Octagon

Experiment with photos

Photographing faceted gems has continued to frustrate me. I find it hard to get the camera to see what I see, especially the sparkle of the stones. Perhaps the only way to do that is with video where the reflections of the light change as the stone turns.

Anyway, yesterday, I conducted an experiment with my fairly new Pixel 6 cell phone. Most of the photos were pretty poor. I didn’t have the phone set in a tripod and would need more time than allotted to figure out the best positioning of stone, phone and lighting. But a couple of shots did surprise me with nice detailing of the facets and color.

First is a 2.58 carat peridot, cut in an 8 mm. octagon shape. The characteristic black disc shaped inclusion shows clearly in the photo. When the stone is held in hand it has such great sparkle that the inclusion is hard to find.

The second photo is of a 1.89 carat orange garnet. The color is very close to that of some “Madeira” citrines I had just cut as well.

 

 

Last ot 2019

The holidays did not leave much time for faceting. Got only a handful of additional gems cut in the last month from the material purchased last February in Tucson. Hopefully now that the Christmas decorations are all put away for another year there will be more time in the next month to catch up a bit. Since there are about three dozen left from the 2019 material it is unlikely all of it will be cut before the end of January and I head off to Tucson again.

Meanwhile, here are three from a parcel of nice, dark orange citrine. Initially the parcel was purchased to try out concave facets on some smaller sizes (8 to 10 mm.) After trying for a few, at least in the lighter colored material, it does not seem to be worth the extra effort. They are a bit too small for the optical effects of concave facets to make a significant difference.

The first is a 2.58 carat, 9.0 mm round which has some concave facets on the pavilion. As usual, it looks a lot better in real life than is this photo.

 

Next is a 2.58 carat, 7.8 mm square.

 

And last, a 2.03 carat octagon which is 8.2 mm. across.

Citrine octagon

Pictured here is the last of the gems started as a faceting demonstration at the Orcutt show. It is a nice orange, octagonal shaped 3.67 carat citrine that is 9.5 mm across. The rough material is from Brazil, among the items purchased during last February’s Tucson adventures.

Faceting Demonstration this Weekend

The Santa Lucia Rockhounds will be having its annual show at the Paso Robles Event Center from 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, April 21 and 10am to 4pm Sunday, April 22. As part of the show, the San Luis Obispo Gem and Mineral Club will have a booth and will be bringing the club’s faceting machine so we can show how gemstones are faceted. There will also be wirewrapping demonstrations on Saturday and club members will have some of their collections and crafts on display. Of course there will be many vendors with items for sale and other demonstrations by the Santa Lucia club members. Come by if you are in the neighborhood.

Another amethyst pictured here. This one is an 8.33 cts, 12.6 mm. octagon with concave facets on the pavilion side. I had planned to work on some other materials, but decided that this parcel was better for re-training my hands for faceting as my wrist heals.

First post Tucson Stone

The first post Tucson stone is finally done. It has been a challenge learning to work with a lame right hand, but things are slowly improving.


The finished amethyst weighs 13.2 cts and is 14.6 mm wide. There is a little bit of color zoning, but it is not too obvious when the stone is face up. A set of concave facets on the pavilion and another set on the crown add some extra sparkle. Rough came from a parcel obtained last year from Farooq Hashmi.