Tucson Gem Show

So I got home from my trip to Tucson, where I met Justin again as well as Kylie (an employee of BOD), Saxon(first time) and Ruth(again).

It was a great time. Justin GAVE me another rough parcel. This time it wasn't a beginner parcel but some nice bluish crystal opals (33.5 carats total). Seriously, the man is far too kind to me, imo.

Getting home I then received the giveaway package from Robert and Michael from Global Prospecting. The win was an opal life t-shirt (very cool) an opal life sticker (also neat) AND 76.5 carats of very beautiful Ethiopian opal rough! I encourage all of you to hit up their channel, subscribe, watch and like their content and COMMENT! I am betting they will give away more loot and they also showcase other's work in their videos. Hint: When I won the giveaway there were only about a dozen people who qualified for the giveaway, so chance are good you can win (I know I cannot as I have already won once, and would refuse a prize if I happened to win again. I don't want to be greedy, despite greed being part of the human condition).

Anyway: I am posting a couple pics of the rough.

Robert said they threw this big bad boy in because I have been a good supporter of the channel! HOW NICE!

OK, so I got carried away and put up a pic of each piece in the parcel. There were nine in all.

First thing I noticed is that this stuff is lighter, and therefore I assume less dense, than similarly sized Australian opal. Most seem to have at least some cracking, but I think I can cut them and get more stones as a result (at least that is my hope as I am completely inexperienced with this type of opal). At any rate it gives me a lot of potential stones and many attempts at carving, polishing and drying them properly.

I may have to watch more of their videos, as well as Roy's, to have enough confidence to work on them.

Any helpful tips, hints, and tutelage will be greatly appreciated.