Everyone loves opals! And we have three amazing kinds to tell you about including new precious blue opal and picture opals from Arizona!

Learn to cut a free-form opal and make a jazzy ring for it. Plus, learn tab setting as you make a copper and fossil coral pendant; learn bezel setting as you make a coquina pendant -- and learn all about this earthy, patterned stone, plus another graphic-patterned gem called Chinese writing stone.

Master overlay soldering as you create a multi-gem pendant with partial bezels. Plus, discover the most frequently asked soldering questions, and have them answered by soldering pro Lexi Erickson!

Discover designer gem sets that play the sparkle of faceted stones off the natural textures of cabochon gems. Find great tips for getting the most from your facet rough by learning when and where to saw it into smaller pieces, and revisit the Swirl Step Cut, now updated with the help of GemCad.

And find all the tools, supplies, and services you need for jewelry making, gem cutting, selling your jewelry and gems in the Annual Buyers’ Directory inside this issue!

In every issue, you will be amazed at the amount of information packed into these pages:  

• Fall in love with Cool Tools & Hip Tips by Helen Driggs, where you will gain insight on the hottest tools and expert information on using them to improve your jewelry designs.
• Get ready to rock—Smokin’ Stones will introduce you to a vast and varied world of stones, and you’ll learn all you need to know about buying, setting, or cutting a gem.
• Discover jaw-dropping projects and demos from industry leaders that incorporate all the tips and techniques within the issue.
• Gain expert insight on how to make the Internet profitable for you in the newest column, Net Profits.
• Be in the know with answers to the most-popular jewelry-making questions in Ask the Experts with Tom and Kay Benham.
• Plus, in Trends, you’ll discover the latest in jewelry and how to incorporate it into your own designs.
• And so much more!