Indigo Raindrops Boulder Opal Pendant

Stunningly blue, this opal reminds us of an impressionist painting, a rainy twilight evening captured in gemstone. Using this as inspiration, we created the frame to resemble raindrops sliding down glass. 

This Boulder opal was found in the Yakara Mine. It is 3.10 carats and measures 19.9 x 6 x 2.6mm. It's accented with just one single cut antique diamond, gleaming bright beneath the opal.

Sterling silver setting with an adjustable sterling chain. Designed and hand crafted by the good folks at Wexford Jewelers

Boulder opal is comprised of opal material found in small deposits in ironstone. Mining this unique stone requires a sharp eye to seek out the ribbons of rainbow in the desert rock formations. Boulder opal is found primarily in the desert outback of Queensland, Australia, in cracks, crevices and cavities. Silica from dissolved sand trickled down cracks and crevices in ironstone boulders and the silica precipitated out of this solution to form these radiant colors. Generally, the opal is found within boulders which need to be broken open. These are found in clay layers just above the ironstone, and sometimes tons of rock must be hand-processed to find a few precious stones.

The stonecutter has to be particularly skilled to showcase the opal material, and there will often be ripples of ironstone featured in each unique piece. What's perfect about the ironstone base is that it lends strength to the stone itself. 

Each piece is unique, and this stone was ethically and environmentally mine and cut by a woman-owned business right in Queensland.