Help with opals -are they porous?

[Jen]

Hello,

I have been given a lovely pair of oval shaped opals from Australia that I'd like to use to make a pair of earrings. I have an epoxy that I usually use but it says it can't be used with porous materials. For some reason I had it in my head that Opals are porous? I tried google to help resolve this and then read that Australian opals are not!? Can anyone help me work out whether I can happily glue my opals to my findings with what I have? The epoxy is ' Epoxy 330 Water Clear Bonding Molecular Connector' if that helps. It says 'bonds glass, china, ceramics. stone metals and other non-porous materials'. If not, what should I be using instead? Thank you so much for any advice I would hate to wreck them!! Jen

[caroleallen]

Hi Jen. Could you bezel set the opals onto silver? Seems a shame to use glue on opals.

[medusa]

my understanding is that opals are porous. I recall an aussie on another forum who works opals saying they are soaked in water to sort them because it changes the way they look or something.

[Dennis]

Hi Jen,

Opals are semiprecious stones, prized for their optical properties. You can probably attach them with glue, if only in the short term, but you are likely to spoil their appearance.

As Carol says, it's much better to set them in a bezel. Dennis

[Jen]

Thank you so much for all your replies I think I am defintely going to leave well alone!

I had to google 'bezel setting' which looks very pretty it is a shame the opals have flat black backs so are not two sided so I don't think they will work that way?

It was nice of my mother-in-law to think I could make them into jewellery but I am a beader really used to threading things, as such I think I will enlist the help of someone who knows what they are doing to make these into nice earrings.

Thanks very much for all your advice. Jen