Round

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.

Greeeen

While there is still a lot more to do before February 2020, I have been making some progress faceting the 2019 Tucson acquired rough. Green colored rough was among some of the first purchased and is towards the head of the list being cut. Green is my favorite color, so of course it is working that way.

Here are a two of Arizona peridots. (The photos do not do them justice. They are bright and sparkling.) The first is 9.0 mm., 2.89 carat round.

The second, also round, is 9.3 mm. and 3.29 carats.

Continuing on the green theme is this 9.3 mm., 3.30 carat chrome diopside.

There is something about that really dark shade of green…

More From Faceting Demonstrations

Pictured below are a few more stones started at a local club show as part of a faceting demonstration, and then eventually finished at home later.  The previous set was from the show by the club to our north, so these are from the show put on by the club to the south.

The first is a 9.81 cts. lemon citrine that is 12.4 mm. across.

Next is a 6.12 cts. prasiolite quartz 11.6 mm. round.  For this one, the crown was shaped into a dome before a few flat facets were placed on it.

And of course, I had to include hexagons.  This lemon quartz gem is 12.2 mm. wide and weighs 7.16 cts.

This is another citrine at the other end of the color range. It is 2.39 cts. and 8.6 mm. across.

All of these gems have concave facets on the pavilion so really sparkle.  And they are all from rough material obtained in February during my Tucson adventures.

 

Finishing 2018 rough

This 4.58 ct. Amethyst is among the last stones cut from rough purchased in 2018. The stone is 11.0 mm in diameter and has concave facets on the pavilion. Now it is time to start working on the new rough purchased during my 2019 Tucson adventures.

Sunshine for a Rainy weekend

This weekend we are having a welcome wet spell in this part of California. So here is a bit of sunshine for the rainy days.

This is a 12.14 carat citrine which is 15.0 mm in diameter. Concave facets were used on both pavilion and crown to maximize  the “sunshine”.