Giveaway Entries!!! Video Ideas/suggestions

Hi,

I recently got my first rough opal. It's quite a big piece of Coober Pedy Crystal Opal. It will take me a fair while till I get all the stones out of it. So far, I only saw some quite small pieces in it, very crystal like, all colors of the rainbow and bigger slightly milkier ones where the color sits in it. Now my question is, could you make a video to show some of your crystal opal collection and give some advice on what to do with them and which cutting forms are preferred. Because I'm afraid that most of my crystal opals will be too milky to cut cabochons. I'm a totally beginner and would be happy about any tips that you can give me. Thanks, cheers

Hi my name is Matthew Distefano i would like to see a video with black fire opal with script pattern if u can I love opals nothing ore beautiful than opal

Hi My name is Steve and i am addicted to Opal. It has been 4hrs since i last touch some rough lol. Would love to see you cut some stone from a random bag of rough purchase off web as if you was a novice and not experienced buyer. Show us what we can possibly achieve and what to look out for once you receive the bag. Thanks legend i am learning so much. 🤞

Always happy to watch vids that show the process and reveal from rough to finished stone.

Hi Roy,

I would love to see some tipps on how to choose a good opalized fossil and how to know what it was before. Besides that I have absolutely no idea on how much such fossils with play of color would cost or where to get them at a trust worthy website online.

Thanks for all the helpful information you are giving to us!

Looking forward to see more,

Greets from Austria 🇦🇹

Chris

Merry cristmas, I`d love to see more crystal opal carving and polishing.

Hey Roy, I'd love to see more videos of you attempting to make a buck to two out of a cheap and cheerful parcel. Everyone loves a gamble.

I put this on the YouTube video but my request is to see you make a mosaic or stained glass piece with all the extra chunks/failed pieces/cracked material.

G'day Roy, thanks for the great year. It would be awesome to see some indo fossil opal. Cheers

Would love to see more on carving ethiopian opal, especially focusing on choosing faces

I'd love to see a video on photographing opals. I've tried using macro devices from Amazon for my iPhone, but it just never turns out good. Other than that, I'm a fan of any opal cutting/polishing video you put out. Every video teaches me something new.

Love your videos. Would definately like to see more on Boulder Opal. It's such a cool opal and so varied in how you approach working it. Excited to see some more!!

Boulder boulder boulder, yes. Ethiopian no. I'm a fan, so anything you wanna do on video is cool with us, even if its been done to death, no one does it like you, so, it hasnt been done to death if you havent done it. I would love to know how much the luckiest noodling 13 year old loved his opals, i loved the whole series. I beg pardon if thats a dont wanna talk about it thang. Love You Dude. Kevlar

I would not mind more tutorial videos, but I would like explanations of why you use specific tools over others and at which point in the process. I would not mind if you explained why you prefer certain brands over others too.

Hi Roy, Which type of Opal to start on and why that type. then once comfortable with the progress which opal of a better quality to get some nice stones. Is hand polishing the way to start or a dremel ? Also like to know the best why to buy the nicer stones ? Where do you get yours ?

Thank you Roy!! Nella mia vita non ho mai avuto un Opale!! È il grande sogno della mia vita!! Ci provo sempre a partecipare!!! Chissà se un giorno realizzerò mai il mio sogno!! Grazie per l'opportunità!!! FINGER crossed!! 🤍💛❤️🧡💚💙💜🤎🤎🥳🤞🙏🍀🥰

Hi Roy , I would like to see something on how to cut boulder opals . As in which way, to get the best look out of it !

Merry Christmas! I think making an opal dice set would be a challenge and look amazing when finished! D4-D20!

Hi Roy

besides all these great ideas I have a nice piece of ridge I would love to see you carve up live 😁

cheers

Peter

Ok so I know I have already suggested a video of calibrating cabochons so they can be set into jewelry for an easier profit...but I've been wanting to suggest a video in which you showcase your favorite gems that you have polished "The Best of Roy's Rocks" and another I'd just love to see is a video showing ALL of the opals in your collection "Roy's Rocks'Opal Collection" and of course my first idea "How to calibrate your opals so you can set them in jewelry so you can sell your work so you can buy more opals because you are an opalholic using only the Dremel because most of us can't afford a cabbing machine video" ...um I'm still working on that last title 😂

Well that's it... Happy Holidays everyone and thanks Roy for the opportunity and for everything you do for us opalholics!

Hi Roy and Roy Rockers,

Making a stone to fit into findings, This will allow people to have a much larger market for their stones, even just for making presents for family & friends, but also for markets and online sites.

If people can use th stones they have, It will allow them to buy more stones, which would also help the miners and opal industry as a whole.

Merry Christmas to all, xx

I would like to see some more videos about the best way to get into not only buying opal, but were to buy it. A couple reputable places to buy the opal. I really like the videos were you show step by step how you go about getting around problem. It helps to get knowledge that i can use. I am just starting to get into opal so i am bing watching all your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. It would really help me out to see a video on what the most inexpensive way i can get into opal would be and if there is a way to know or guarantee i will be able to make money off what i am purchasing. I see you have some videos ki da like this but if you could go into detail that would be great. Now i am going to keep bing watching your videos.

Andamooka concrete shaping treating and sealing would be great.

I’ve seen you do the topic before, but would like to see something updated on what to look for when purchasing online. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on it, but a few months ago I was burnt pretty bad on a purchase I just knew was going to give me something. By the end it looked like I purchased sandballs that some one pasted glitter on. Just wasn’t much opal to work with at all. I stepped back a few months after that. I haven’t gotten into the parcels from the Blacklighters yet as I am hoping they will reignite my love for opal again. Before I do I just wanted to regather and process more information on what I should be looking for again.

Loving the new website mate . now I know you are a novice at this but I’m sure you still know more than many , can you do a beginners video of some silver smithing ? we all love carving opal and to many it is the next logical step ….. if not silver smithing then general ideas on how to set and mount to findings and blanks etc as well as where to find them.

cheers matti.

Would be cool to do a video with opal from around the world and there unique

I hope this won't be seen as cheating by adding another entry, but reading through the comments made me realize that I would love your take on something that bothered me while looking for which rough to buy: Is there some way to get miners/sellers to stop slicing seam opal into thin slices where the opal is just a tiny dot instead of along the seam so the buyer can do the deciding on which way to face the stone? It seemed to me that so much great material was ruined by the way it was cut up, but for all I know it may be my lack of experience showing.

Would love to see you attack a chunk of boulder and what goes through your head during. :)

I feel like I'm not knowledgeable enough to give ideas for a show but here it goes.

I've come across so many people who want to know how to set up a workshop to cut and polish opal. Nothing crazy, maybe an easy setup. I know you have videos showing what anyone would need but a simple setup to get people started.

-easy dremmel setup (I came up with a cool station with drip)

-flap lap setup (made my own but you probably better ideas)

-make a simple Cabbing Machine (I've come up with a simple one under $325 us. I can share with you if need but you probably don't need my help, lol)

If I could help in anyway, I'm here for you anytime as a thank you for all you have done for me.

Konstantin

I would love to see tips on the best way to shape, cut and polish Andamooka concrete. I have quite a bit of it in random shapes and would love to see how others think on the best way to get the most from odd shapes.

Love the boulder opal would like to see you go out to the opal field's

Would love to see you carve some concrete or matrix then treat it?

Hey Roy. I would like to hear suggestions or techniques on how to judge rough parcels to buy. Also if you have any suggestions for places to buy from. Thank you for the opportunity to win.✌❤

Now that I have bought and am waiting for my first opals, I wonder how many others are slowly gathering little shards and pieces of opals that were not good enough for a propere gem in order to use them in a piece of art? I saw a snippet in a video from the Andamooka Post Office that had a few pieces of art on the wall, and I desperately want to see more! Please make a video of unusual ways to display the beauty of even tiny stones, and perhaps even try to illustrate it by using some of your hoard and some silly putty or something that will temporarily hold them in positions relative to each other! If I am lucky enough to be chosen, I will be in great need of sintered bits and cerium oxide soon, and I will definitely film some of my attempts at ruining some boulder opal...

I'd love to see more Dremel boulder opal videos. 😁

I would like more info on what to look for when buying rough parcels or the techniques you use on deciding which parcels to buy.

Definitely need to do more super thin colour bars🙏

An idea? It’d be cool to see an opal mosaic of your channel logo. Not impossible, but would definitely be super cool.

any chance you could show how you pick parcels of opals, how to read the opal to cut them

Ok…I’ve already posted one comment, but I wonder if you ever work other types of opals, such as Leopard Opal, Louisiana Opal, or Mexican Fire Opal? Not quite as exciting as Australian opal, but still fun and each with its own challenges. I‘d love to learn more about these as well!

A video for beginner on purchasing opal from different regions

another question how do you store your opals when cutting then polishing and the final product

I'ld love to learn how to treat boulder opal to make the iron stone turn black. They look absolutely amazing! 😊

Hi Roy. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch you live. I like the flat lap idea and build. KFC?? Might be more valuable and rare than Opal pretty soon if they don't get the bird flu under control. They have been having issues with it around my area. 😬 Great information as usual in the video!

Hi Roy Great video , I would like to see you do a collaboration with Phil from opal mills , and also I remember you talking about a video demonstrating photography with a Polaroid lens , and a video of you making a silver something with soldering , and maybe a video of how you make your videos , keep up your Great work , all the Best , Andy ( fishwithandy )

Rats. missed the live today (YouTube notification came in late 😥) Anyways, I have a bug in my brain now Thanks Roy 🙄😆 and I would love to see some more Owyhee opal cut or carved at some stage.

I’d love to learn how to work Andamooka…I’m told it needs to be treated and I’ve no idea how to do that.

I would like an explanation of tolerances allowed in calibrated stones like a 6x4 can it be 6.2x6.3 and what would be the maximum tolerance allowed please

Hi, thank you for the opportunity!

I'd personally like to see more Boulder opal work: 1. More Dremel exploration work

2. Some seam splitting if you have appropriate stones

3. How would you decide whether to use the dremel or try to split?

4. Polishing Boulder, particularly Boulder with soft ironstone included on the face, what options are there?

I have already put up my suggestion on YouTube for more Boulder opal but to add to it…Does Boulder opal differ depending on where it is mined? If so, I would love to see the differences pointed out. Thanks, Linda

have some boulder opal from nick hoops one very large one and it has multiple possibility's for cutting how do i decide what to cut what do i look for

Hey Roy! What a great idea to cover some suggestions in videos. I have so many ideas, but I don't have the time to cover them myself. Happy enough to find time for some cutting.. So here are actually some ideas I was planning to write to you about. Maybe you find some interesting as well: 1. Ethiopian opal base colors: from crystal/water (not meaning non-hydrophane), to dark grey, yellow, purple, pink, blue, green, etc. base colors. How can we distinguish a base color, when there is no matrix material (other than white / dark)? How do we get the right hue..?

2. Variants of honeycomb pattern in ethiopian opal: Formation of digits in ethiopian opal, regular honeycomb (is it round, is it hexagonal, what really?), Snakeskin, fishscale, dragonscale, leopard, inverted, others, synonyms? 3. Loupe quality checking of cut, pre-polish, polish with loupe: How should a surface look under the loupe, when polished with different grits? How does it look, when a specific step was not done good and I need to go back to the previous step. 4. Photographing opals: It is different than for other gems. How to bring out all the colorplay. How the lighting and camera position should be, when taking macro - photos. 5. Defining shape and orientation of cuts: what is more important: orientation or shape and size. How to determine how opals should face and how to determine the shape. Thanks for your contributions, it is always fun to seeing your content!

I've always wondered why people only slab & cab boulder opal... It would be one heck of a challenge and take time, but how cool would it be if someone took the time to carve away all the ironstone leaving nothing both the thin, organic-form opal layer exposed! Thinking that using a thicker slab or a yowah nut would be pretty spectacular and make a pretty cool

It's an almost impossible task to suggest future videos for your channel which I'm sure is part of the reason for you asking 😜 but I appreciate another chance (and so soon)to possibly win some material to cut as I've been out for months and it has been driving me crazy 🤣. The recent video on stepping down the edge to check the color bars I haven't seen anywhere else, I thought the A.I. imagining opal was sheer genius so kudos and I've learned everything about the rotary tool and all it's points not to mention I've seen every type of opal from every corner of the world (some I didn't know existed and I'm an opalholic) and learned how to cut each one with the only tool I could afford to cut it with instead of all these $4,000 machines all the other channels of opal cutters were using so without your channel I would probably have never taken the plunge and bought my first opal parcel which I bought from a seller that I saw on one of your videos 😏 and I would have never cut my first gem and for that I'm forever grateful....all that being said 😂 my only suggestion is possible do something you haven't done in a while since I think you have covered all the bases it would seem the one I'd like to see most is calibrated cabachons! I mean it's what I have the hardest time with when I'm using the Dremel...I usually resort to sand paper after getting rough shape... well my thumb is getting tired... thanks again for another opportunity my friend.

Your videos are very well done. Love seeing new content. One possible video would be a noob video series (playlist) show from the beginning, where to get opals, what to start with before getting expensive ones, how to determine which way to cut one. Move onto other series that get more advanced. A progressive series that is easy to search or play as a list.

Hey Roy

Ide love to see a bit more on boulder as I've never personally had the opportunity to work with it yet, or have you ever worked with fire opal I've heard it's hard to come by, there is a place not far from me that says they sell it but im sceptical and yet to go look lol. Anyway love your videos keep up the good work ;)

I'd love a video on buying opal, particularly for beginners. I've got a bit of learning material but have no idea on what I should be looking at next.

I would love to see a carvers take on treated Andamooka matrix opal. Would you treat boulder fairy (matrix) opal?

I’m relatively new to watching opal videos. I would love for you to do a video of the different kinds of opals in the rough, showing examples of each one and let us know which is the easiest for you to work with. Also in this video, I would love for you to explain all the different patterns in opals and show examples of the patterns. Thanks, Roy!

The forum is messing with my writing. I suggest step by step comparison in handling different types of opal, going through why it differs etc.

Hey Roy,

I’m wondering if you know anything about the material that the WA crew in Opal Hunters were searching for- which they called “fire opal”? Have you worked with any of it? Also maybe a vid on different opal deposits/ specimens from around the world- especially the European deposit near Prešov, Slovakia, which I know nothing about. Cheers mate

how about some more info about using a small light to check uot the opals and where to get a good one

I think different patterns are worth explaining in Aus opal, especially LR stones. It can really change the value substantially on a finished stone

Ohhhhhh yaaaaaaaaa! I'd like to suggest a TOPIC and a STYLE if that's ok. Topic: Roy rocks the flat lap. Justin recently thew down the gauntlet by posting a video about opal carving with a dremmel. Opal honor demands a swift response! Style: Video should be produced in the style of 1980s American professional wrestling personality of your choice, perhaps Macho Man Randy Savage.

I like videos when you give out tips about tools and the craft in general. Things you can only know if you have a few years of experience with opals.

Maybe some opals you have never tried carving. Or just a video of your favorite ones

1) A tier list of your favourite opals around the world

2) Some more information on crystal opals

would love to see you make a video of trying to make a cheap lapidary machine if you could

I don't know if you ever work with any opal that's not Australian, but maybe you could do a video on something like Mexican cherry opal.

You could talk about the different approach required due to lesser hardness, or maybe make some facets or figurines even?

Maybe try to carve something out of potch (eventually even a little coulour in it) in an interresting form like an animal or something like that. It's a hell of work but could be fun to try out. And thanks for the entry chance once again.

Maybe a video on the different patterns and what is your favourite

I would love to see a video explaining the differences between the varieties of opal that you work with.

I have recently come across your youtube channel and I love to see how you tackle different challenges. I would love to see a video where you show all different kinds of opal and the challenges that come with each and the best ways to tackle them.

Boulder opals are my favorite. I need more direction on angles to cut to get the best/most colors on the face

I would love to see you do a full cab from start to finish with the dremel 💜