What are Lab Created Opals?

What are Lab-created or Synthetic Opals?

Lab created opals are man-made opals that have the same chemical composition, internal structure, physical properties, and appearance as natural opals. They are often called lab-created opals, lab-grown opals, or cultured opals to indicate their man-made origin. 

Lab crated opals are also an earth friendly option as they are not mined gemstones.

Lab opals are grown by using the same natural basic ingredients and forces as mined opals. Multiple layers of silicates are compressed together with water in a laboratory to actually grow the crystals. However, rather than taking 5 - 6 million years (as does natural opal to form), this same process is simply sped up. 

These synthetic opals exhibit a spectacular play-of-color appearance that often exceeds the beauty of many natural precious opal. 

In fact many synthetic opals look so much like natural opal that trained gemologists can have difficulty separating them from natural opals.