{"id":14736,"date":"2026-10-17T21:59:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T01:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/?p=14736"},"modified":"2026-10-17T21:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T01:59:59","slug":"birthstone-ensembles-october-opal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/10\/birthstone-ensembles-october-opal\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthstone Ensembles &#8211; October &#8211; Opal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Now that I&#8217;m settled in California, I have many things to share. First up; October&#8217;s birthstone, opal. Originally I was going to go with pink tourmaline, thinking it would be the easier option \u2014 and in fairness, it would have been \u2014 but then this beautiful, softly iridescent obi arrived. I loved the sagara-nui (or french knot embroidery) on it and knew it would look lovely with this pastel bokashi tsukesage that also has sagara-nui on it. What I didn&#8217;t expect was how much the two together would end up looking like a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opalsdownunder.com.au\/learn\/white-opals\/\">white opal<\/a>. With that, the plans for tourmaline were thrown aside and this beauty was assembled.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-14736 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"186\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2-186x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2-186x300.jpg 186w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2-636x1024.jpg 636w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2-955x1536.jpg 955w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2-93x150.jpg 93w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-2.jpg 1243w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 186px) 100vw, 186px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"141\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3-141x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3-141x300.jpg 141w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3-480x1024.jpg 480w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3-720x1536.jpg 720w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3-70x150.jpg 70w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-3.jpg 795w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 141px) 100vw, 141px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"141\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4-141x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4-141x300.jpg 141w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4-480x1024.jpg 480w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4-720x1536.jpg 720w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4-70x150.jpg 70w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-4.jpg 765w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 141px) 100vw, 141px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-5.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"228\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-5-228x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-5-228x300.jpg 228w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-5-779x1024.jpg 779w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-5-114x150.jpg 114w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-5.jpg 943w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-6.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-6-206x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-6-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-6-702x1024.jpg 702w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-6-103x150.jpg 103w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/october_opal-6.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>I had to include detail shots of the incredible embroidery, of course. I love how subdued and elegant this coordination is, while still feeling a bit youthful thanks to the bunny and the girly colours. In retrospect, I do wish I&#8217;d found an actual opal brooch or something to use as an obidome, and really I should have been doing that for this whole series, but hindsight is 20\/20.<\/p>\n<p>As for the rest of the month, I have some fun and slightly spooky things lined up!<\/p>\n<span class=\"longnote\"><ul>\r\n<li>January - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/01\/birthstone-ensembles-january-garnet\/\">Garnet<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>February - Amethyst (coming soon)<\/li>\r\n<li>March - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/03\/birthstone-ensembles-march-aquamarine\/\">Aquamarine<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>April - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/04\/birthstone-ensembles-april-diamond\/\">Diamond<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>May - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/05\/birthstone-ensembles-may-emerald\/\">Emerald<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>June - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/06\/birthstone-ensembles-june-alexandrite\/\">Alexandrite<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>July - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/07\/birthstone-ensembles-july-ruby\/\">Ruby<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>August - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/08\/birthstone-ensembles-august-peridot\/\">Peridot<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>September - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/09\/birthstone-ensembles-september-sapphire\/\">Sapphire<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>October - <a href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/10\/birthstone-ensembles-october-opal\/\">Opal<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/span>\r\n\t\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Items used in this coordination<\/h4>\n\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 25%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-14736 gallery-columns-4 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/tsukesage-5.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/tsukesage-5-125x125.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-3585\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-3585'>\n\t\t\t\tEmbroidered Shifuku\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/haneri-36.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/haneri-36-125x125.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-8145\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/haneri-36-125x125.jpg 125w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/haneri-36-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/haneri-36-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-8145'>\n\t\t\t\tPink Large Floral\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/obiage-3.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/obiage-3-125x125.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-5812\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-5812'>\n\t\t\t\tIce-blue Rinzu\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/obijime-31.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/obijime-31-125x125.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-7299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/obijime-31-125x125.jpg 125w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/obijime-31-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/obijime-31-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-7299'>\n\t\t\t\tPink &#038; Silver\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now that I&#8217;m settled in California, I have many things to share. First up; October&#8217;s birthstone, opal. Originally I was going to go with pink tourmaline, thinking it would be the easier option \u2014 and in fairness, it would have been \u2014 but then this beautiful, softly iridescent obi arrived.\u2026<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/10\/birthstone-ensembles-october-opal\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1367],"tags":[1364,150,357,273,403,1454,1455,136],"class_list":["post-14736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birthstone-ensembles-2026","tag-birthstone","tag-formal","tag-girly","tag-heisei","tag-kimono","tag-october","tag-opal","tag-pastel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14740,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14736\/revisions\/14740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}