How to fix a hydrophane opal that lost its color - clean oil out of an ethiopian opal
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Hydrophane opals can absorb water by definition, and release it. Sometimes, when set in jewelry that has open backing or is constantly touching skin, if worn for a few years, these stones can get a translucent/yellow look as a result of absorbing skin oils (or sebum).
Anything that can go in, should be able to go out. It’s quite an easy fix. Break down the oil with acetone so it flows more quickly, and soak, then allow the acetone to evaporate.
I hope this video helps even just one person get the stone back that they once fell in love with, and maybe grow to love it all over again
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This totally worked for me. I don’t know what kind of opal I have here (I just don’t know enough about them) but after a couple of years of seeing my daughter’s necklace hanging in her closet and knowing she was sad that it was now an ugly solid greenish yellow color (like an ugly mood ring) that she no longer wanted to wear, I asked her to let me take a shot at trying to “fix” it. I found your video five days ago. Not knowing how acetone would affect the entire pendant, I gently removed the opal and submerged it by itself in a glass jar of fingernail polish remover with acetone (with a lid-following your directions). I did swish it around a few times each day for four days. It looked the same every time I checked on it. Last night (day four) I took it out and laid it on a paper towel, face up, to air dry. I checked on it 10 minutes later and, although it still basically looked the same, I thought I was starting to see one tiny speck of fire. I wish I would have checked on it more regularly so I could have watched the transformation but I accidentally forgot about it for 2 hours. When I checked again . . . FIRE!! I turned it over to give the bottom a chance to air out more freely. I woke up this morning and it’s even more firey than it was when my daughter first got it (must not have been it’s original brilliance even then)! I’m going to give it the rest of today to let air circulate around it more before putting it back in its setting but I’m already extremely impressed with how well this has worked. Thank you SO MUCH for making this video-I can hardly wait to see the look on my daughter’s face when I surprise her with her revived opal!
(Side notes: not knowing enough about opals, my daughter wore this pendant 24/7. It had been exposed to daily showers, touching, probably hairspray or at least it’s fumes, hand lotion, sunlight, ocean water, sunscreen, body oils, sweat, and hot tubs. It’s original brilliance was poor to begin with. It went completely cloudy within about two months of this wear. Now it had been hanging in her closet for at least two years with zero brilliance. In 4 days, the acetone soak has restored more fire than it was revealing at the time of original purchase).
After being told by a jeweler that my super cloudy/yellow opal engagement ring was a lost cause, I found you on reddit and tried this as a last resort. This totally saved it and brought it back to the original quality. Thank you so much ❤
I’m so glad I could help!
I just got my cloudy ring BACK from the jeweler and now it’s totally crystal clear! Did you soak your whole ring? I’m terrified to soak the entire ring setting … but my wedding is a week from today 😅😅😅
@@jamileigh5669I soaked the entire ring in 100% acetone for 4 days, and it didn't harm the opal itself, the diamonds, the white gold band or the yellow gold prongs. Afterwards I tied the ring to a string and let it dangle from a shelf for about 3 days, until all the color came back into the opal. You won't see immediate results, but as it dries over the couple of days you'll see the clear going away and the color gradually returning :)
@@jamileigh5669 silver and gold aren’t harmed by acetone
I just did this to my opal ring and it has blue fire now that wasn't even there when I first bought it! SO HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS
This is important info as Ethiopian opals eventually take over the market. Great job!!!
Not really as those Ethiopian opals ain't worth anything so the trouble to clean them in materials needed and time alone makes it not worth it just go buy a new cheap ass Ethiopian stone... Or better yet don't support cheap ass Ethiopian stone and get a Australian opal that won't ever change colours
Aussie opal are $$$$$$$$
Nice video! That’s interesting seeing that you saturated it with oil first. I have always just put it into acetone directly. But, you can’t argue with success. Congrats!
Thank you :) The saturation with oil was just to show people that there was oil in the stone, and that oil can be pulled out. Also so no one could say “that was just water!”
I just want to thank you so much for this video! My wedding ring had gone completely translucent and I tried everything to get the fire back and nothing worked. I was ready to give up on it and I tried this. OMG it worked the fire is back and I can’t thank you enough!❤
I’m so glad I could help!
That was smart. I would have thought that acetone-to-air might crack the stone (drying too fast). I did a number of variations of “rapidly drying” Welo opal in a video. Putting wet stones in with silica gel was harsh! It appears that “drying out” is the main cause of cracking in Ethiopian opal.
OMG! WoT t-shirt! I doubly respect you now.
It’s my favorite book series :)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I followed exactly and repaired a coconut oil damaged ring!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
This is awesome and super informative! I'll definitely try this out with some of my opals that absorbed oils.
Awesome! One additional note I wish I would have known while making the video. If you have a bezel setting with a closed back, you’ll likely encounter some adversity. You may need to have a jeweler take an End Mill style dremel bit and carefully cut a large hole into the back of the piece so the acetone that’s laden with the broken down oil has somewhere to flow to.
And of course; the bigger the opal, the longer this process may take.
Mine accidentally went in the wash making it yellow and translucent. Did it only for 24 hours as I was scared of soaking it longer. It went a dark amber colour in the acetone. Once I took it out it became milky again. But it still has a yellow tinge not as turquoise as when I bought it. But it looks much better and happy I did it.
It may take a few days to fully return to normal, and if you notice it still hasn’t a month later(something like 0.1% of Ethiopian opals take a super long time to dry out) try a few more acetone soaks. Sometimes it takes multiple soaks. Can’t hurt to try
@@heaveninearthopals3855 thank you will soak it now for the 4 days and see thank you.
@@Zara-fe9qz you’ll only really need to soak it until it goes translucent, then maybe double or triple that time for good luck haha
Amazing!! It works with my Ethiopian opal bracelet, thank you!
Glad to help :)
I have an opal engagement ring that just came back from the jewelry after being cloudy and scratched and it’s totally crystal clear! I am getting married in a week but I’m nervous to put the whole setting in an acetone bath 😬
Under the same name, you can contact me on Facebook. To be entirely honest, it’s a complicated topic and I need a lot more information to figure out how to help the most effectively. I’d be happy to do a short messenger call.
That’s what happened to mine. It was set in water to clean the stones and I didn’t know what would happen and it turned crystal clear yellowish but as it dried it became entirely cloudy
Thank you so much for your video, it worked wonders for my opals that had turned brown. I am so happy!! They are so much better and so relieved. I wanted to ask your advice - as they are not quite back to normal. Is it possible to repeat the process and do the four-day acetone soak a second time to get a better result?
Definitely! Sometimes it takes multiple soaks. You’re not gonna hurt it by keeping it in longer, or continuing to repeat soak and drying. Acetone air, acetone air. Good luck :)
@@heaveninearthopals3855 Thank you so much, that is such a great help. I did the soak once more and the opals are just so beautiful again. I am so pleased with the outcome. Thank you!!!!
This video has helped me so much! So first, thank you!! My engagement ring is an Ethiopian Opal, absolutely beautiful and clear/tons of fire, just so much color. Unfortunately I didn't know what kind of care was needed. I am a coconut oil freak and didn't realize I was hurting it. Since seeing your video I have let it soak in acetone for about 12 hours at a time, and then let it sit in room temp for about 12 hours. Then I did some distilled water. It's much better than it was but now it's mostly milky, not so much fire and opalescence. I'm guessing I should let it sit much longer? Should I do the steps differently? Thank you so much!
@@jennamaguire7318 it’s really hard to say. My suggestion would be a few more acetone soak and drys
In happy to help :)
This video is pretty amazing really
Thank you so much :)
I just tried it! up my opal look so good now. it was pale yellow to begin with
I love that yogurt lol I keep the same jars to soak my opal in acetone😂
Very similar to my process.
Thank you for sharing.
Ur amazing
Does that mean I can soak my opal ring in acetone for 4 days to make it regains its colors? I have an opal pendant on my necklace, which I wear it all the time. After a few months, I realized that my opal turns brown and doesn’t have any other rainbow colors anymore.
Soak as long as needed! 4 days is sort of a baseline, and feel free to do that amount of time over multiple soak and dry phases. Just make sure it’s completely dry or completely wet before initiating the next phase. A bunch of different pressure levels throughout the stone could possibly lead to a crack.
When it comes to jewelry, at first I believed a closed bezel (no open back) was the best setting for ethiopian opal because it didn’t come in contact with the skin very often. However, a closed bezel setting gives the acetone nowhere to go, and there isn’t much flow inside the stones. So even though it will soak more slowly, it’s much harder to fix(requiring a pressure pot).
If you have an open back bezel setting, 4 days of soaking should do the trick(again multiple phases is probably best), and if you have an open backed claw setting, you’re in even better luck!
If you do have a closed back bezel setting, I would suggest having a jeweler take a reverse cup bur and (trapezoidal profile, flat cutting face like an end mill) and cut a hole into the back so the acetone inside the enclosed area now has somewhere to flow.
@@heaveninearthopals3855 oh wow! Thank you so much for the instruction. My pendant has a hole in the back of the opal. The pendant is gold. Will the gold be affected, when I soak my jewelry in the acetone?
@@MrJustingun it shouldn’t be, silver is just fine, and silver tarnished way faster than gold
Oh I see. Thank you so much! 😃
Just put my opal choker in a acetone bath. Excited to see how the color comes back after a few days. After they have been sitting. Do I pat them dry after coming out? Or just let them sit and air dry?
no need to pay it dry, but if you do, no harm will be done. Sorry for the late response
Thanks for the experiment! Do you know if ethiopian opals are affected by vinegar? Im considering using vinegar to clean the metals on jewelry but not sure if it affects the stone.
Not sure, but it sounds like you’re about to find out :D
I found you on reddit, so my opal ring does not have a hole in the back and the stone is pretty well set into it. It's a stainless steel ring, the opal turned completely yellow. Am I able to still do this process?
The surface of the opal can change, but I’d advise getting an inverted cone bit and VERY carefully drilling into the back of the setting, in order to create some flow. That’s my only solution in mind for pieces like that
I'm curious, my opal lost it's color after getting under water. It also got pretty transparent. After letting it dry it is more milky again but still the deep color is missing. What would you recommend? Putting it in acetone? Or first in room temperature oil? And which one? Would be really my last save! Thank you 🙏🏻
@@ichelleschoorl5564 if it was just water, allowing it to dry out would have returned to normal color. That tells me there may have been something else in the stone already, or the water may have had something else dissolved in it.
If this has never been exposed to oils and it’s something that was dissolved in the water, then you could try multiple water soak and dry processes.
It isn’t necessary to put the stone in oil to clean it out. That was just me proving to the audience that the stone did have oil in it, not just water, to show that acetone can remove fat-based contamination.
sir my opal has become almost transparent and its getting yellow too. should i also try this method. kindly reply
the wheel weaves as the wheel wills
Just tried the acetone bath on my opals. I did it several days long, then I let dry then did it again. I repeated on just one opal. One day acetone became slightly yellow. Then I put it in water and later some crevices appeared. My opal is drying now but still Yellow and a chip is missing…😟
Oh no! Any saturation would have forced a present crack in the stone to be more visible by increasing the divide, whether water or acetone. To have sold the piece, the jeweler is very likely to have washed it after polishing. This tells me the stone may have been hit on a wall, or dropped after being set, and formed a small crack, but not showed it yet.
I am only guessing of course, every situation is different. Im sorry to hear about your misfortune.
That's a cool video man ! But what about lemon opal so called fire mexican opal, with no sparkles, I have a few and they became cloudy and milky, as they are hydrophane, oil might clear the cloudiness, do you have an opinion on that, (found a GIA article on oil and Opticon treatment) thanks 🍻
I’m really not sure. As long as acetone can get inside the pores, it can get out, so giving it a try shouldn’t hurt anything
how to change it to black
does this work for Australian opals? I have one and it suddenly turned transparent when i exposed it to the sunlight. and is it sustainable to keep soaking it in acetone everytime it turns transparent? (im planning to wear my opal ring regularly so it might change color every time.)
@@JEANNIEKIMMY Australian opals do not absorb oils, nor do they absorb acetone. They are not porous
@@heaveninearthopals3855 😱😳😨😰 now i wonder why my opal is transparent maybe it’s not australian or idk 🤷🏻♀️
@@JEANNIEKIMMY try posting an image on the r/opals subreddit :)
Do you think new opal welo jewelry should be stored in a water jar to avoid it turning to yellow ? Or maybe cleaning it carefully after wearing it ? Or not store it at all in a box ?
My opal pendants from years ago have all turned to yellow. So I will be trying your tip.
Don’t store Ethiopian jewelry grade opals in water. They’ll go colorless for a day or so while they’re drying out, which would suck to have to wait for a day or so for it to return to normal. There’s no reason to do that.
You can store it in a box, or in open air, it really isn’t as sensitive as some people try to make it out to be.
Does it work with black Ethiopian opal?
@@azilelaufer9831 acetone would go inside the smoked opals just like an untreated one, but I don’t know if it will pull out any of the smoke particles and interfere with the treatment or not
@@heaveninearthopals3855 Not all Black welo is Smoke treated though? I cut some rough myself. After a while in ziplock letting it dry slowly for a couple Weeks the blue came back Great but now that i took it out it’s not clear . I think i will give it a try. Im so glad i found your video. I have mostly welo but some australian. So if they eventually become milky and cloudy i now know what to do. Greetings and thanks from Germany.👍🏻
My beautiful opal ring went yellow, clear, and foggy after only 7 months. The jeweler I bought it from told me to occasionally soak it overnight in mineral water, but that only made it worse. I saw this video and a reddit post by someone who had successfully restored her ring following your method. So I tried it. I just took my ring out of the acetone after 2.5 days and the opal broke! I'm so sad. Is there a reason this could have happened that I wasn't aware of? (The stone was one piece, not a doublet or triplet.)
However, it's only been drying for a few minutes and the fire is already so much better and the stone (both pieces) is turning white again. I might try to glue the pieces back together as a temporary fix until I can afford to replace it. But I'm worried about how to clean a future stone without it breaking as well. Thanks for any advice!
Did you ever find out what happened?
@@pandatortoise559, nope. No idea what happened. I wound up not trying to glue it back together and am just wearing it as is. Hopefully I can get the stone replaced eventually, but for now, I will just keep the broken stone in it. It was just the top of the opal that broke off.
Hello friend,
Opal can crack if it’s exposed to rapid temperature/environmental change, and so to prevent cracking some folks dip it in water after the acetone soak. I’m sorry your stone broke, but I hope the glue is holding up well!
@@moodymaleeha, thanks. The opal actually cracked while it was in the acetone. I wound up not gluing it and just wearing it how it is. It's been a couple months already and it's starting to go yellow again even though I stopped wearing it overnight after applying lotion to my hands as I thought that was contributing to the color change. I'm not sure if I will try to soak it in acetone again or not. It worked well the first time to clear up the color, but if it cracks again there will be no stone left in my ring.
Can I soak my 925 silver opal pendants which has turn translucent in acetone?
Yep!
I've got an opal ring and all the stones are okay except one on the end, which has gone a sort of greeny brown and is transparent. Can I out the whole ring in acetone? I don;t want to ruin the other stones or the 9ct gold! I've shown a jewllwer who's told me that stone needs replacing. Don;t know what to do! but the ring is unwearable
Can this work for Ethiopian that gets water on it and turns to glass?
When water has been the only interaction, the opal will return to normal color within a few days.
@@heaveninearthopals3855unfortunately that's not always the cause. I had that same happening color didn't return 😢 what can I do?
I just found you. My wife and I recently returned from Australia where I bought a pair of boulder opal earrings. That evening she went into the hotel pool while wearing them. The pool water had a salty taste. What was originally primarily green with large flecks of blue and small spots of red is now almost entirely green. Are you familiar with boulder opals? Do you recommend anything which will bring back the colors but not damage the bonded stone and opal? I would greatly appreciate any information, even if it is directions to someone else who could help.
Hope you are able to enjoy this season.
Daniel G.
Did you ever find a cure for this?
@@mctoasty420 no
@@user-lb4vr1ez9j apologies for the lack of reply. I have to be honest, I’ve never once heard of Boulder opal losing its color. It’s possible you were the target of some scamming practices.. I’d be interested to see before and after photos if you have them
Just any regular acetone works?
As long as it’s 100% acetone, and not some blended product
@@heaveninearthopals3855 could you leave it in for 5-6 days? I am so grateful mine is clearing up but it’s just to where I can see through it again and a little bit of fire has come back. Or should I do this process multiple times?
@@lizbizz931 you’ll probably gain more by doing multiple stages to full dry and soak, than by leaving it in for a longer time and doing a single soak. However it could be possible to get more out of it by shaking it around a bit while it’s soaking.
Can i clean it with vodka? Please reply
Avoid using vodka. If you have some type of dirt that alcohol is better at destroying than acetone, use 100% denatured alcohol.
My opal has turned transparent yellowish and has turned black around the corner of silver plating. It's a pendant. Please help me to restore to it's original form with fire
Give the acetone a try!
Do I have to soak it in the oil first? Or can I just use the acetone? And does acetone percentage matter? I have a ring where the main stone is opal and it’s yellowed but the side stones are alexandrite, do you know if that’s okay?
Soaking it in oil first was simply to show people that this isn’t some trick, this gets the oil out. Definitely just go straight to the acetone.
Alexandrite should be completely fine :)
Hi, I have read that if it turns yellow, there's not much I could do to regain it's original state. Would doing this help?
Exactly what it says in the video, which is flush out any foreign materials that are inside the stone, causing alterations to the light transmission properties
so is acetone 100% safe for opals? mine has turned yellow and I would like it to be as beautiful as when I bought it, but knowing how delicate they are I'm terrified of ruining or cracking it
@@carlottaalbiero50 every opal I’ve cut in the past 3 or 4 years has had prolonged exposure to acetone, and not one has been damaged by it.
I won’t give a guarantee, but the chances seem vanishingly slim. I’ve heard one or 2 reports of cracks being revealed, but I’m inclined to believe it has more to do with stones that took damage that hadn’t shown yet, or that were cut without having the proper fracture testing procedures done first.
Thank you for your answer! I convinced myself to try, my opal has never received a knock or similar and is in excellent condition 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
@@carlottaalbiero50 I look forward to hearing the outcome :)
How to heal cracks of opal brother kindly reply
There is no current treatment that hides cracks, thankfully.
Can I soak an uncut welo opal in acetone to bring its color back? It’s becoming clear because of occasional handling
Is it losing its color flash? If not, it’s True Tone is more translucent than opaque. When rough is taken out of the ground it is very wet, then it is died for a few days to a few weeks before being sold.
When cutting opal, a good deal of the white cabochons will turn partially or completely translucent over the course of several months, but still shows good color flash. This is just it’s final state. It’s one of the reasons I wait a few months before listing stones for sale.
I imagine the same exact thing can happen with gem rough if you let it sit around for long enough
So can I use coconut oil on an Ethiopian water opal? To regain it's luster?
Nope, this video shows how acetone removes oil from stones. Oil will remove the color, which is why we want to remove the oil.
It worked for my Ethiopian opal. But I just soaked it overnight. I can still see some transparent part inside. Should I soak it for 3-4 days?
Some part inside is still translucent. But most of the surface is already opaque
@@tomasitoangsuta9318 yep, keep trying the soak till it more thoroughly permeates the stone. Some stones have more space in their silica structure than others
I have opal with a white base, my Opal also seems to absorb a little of the oil that is between the claws of the teeth on the ring, and changes the side that is affected by the oil to become clear. how do you get the basic color of opal back to normal
As long as there is an opening in the back of the setting and acetone can flow, soak the piece in acetone or alcohol like is showed in the video. Multiple purge/dries are usually necessary. Make sure to use a soft bristle brush and clean out any residue remaining so it doesn’t immediately start to soak in again
@@heaveninearthopals3855 I have done the same thing as in your video, but after 1 day of soaking in acetone opals it is still clear, what are the next steps? do I have to dry it after soaking it with acetone?
Does the color come back when soaked in acetone, or do you have to remove it first and wash off the residue from the acetone and then dry the opals?
I have a question i need help with I bought some Ethiopian blue electric opal and it has some purple in there to when the light gets it and it's only 1.40 caret in size it's fully natural opal no smoked or dyed but the seller said the opal is corrected by colour innings what dose this mean
Sounds like It’s dyed blue
@@heaveninearthopals3855 hi I ended up doing a bunch of research and I've actually hand polished like 4 different Ethiopian opal's that looks amazing in color glad I got scammed now I know to actually do research Im just doing it as a hobby and maybe make a little money from something I like doing
hi! what does the opal look like when it’s in the acetone? Do you not see change until you take it out after and let it dry?
Did you place it in water for a minute after the acetone soak or just took it out and let it dry?
@@paytonhutchison4210 straight to drying. Opal soaked in acetone looks the same as when it’s soaked in water, just translucent
My jeweler cleaned my opal ring with an ultrasonic and ammonia, my white base opals look like dark amber. Will this help?
Steer clear of ultrasonic by all means. Sometimes it doesn’t break and sometimes it does.
Ultrasonic will definitely crack Ethiopian opals.
Cleaning opals must be a slow gentle process such as described in the video.
Just dump them in acetone for a few days.
Hey my opal was blue but lost its color and is now yellow how can i fix this?
Give the steps outlined in this video a shot :) if your opal was blue as a result of dye, it’s a different conversation. Many opals sold by disreputable dealers have unlisted dye/smoke treatments
Would rubbing alcohol do the same?
Only use pure substances, such as denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol seems to do a tiny bit better at some types of dirt, like some types of lotion. Acetone does better with grease/oil/fat
What acid you used at end brother?
Acetone
Can I use vegetable oil ?
Oil is not to be used intentionally. I’m simply doing this to show people that the stone is in fact saturated with oil, and that acetone can remove it
Stop giving wrong information man! This in fact destroyed the opals completely.
Why not just buy FINE OPAL TO BEGIN WITH? THESE are commercial grade at best. As a fine bench jeweler since 1969 and opal buyer cutter seller since 1973 my 2 cents. Ethiopian opals since 2008 have been my love. Buy the Best....
I love them too! Feel free to take a look at Heaven-in-Earth.com to check out some fine ethiopian opals that I cut myself.