Opal Cutting Is Fun - My apprenticeship Experience

Wayne, my husband is passionate about Opals. I would watch him day after day and this would be his daily routine. I was made to be "just the observer". He would check out a rough opal, follow and read through the colour bar. He would then snip bit by bit into the colour bar. He gets the cutting machine ready. He would then start the dobbing of the Opals. This is the tricky part. Sometimes I would help him and burn my fingers. At the end of the day, I would have blisters on my fingers.

Dobbing the Opals into a dobbing stick was always without incident. The wax must be extremely hot so it sticks to the Opals and into the stick. You are not allowed to wear gloves. Blisters on my fingers then became hard calluses. I didn't mind it because I enjoyed watching Wayne get the thrill of the finished Opals at the end of the day.

First he would use the 1600 grit wheel. This takes time as this is the first stage of shaping the opal. Black Opals are normally shaped oval with a nice cabochon. The next stage would be getting to the colour bar. Then the 600 grit wheel is used.
This is painstakingly difficult. As you get closer to the colour bar, the cutting becomes delicate. It’s a matter of losing the colour or getting the best colour of the opal there is. The transformation from rough to rub and shaping the opal to show the colour is just a fantastic experience. As you progress into the final stage of the cutting process, the result can be exhilarating.

As my apprenticeship was nearly getting to a close, I was promoted to Assistant Opal cutter. Sitting side by side with Wayne was my proudest moment. Wayne had the confidence in me to cut Black Opals. I tried to keep my emotions to myself and got down to the task at hand.

From rough to rub, preparation to dobbing, shaping and between Wayne and i, we would cut around 100-150 Opals a day. It's also a strain on your eyes when you do the cutting. I would always look forward to a 20 minute coffee break. Wayne is tough to work with; we would only have coffee breaks after 2 hrs of continuous work with the Opals. As soon as our eyes were rested, we would get back to cutting the most beautiful gem in the world -Opals.

As you watch the stone transform and gleam right into your very eyes, there is no other job as fulfilling as an Opal cutter.