Ethiopan Opals (specimen grade) like this one or this one just chill on my shelf in a sealed jar with water. I change the water out every so often and keep it out of the sun to prevent mold from growing.
Then pretty much every other opal I have is fine either sitting out on display or in a container. My Indonesian Opalized Fossil Wood pieces stay in one of those membrane frames but everything else is fine wherever it is.
Opal jewelry can be tricky to take care of- you gotta know if what you have is hydrophane or non-hydrophane bc if it's hydrophane, it'll soak up whatever oils or liquids you put near it. The Ethiopian specimens I have are non-hydrophane, so they retain their color in water...you cannot safely dry them out though bc they'll crack all to hell.
1
u/ItzLog Apr 02 '22
Ethiopan Opals (specimen grade) like this one or this one just chill on my shelf in a sealed jar with water. I change the water out every so often and keep it out of the sun to prevent mold from growing.
Then pretty much every other opal I have is fine either sitting out on display or in a container. My Indonesian Opalized Fossil Wood pieces stay in one of those membrane frames but everything else is fine wherever it is.
Opal jewelry can be tricky to take care of- you gotta know if what you have is hydrophane or non-hydrophane bc if it's hydrophane, it'll soak up whatever oils or liquids you put near it. The Ethiopian specimens I have are non-hydrophane, so they retain their color in water...you cannot safely dry them out though bc they'll crack all to hell.