Edward Ernst - Opal Workbench

08/31/2026

The fire agates and sapphire pendants have been done for over a week. Today I completed all the rest. Everything above the bottom row is an opal. I got some different size earrings and pendant mounts this week. Some of these opals have been sitting around for years waiting for a new home. I have about 25 more that are ready to set. None of these are listed yet. Tons of work to come and many more to set. Fun times.

These are all sterling silver and the price will range from about $60 to $300 each.

08/22/2026

A jeweler's lot.

If these don't find a new home, I'll set them in gold and sell as completed jewlery.

Left tear drop: 3 carats on the dot. Red, blue, teal, and green flash. Calibrated to 17mm x 9mm. $450.

Middle oval: 3.35 carats. Green, orange, red, blue, and a bit of yellow. Calibrated to 14mm x 10mm. $335.

Left tear dop: 3.65 carats. Orange, yellow, green, red, and blue. Calibrated to 19mm x 10mm. $365.

Backs are polished and edges are chamfered. Prices are Etsy pricing. Will only sell as a lot. Facebook price is $1,000 for all.

08/15/2026

Here are a few I'm working on. I need to fix and polish the silver still. Better pictures to come.

There was a fire agate that was in the rough and broken oddly. It was broken in a way that there was not a good option to cut for color normally, but from the side, it had colorful rays, so I went for it and it came out very nice. Better than the pictures. I'll have to do a better job when I go to list them.

Also, the clear yellowish stone is a sapphire. It was not clean enough to cut, but it made a good cab.

07/08/2026

I wanted to do a fire agate in gold. I didn't have any ready, so I found one that was part of the first group of jewelry I made a year ago. For comparison, the old sterling silver setting is shown in the last two pictures. Also, while I had the stone out of the setting, I did a little touch-up since I have better tools for it than I did a year ago. The difference shows a bit in the pictures.
This is now set in 14k white gold with a 18" white gold chain. The fire agate has vibrant green and a touch of blue at the bottom. The stone is about 14mm wide by 13 mm high. It weighs 4.8 carats. $900.

07/06/2026

I'm usually working on more than one piece at a time, otherwise I would be doing nothing while waiting in between steps. I was able to start and complete this one while working on the other one with two stones. This one has a nice lavender hue with greens, yellows, and oranges mixed in. It will get listed today or tomorrow. $400 includes the pictured sterling silver chain.

07/04/2026

What a pain this one has been.... It was almost done and I messed up the top setting. I then cut it off and fabricated it from scratch again. It is not set, but the bottom one is. It would mess up the setting to pull it out, so I'm trying to solder a link between without causing more damage. Time for a break to celebrate the fourth. Hopefully I can get it finished and polished up by the end of the weekend.

07/04/2026

This one had been finished for a while, but it was not sitting well with me, so Imade changes. I mostly removed the prong and changed the bail to make it match proportions better. It came out well.

This Pendant Necklaces item is sold by OpalWorkbench. Ships from La Quinta, CA. Listed on Jul 3, 2026

07/01/2026

That came out better than I thought it would.

23 carat fire agate in sterling silver. All the work was done by me.

06/30/2026

I want to cut and polish more stones, but I have a dozen or two ready to go, so I'm starting to make jewlery instead. This is going to be a nice piece! These are some progression pictures. I hope to finish this one tomorrow, but we will see if I find the time.
I cut the bezel down to match the profile of the stone. I need to add some prongs and attach the bail.