, this ring sells for $125.

Natural opals need to be treated delicately because they are a soft stone and the surface is easily scratched. Also, any harsh soaps or chemicals aren't good; think of opals like your skin, it's also easily scratched if hit against something and can get irritated by chemicals.

Natural opals are also partly made up of water which means that there are a few more considerations when wearing an opal:
1) They like to be hydrated so every now and then it's a good idea to just let your opal jewellery sit in water for a few hours.
2) If they dry out their colour is less brilliant, but don't worry, the brilliance returns once the stone is hydrated.
3) If they dry out too much they can crack, and unfortunately this isn't fixed by hydration.
4) And one other consideration is that, because of the water they contain, they can freeze if going from hot to cold too quickly and this can cause cracking.

With that said, opal really isn't very difficult to take care of as long as you treat it with care. We want to let you know what CAN happen but don't let the information scare you off, just keep it in mind.

As with many gemstones today, there are options for a synthetic or simulant. We usually promote synthetics over simulants because synthetic stones have the exact same make-up as the natural stones they're just made in a lab instead of coming from nature.

When it comes to opal, however, we prefer a simulant; Opalite. The reason Opalite is a simulant and not a synthetic is because it doesn't contain water like natural opals do. Other than the water, Opalite is exactly the same as natural opal (including needing to be treated delicately because it is also soft).

The lack of water in Opalite can be a good thing because you don't have to take into consideration all of the points above.

Opalite, as a simulant, also has a much more brilliant play of colour than natural stones and the colour patterns are more regular.

These opalite earrings are obviously more colourful than the natural stones shown above.

And this Opalite and cubic zirconia pendant also shows the intense colour that comes with the simulant option. This sells for $32.50.

Both of these Opalite pieces are set in sterling silver. Generally, Opalite isn't set in gold which makes it a less expensive option.

So whether you love the uniqueness and variability of natural opal or the intense play of colours of Opalite, you can get the look of opal with any budget.

We've got a good selection of both natural Opal and Opalite so come in and see the difference in person. We also have a wide variety of unset natural Opals that can be used in any custom piece of jewellery.