You may have noticed that we have become a little opal obsessed lately. These pretty iridescent gems have become the focal point of our brand new Cleopatra collection.
Opals are the national stone of Australia and the majority of the earth's opal supplies originate here, so perhaps we are accidentally being a little patriotic in our choice! Though to be honest, mostly we are obsessed with the rainbow of colours and sparkle of these gemstones.
image from Gem Stories on Flickr
image from Our new handcrafted jewellery range
Cleopatra uses genuine simulated opals. A simulated opal is manmade and created in a lab to have a similar striking appearance and chemical characteristics as naturally occurring opals.
This creates a stone that both far more affordable than natural opal and also has significantly increased durability and stability. As simulated opals don't contain water, unlike natural opals, they are far less venerable and prone to cracking and breakage with wear and in changes of temperature and humidity. We also really appreciate the reduced environmental impact of using simulated opal - it is definitely less destructive than drilling stone out of the ground!
image from fannyfoodbeam.com
image from Shop the Cleopatra Collection here