Ethiopian Welo opal, white and crystal

White and crystal opal, each bead flashing its own way.

Hold a strand of white Welo to a window and the beads read like frosted glass, until one turns and a patch of green lifts out of it, then orange, then blue. The crystal beads go further: bodies close to colorless, with the color floating inside, so you look through the bead and into the flash at the same time. No two match, even on one strand. Makers reach for them because each bead behaves differently in the light of a room.

Where it comes from

Opal from Ethiopia began entering the gem and jewelry market in 1994, after a small find put the country on the opal map. Material from Mezezo has been known since the mid-1990s for its brown play-of-color, called chocolate opal. The find that changed the trade came in 2008, near the village of Wegel Tena in Wollo province in the north, in volcanic rock. That deposit runs mostly white, with some brown, some fire opal, and some colorless crystal opal, and its play-of-color is often very vivid. Gemologists describe it as opal-CT, with inclusions of pyrite, barium-manganese oxides and native carbon, and some pieces show interpenetrating digit patterns. Another important discovery followed in 2013. Welo is now the opal most often seen in the trade, and beads are one of the most popular things cut from it. Ours are cut in Jaipur, India, and chosen strand by strand in Cupertino, California.

What tradition says

Opal carried meaning in ancient Rome, where it stood for love and hope, and the Roman name opalus was used as a word for precious stone in general. In 75 AD Pliny wrote that some opals hold a play of color equal to the deepest and richest colors of painters, while others seem to hold the flaming fire of burning sulphur or the bright blaze of burning oil. Later collectors gave great opals names of their own: Pandora, Light of the World, Empress. Writers have compared the stone to volcanoes, galaxies and fireworks. Opal is the October birthstone, and tradition ties it to hope.

These are beliefs people have held about the stone, told as tradition. They are not claims, and not advice.

How makers use it

Drops are the piece to start with. A pear at 7x9mm hangs well on an earring wire or a fine chain, and one bead is enough for a pendant. Nuggets keep the organic edge people want in boho and bridal work, and their uneven faces catch color from more directions. Marquise beads run long here, out to 10x40mm, which suits a single center drop rather than a repeated pattern. Pair any of them with gold fill or oxidized silver. A brighter bead flashes green, orange and blue from several angles instead of one narrow tilt. Opal is light: figure about 20 carats per 8 inches at 4mm. We list three strands.

Looking after it

Welo is hydrophane and drinks water. Take it off for showers, swimming and lotion. If a bead clouds or goes glassy, set it somewhere dry and leave it a few days to come back. Keep it away from ultrasonic cleaners and heat, and store it apart from harder stones.

Sources: Play-of-Color Opal from Wegel Tena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia | Gems & Gemology, Ethiopian Opals | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Ethiopian Opals - Precious, Fire and Common Opal, Geochemical and Petrological Characterization of Gem Opals from Wegel Tena, Wollo, Ethiopia: Opal Formation in an Oligoc