I have loads of really colourful small opals and chips available, so decided to go through them and find material suitable for 3-4-5mm opal studs. This is some of the material in the picture, unfortunately not every opal this size will actually cut into a stone with colour in, so it can be a bit hit and miss, especially when you're trying to avoid leaving too much sand or blemishes in the finished round. Hopefully there will be a few useable stones to make some high quality earstuds up!
There are loads of blues and green, some reds, gold etc.
Will post update picture with some of the results soon.
I have the findings available to make the studs up in 18k gold and silver, first need the rounds though.
Couple of pics below show rough before cutting and after cutting and polishing.
