OPAL

Hand picked beautiful and unique Australian solid Opals set into South Australian made custom jewellery by Michelle Kennedy, Bluebell Design.

OPAL

HARDNESS: 5.5-6.5 (similar to glass)

LOCATION: Australia (Over 95% of the worlds Opal comes from Australia), Ethiopia

BIRTHSTONE MONTH: October

FACTS:

• Opal is made with a combination of water and silica (SiO2.nH20)
• The sparkle and glitter in Opals is known as ‘Play of Colour’ and is

caused by interference and diffraction of light passing through tiny silica spheres

• Opal forms from the silica that is created from water seeping through sandstone. The silica then flows into cracks and voids in rocks
• Forty meters below, a thickness of one centimetre of Opal has been estimated to take 5 million years to form and approx. 1 to 2 million years after, it has been said to solidify due to climate change
• The myth that Opals are unlucky comes from the novel ‘Anne of Geierstein’