Faceted stones - Gallery

[Eu_citzen]

Instead of posting all over this section of the forum, I thought a collection of all pics of faceted gems would be a neat idea. At least for the value of the collected eye candy.

Here's my latest:
Test cut of a new design in very dark garnet.
Not what I hoped for, these garnets are always good for a surprise, but I got light through the stone!

[3rdRockFromTheFun]

Looks pretty awesome to me! I love the facet styles you come up with, that's really impressive for a garnet in my humble opinion!

[DonniesTreasures]

Very, very nice!!!!

[drocknut]

That is a cool garnet.  I have never seen one cut that way.

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Guys/gals.
The idea was to keep as much as possible with 90 degree corners on the design.
A kind of checker board in a simple-to-cut package. Did quite well.

[helens]

Whoa... that's a fantastic facet!!

[Eu_citzen]

Thank you Helen. :)

[Eu_citzen]

I'm adding a few more shots, old and new.

A standard round brilliant in quartz. Self collected rough. :)


A garnet in my "Simple Cusion" design:


My prehnite cut in a modified version of my "Prehnite Portal":


A self collected piece of Rose quartz cut in my "Black Hole" design.


A nice Welo cut in a random shape. (used no diagram) The culet chipped. :(

[Rockrangers]

Very nice cuts Will!   I still have a few sapphires that need some special attention.
How much per carat would it cost to have them cut? I remember what you quoted me on that huge fire opal. Would it be the same?

[Eu_citzen]

Todd, shoot me an email (I'll PM you). I don't remember what I quoted.

[3rdRockFromTheFun]

Nice one Willie! And I see my prehnite down there as well (damn I love that one!)

[Eu_citzen]

Hahaha, Frank your not the only one! Had a jeweller inquire about that one. LOL

[Eu_citzen]

Free form Montana Topaz. Nice, easy and fun material to work with. No diagram.


Just a fun experiment,
Some parts are part on my design; "Brilliant Rectangle (ver. 4)" with some features carved into it.
A concave table, among other. Very interesting thing, difficult to capture in a pic.

[Eu_citzen]

Excuse the dirty stone, had to rush out to catch any light.

A bit proud, though. My first sphalerite in a free-form barion design.

[RegisG]

   That is a beautiful stone & cut.   I'm not familiar with the stone so I looked it up.   Only cut reference I found was cut in "Bright Angle" design.  When you cut a stone that soft, do you use it for display only or some functional purpose? With all the designs that you've made and the amount available to you what made you go freeform?  And is it really freeform or a design that you just thought-out without documenting?

RG   

[Eu_citzen]

Thank you Regis!

Only for display, as a curiosity. To soft to be putting in a ring.

As for the shape, I made it up as I went. Didn't have any set idea when I started.
I felt a set design to go after would just complicate things.

I'm calling it free-form on the basis of it being a 1-fold symmetry cut, mostly.
I wrote down indexes and angles, though.

[Eu_citzen]

Nigerian Sapphire, quite dark rough. (doesn't pass the "white paper test")
Did a custom design and ended up with ~50% recovery(!!)
Also kept the natural crystal faces as "table". Thought it was a nice feature.

[Mark]

Really nice stones!  I love the sphalerite, you don't see much of that.  I have a really kool specimen and when i look at the chunks of sphalerite and think about how nice they would look faceted, i quickly come to my senses and realize i can never ruin such a beautiful creation.

I love the Nigerian sapphire and its super blue color.  Was the rough heat treated, and is that why this one is so dark?  I recently got a new book on setting gemstones and another on just the gemstones themselves, and have been reading about all the treatments.  Its kind of sad that we can do or rather un-do in seconds to hours to days, what nature took millions of years to do.  I don't really have a problem with treated rough and stones, as long as their treatments are declared and the stone is not passed off as natural to get a higher price.  If it wasn't for the treating of inferior stones to make them look decent, many of us would never be able to afford nice looking stones.  Over the last 8 years, i have picked up a number of really nice faceted gemstones to someday use in jewelry making.  Most have run between $2 to $15 for up to a several carat weight stone.  They look great (to the unaided eye) and are cheap enough to use in my low priced settings.

Mark

[RegisG]

Nice touch Willie

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Mark,
The sphalerite is from Spain. The mine is not producing any more.
I guess many keep away from it due to the 6 cleavage plains.
On this piece it wasn't to troublesome, an underestimated material.

I bought the sapphire as untreated, but I haven't checked for treatment.
The nigerian stuff is usually heated at worst.

If done right, heat treatment can also lighten the colour if memory serves.

Nigerian sapphire tends to be a bit on the dark side though, it's the rough which is usually a dark saturation. Also tends to show colour zoning. (blue, green, yellow the most common)

This piece has some nice colour zoning, did my best to hide it and get the blue colour out. Seems more valued (read: popular).

I imagine this one would easily go for a couple 100 per carat, but it's not my area of expertise.

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Regis, how's the cutting going?

[Eu_citzen]

Some new cuts.

First one is an approx 10 mm light amethyst in my Medieval design.
It's designed to save light colour rough.


And just a glamour shot, the amethyst above and a few garnets.

[RegisG]

A lot of flash there Willie.   Lookin' good. Thanks for sharing.

Regis

[Bentiron]

I tend not to look at this section on faceted stones as it is something I don't work with either in the act of making or setting, however today the blue sapphire caught my attention and that is very nice looking stone both in shape and color. It will make a fine piece of jewelry or just a very nice collectors stone. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your stones I enjoy viewing your portfolio.

[Debbie K]

Beautiful sapphire and amethyst! I like the garnet directly below the amethyst; great return of light. I like the way you left the face of the crystal on the sapphire; I like to imagine that this is how faceting started; just improving the stone, but not changing it so much that it's unrecognizable.

Debbie K

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Regis, how's the cutting doing? Having fun with the sunstone? 

Bentiron, thanks for the kind words.

Debbie,
That lower garnet is cut in Jeff Grahams Cornered, I think it was called.
Sometimes one has to decide if it's worth save natural crystal faces and being a bit of an artist or just changing it all. It's up to us cutters. :)

[Eu_citzen]

Here's a stone you don't see all that often; Orthoclase.



A light coloured amethyst (Rosé de France) in a Portuguese Cut (161 facets or thereabouts!)


And to round it off; a garnet. The Culet chipped, so this is going in for a recut.

[Eu_citzen]

Well, I finished the recut for that garnet. Ended up at 2.6 cts. Not bad!

Natural light:


Incandescent light:

[Debbie K]

I don't know how I missed these earlier, but really pretty stones. I like them all. The orthoclase is doing something odd to the light, isn't it? I'm assuming that the cut is symmetrical, but the way it's reflecting/refracting, it doesn't appear that way. I don't think I'd want to facet a feldspar; I'd be afraid that they'd cleave along one of it's almost impossible to discern planes.

I respect you faceters so much, after dabbling a little bit I realize how difficult it is to produce such beautiful stones. Keep up the good work!

P.S. - The ametrine still hasn't turned up!

Debbie K

[Eu_citzen]

The orthoclase cut is actually not symmetrical, first I planned to cut a shield but a feather turned up. Had to cut it out.
So the design is cut "on the fly".

Most feldspars I've cut haven't been that troublesome regarding cleavage. Albite is the only one that was a bit tricky to polish certain facets. But that's it. The orthoclase was a piece of cake.

[Eu_citzen]

Bringing this old thread back to life.
My latest project, a 1.2 cts aquamarine.


It is loupe clean, but the stone was slightly dirty when taking the picture.

[Debbie K]

Glad to see something new here! Beautiful stone, and nice cut. Is this considered a princess cut? Sorry, I'm unschooled in the names of all the various facet cuts.

Debbie K

[Bentiron]

Nice cut the way it seems to recede in depth, well done

[Eu_citzen]

Debbie, it's a step cut.

[Eu_citzen]

Here's something you don't see everyday:


1.53 cts Spessartite from California!

Here's another one I recently finished, a Kunzite.
The "before" picture is in the top left - a re-cut.

[TownsendRockworks]

Wow that's nice!

[Bentiron]

I like that recut, much better looking. Wish there were a bigger picture of the yellow stone, native to California?

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks!

Yes, the spessartite is from California. Little Three Mine is the locale.

You can click on the small picture for a close-up.
But I'll try to add it to this post. It's quite bright but the colour is really a lot better in hand!

[Bentiron]

Is that a garnet and is it hard enough for use in a ring?

[Eu_citzen]

Yes, it's a garnet, sometimes also called Spessartine.
Hardness is around 6½ to 7½ if memory serves.

Might be a bit on the soft side for a ring, but could work.

[Bentiron]

Thanks for the information, nice work on both

[Eu_citzen]

Latest project; a oregon sunstone. 4.73 cts.

[Mark]

Kool cut.  Love sunstone.  Does this have schiller or can you see copper inclusions or is it clean of inclusions?  Its so hard to tell from pics.

Mark

[Eu_citzen]

To the naked eye there are no inclusions to be seen. :)

[dickb]

Really nice use of all the stones. In the photo's, they all look to have very good brilliance. They should make nice jewelry.

Well Done.

Dickb

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Dick. They do make nice jewellery when set, I've had a couple set as of late.

[Rockrangers]

Good choice and cool cut bud! I purchased 6 cut stones ovals and rounds from clear to pink with schiller from the claim holder in Oregon earlier this winter. Nice stones. at a very reasonable price.

[gemfeller]

Nice cutting EU.  I love working with sunstone.  I'm always surprised at how bright and sparkly it cuts despite its low R.I. and other optical properties.  Here are a couple from the days when my eyes were sharp enough to do good meet-points.

Trillion, 3.40 ct..

 

Oval 5.78 ct.

[Eu_citzen]

Those look good, gemfeller!
I like sunstone myself.


Here is my latest, a Rhodolite that finished out at 2.04 cts. Not to dark either!

[gemfeller]

That's really nice EU .  Excellent cutting of fine material!  Garnet's my favorite stone to cut.

[Eu_citzen]

Well, I'm trying to facet a serpentine and needed a break with something easier.

I love garnets to they are nice and easy cutting

[gemfeller]

Hi Willie,

I don't think I've ever seen facet-grade serpentine.  I'm curious -- can you post an image?

[Eu_citzen]

The serpentine is kinda hazy - like prehnite. I'm hoping it'll be good enough to return some light.

I'll post a pic when finished, just roughed the crown in last night.

[Rockrangers]

Willie, have you ever cut gem silica in agate? Would it look ok done in a emerald style cut? Curious.
Thanks.

[Eu_citzen]

Hey Todd, I am not sure. I've never seen any "gemsilica" in person, so no I haven't cut any and have no idea if its suitable for faceting.

[Rockrangers]

Thanks for your honesty. The gem silica is going to be a cut off from the main agate and is glacier ice blue and clean, it would finish with maybe something 3 to 5 carats in size. I know its in agate but it should still finish up something hot looking. I can show you a pic if you would like to see more?
 

[dickb]

Hi EU:

I'm going to ask a question about the gem silica. As I understand it, the stone would be opaque, so faceting it like a transparent stone would be a waste. There would be no internal refraction from the pavilion. What about just faceting the crown and girdle and let the polish reflect the color of the stone. If it were prong set or bezel set in a pendant or ring, then I would expect to see  more flash than a domed cab.

Do you think that it would be worth the extra labor of faceting and polishing?

Dickb

[Rockrangers]

Thanks Dickb, you raised a very good point.
Its close to transparent but not enough.

[Eu_citzen]

Please do, Todd. Shoot me a PM with a link to the pic.
If its close to transparent it may be possible to do something.

Dick,
I think the gemsilica usually is translucent to a degree.
If not to "cloudy" it can reflect some light, but yes one can facet just a crown and girdle.
The crown in such a cut could be, say checker board to make it more interesting.

Now, in some extreme case one can do what is called a table cut. Basically a table on each side with some facets - that keeps the depth low and can help with very dark rough. I imagine it could help the gemsilica to get some action.

As for if its worth the labour - that depends on the material. I wouldn't sit down and do a 6 hours job on a stone that's worth 50$ when finished. (unless, of course, someone pays me to do it)


NOW to todays stone. It's a serpentine, finished up at 5.9 cts and was HELL to polish.
I tried it just to have done it, really.

[dickb]

I think it turned out well.

Dickb

[Eu_citzen]

That it did. I'm very happy with it, actually.

[itsandbits1]

that's a nice peice of serpentine; what did you have to use to polish such a soft stone??? I have a 3 lb peice of semi transparent; its exactly like our BC nephrite with the black inclusions, excepting the hardness, that my son found while digging drainage ditches in Vancouver.

[Eu_citzen]

Polished with diamond, while I usually use tinoxide for serpentine when cabbing.. it didn't work for faceting.

[Eu_citzen]

This is so fresh of the dop, I haven't weighted it yet! But its an oregon sunstone cut into a free-form cut. :)

[mehoose]

  Love the colours in there and shineeee.

[Rockrangers]

 

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Meee and Todd! :)

[Eu_citzen]

At it again! Yup, this time a bicolour citrine that needed a re-cut - it had a chipped girdle which needed repair.
Ended up at 5.56 cts.

[Rockrangers]

Good repair, cant even notice where the chip was.
I'm going to try and cab, since I dont facet, a rainbow sunstone. If it works I'll enter it in the monthly contest.

[mehoose]

Sounds sweet Rock!

Way to go Willie... so good to have been able to watch your journey.. look at ye now! 

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks Todd - due to the chip it couldn't be set in jewellery. It was that bad.


Thanks mee! Yeah, I've been doing progress.

[Hummingbirdstones]

Nice job on the recut.  Pretty stone!

[Eu_citzen]

Lets start with a topaz, around 3 cts. Included, used it to wear in a new lap.



And a oregon sunstone, 6.7 cts or so. Its a tad more yellow in real life.

[Rockrangers]

Looking good Willie.

[Kingsolomon]

some stones I cut , hard to get good photos

[Carol M]

Love the photos, Kingsolomon.

[Eu_citzen]

Nice indeed!

[Eu_citzen]

An experimental cut, light coloured amethyst, around 2 cts.

[Eu_citzen]

lil' zircon at 1.1 cts in a round brilliant style cut.



And a blue-green albite in a custom rectangle:


The stone is dirty, as usual. No scratches. :)