Bubba Bolin creates stunning opal jewelry from his home studio in the shadow of Snyder Ridge, near Olympic National Park.

“It all started from my parents… My Mom signed my Dad up for a lapidary class and they need one more to fill the class. One night the instructor brought some Idaho Opal to class and my Dad was fascinated with it… The instructor said he was going to go back to the Opal Mine later that summer, so my folks went with them… That was 1975. I got out of the service in ‘77 and I asked where my Opal necklace was… I was told it’s in the rock room: Go make it!

So I guess that’s when I got hooked on Opal. Spent a summer digging Opal for my Dad and the next summer working for the Opal Mine and went down to Arizona for a winter cutting and grinding for them. Personally, all the other rocks and gems are wonderful and stuff, but coming down on a band of Idaho Opal never knowing what you’re going to see keeps me motivated. Most of the Opal from Idaho are thin bands or layers, so it works awesome for what is called a triplet. A black backing of basalt, a thin layer of opal and a piece of clear quartz crystal domed and polished. My Mom was into wire wrapping and my Dad was the silversmith, so I learned from them and put my own twist on them.”