Hey guys! I'm just getting started on cutting ethiopian opal. These are not the first ethiopian stones I've cut but the first ones I've had some trouble with. They both come from the same piece of opal which had some beautiful reds and greens (the colour doesn't really show on the photos but it's very nice). Anyways...I've finished them about a month ago and let them dry since then but there are still some wet looking, translucent spots in both of them (right on the top, very visible as you can see in the pictures and the oval one has cracked a little).
These wet spots don't seem to dry out at all and this is the first time I've ever seen something like that. All my other ethiopian opals dried just fine and I always test them before cutting. The rough looked allright and I honestly don't understand how the water could be 'trapped' in there haha.
So please let me know if any of you have ever seen something like that and if you think there's anything I could do about it
Oh thats interesting... It could be an inclusion of some sort unless it didn't start that way dry? I try to draw extra water out of mine by using desiccant in a ziplock bag. Its worth a try as I have seen it work quite well on a few stones that just wouldn't fully dry but they were more stuck at that cloudy stage rather than clear.