Tiger's Eye Crushed Opal - The Opal Dealer

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Tiger's Eye Crushed Opal

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Product Description

Harness your inner determination with our Tiger's Eye Crushed Opal. This captivating lab-created opal is inspired by the precious Tiger's Eye gemstone, with its distinct chatoyancy and earthy tones. It features a rich golden-brown base that shifts with brilliant flashes of red, orange, and black fire, as if a wild tiger's gaze is captured within each stone. A powerful and unique choice for your collection of ring making supplies and jewelry making supplies, this synthetic opal will bring a touch of natural elegance and strength to your craft projects.

Product Specifications

Material	Synthetic Crushed Opal (Silica & Polymer)
Color Play	Primary: Light Brown \| Fire: Rainbow
Grain Sizes	Fine (0.3mm - 0.5mm), Medium (1mm - 2mm)
Hardness	4 on the Mohs scale
Heat Resistance	Up to 250°F / 120°C

Why Choose Our Crushed Opal?

Earthy Fire & Color: Meticulously grown to display a beautiful mix of golden brown and red with powerful, fiery flashes.
Unmatched Stability: Guaranteed not to crack, craze, or yellow over time, offering superior durability over natural opal.
Easy to Work With: Softer composition is perfect for inlay, turning, and cabbing without splintering.
Coverage: One gram is enough for 3-5 standard ring inlays or to fill a 1.5" x 1.5" (4cm x 4cm) area at a depth of approx. 1mm.

Creative Applications

Jewelry & Ring Inlay: Ideal for creating rugged, elemental, or nature-themed custom jewelry.
Custom Woodworking: Fills knots and voids with a pop of earthy, powerful color.
Resin Art & Casting: The perfect choice for creating natural-looking art pieces, warm coasters, and bold pendants.
Pen Turning: Craft custom pen blanks that evoke the classic and powerful beauty of a tiger's eye gemstone.

Pro-Tip: The opal's true vibrancy is revealed when "wet" or mixed with a binder (like resin or CA glue). For the most dramatic fire, use a dark base, such as black paint or dyed epoxy, to enhance the contrast against the red and orange flashes.

Everything You Need to Know About Crushed Opal

About Our Crushed Opal

Our Crushed Opal is a high-quality, lab-created material composed of silica and polymer. The polymer stabilizes the opal, making it significantly more durable and far less prone to cracking or crazing. These are common issues in natural opals that often make them unsuitable for everyday wear, especially in jewelry that sees regular use.

Natural opal is beautiful but fragile, and many jewelers advise against wearing it daily. Our synthetic opal solves that problem. It retains the vibrant look of natural opal while offering the strength and stability needed for long-term, daily use.

Thanks to its slightly softer composition, our synthetic opal is also easier to work with. It is ideal for turning, cabbing, inlay, and other artistic applications. It resists fading over time and holds up well against common chemicals such as acetone and alcohol.

How Our Synthetic Opal Is Made

Our synthetic opal takes approximately one year to grow in a highly controlled environment. During this slow and meticulous process, uniform silica spheres self-assemble into a highly ordered lattice through sedimentation. This internal structure is what gives opal its signature play-of-color.

Once the opal structure is fully formed, it is carefully dried using controlled conditions that preserve the integrity of the silica lattice. After drying, the porous material is impregnated with a polymer resin under vacuum. This stabilizes the opal’s structure, enhances its optical brilliance, and transforms it into a vibrant, gem-quality synthetic opal.

After the opal has fully formed, it is cut into rough stones, then crushed and sifted into four optimized sizes:

LARGE: 2 to 3mm pieces
MEDIUM: 1 to 2mm pieces
FINE: 0.3 to 0.5mm pieces
POWDER: Ultra-fine particles

How Lab-Created Crushed Opal Performs

Our product photos show Crushed Opal in its "wet" state, which is how it will appear once a binding medium such as adhesive, resin, or nail polish is applied. This is when the opal’s full vibrancy and depth of color are revealed, especially under natural lighting.

Please note:

Due to the crushing process, some pieces may appear less colorful when dry. (Incorporating the opal into your project will show its full potential)
Fine and Powder sizes may look lighter in their dry form but become much more vibrant when used.
Color appearance may vary slightly depending on your screen settings.

Crushed Opal Heat Resistance

Our Crushed Opal can tolerate heat up to 266°F (130°C). Use caution when applying heat, especially with tools like torches or soldering irons, and proceed at your own risk. This product is NOT compatible with borosilicate glass.

Shipping & Processing

Processing Times & Shipping Offers:

Processing Times: 1-3 Business Days *Unless otherwise specified
US orders over $35 are eligible for Free Ground Shipping via USPS (estimated 3-5 business days)

Reviews

Fierce

I'd say this would be a bit more towards the "lava" looking side of things. The stones go from a dull grey/charcoal, even a brown or black, but then in direct light there's piercing neon orange shimmer, reminiscent of a traffic safety cone. It's definitely eye-catching and will look wild when thrown in the mix of colors.

Thank you Dave for taking the time to share your feedback with us! Your input really helps us improve :) Don't forget that you can paint your inlay space brown before adding your crushed opal to truly capture that soft brown base color of the Tigers Eye shade.

First time buyer...

...the Tiger Eye Opal (fine) is absolutely brilliant. You can't look at the Opal matching what the stone looks like. You need to think in terms of the stone getting crushed. In that respect it works so well. My first experience here and they'll be on my preferred suppliers list. Excellent over-all experience.

Thank you so much for your kind words Thomas! We are so glad to hear this We would love to see your work. Please feel free to share your work with us via email (support@theopaldealer.com) or tag us on socials (@theopaldealer). Thank you for your support!