Square

Sunrise Surprise

I had forgotten how the difference in colors between the tourmaline C-axis with the other directions and the frequent bicolor or tricolor often created surprises in the appearance of the finished stones.

In this case, the rough showed a nice purple pink — except for the C-axis which was a lighter pink with a hint of gray brown.  I intended to cut the gem as a square brilliant, not as a step cut with “tourmaline” angles for the C-axis direction.  Thus I was prepared to see the face-up finished stone potentially a less desirable color the the purple pink of the rough.

However,  this tourmaline gave me a nice surprise.  It has orange highlights making a very pleasant combination. It reminds me of the colors of the sky that a sunrise can display on the clouds.   The finished stone is 4.95 cts.,  and 9.8mm. across with concave facets on pavilion.

Been a while

It has been quite a while since I posted what I have been cutting. The whole pandemic thing left me unable to feel the level of creativity required to give the larger and more expensive rough the attention it needed. So I ended up cutting left overs from parcels purchased by mail order from the back of Lapidary Journal back when I was just starting to facet. Most were small and included, and my photography skills are lacking. My camera only seems to capture the interior features and not the sparkle, especially with the smaller stones.

Now I am to the point of getting back to the newer and nicer rough. There were only a few pieces left from my 2019 Tucson visit. This 3.36 carat aquamarine cut as a blunt end marquis was from some old stock that John Garsow was offering. It is 15.4 mm. long and 7.0 mm. wide.

I just love the granny apple green of the Arizona peridots. I always am on the lookout for affordable nice pieces of rough. This 2.30 carat, 8.0 mm. round was from the pieces I picked up during my 2020 Tucson adventures.

Next is a pretty pink tourmaline from a parcel found at the 2020 Tucson Faceter’s Symposium. It came in at 2.51 carats, 8.4 mm.

Finally prasiolite quartz with concave facets on the pavilion. I’ll skip the part where being out of practice with the fantasy machine, there was an unfortunate incident requiring the pavilion to be completely recut. The fantasy machine is not forgiving when one’s attention slips. Fortunately, the rough was sufficiently deep, that the only loss was my time and my pride. The stone ended up as 11.6 mm., 7.08 carats.

 

 

A Few African Garnets

Garnets are generally one of my favorite stones to facet. Usually they cooperate and take a nice polish without fighting back.  Sometimes they end up a bit too dark — a classic red that won’t sparkle.  Sometimes there are fine needle inclusions that make for a sleepy look to the stone.  Often they can contain interesting inclusions that are easily visible while the stone is on the dop and being examined with magnification but when finished, the inclusions are not a detriment to the overall appearance of the stone.  So while I was in Tucson, I could not resist picking up a few parcels of small African garnets.  As a balance to the larger (time consuming) pieces I was cutting using the fantasy machine, I dopped up a few of these for quick positive reinforcement.

This is a 1.30 carat garnet from Malawi which is 5.5 mm. across.  There is quite a color range in the stones coming from this region.  This stone tends towards the orangish side.

Next is another Malawi garnet which is has a purple red color.  It is 7.8 mm. in diameter and is 1.64 carats.

Even more purple this garnet from Umba region of Tanzania is 1.56 carats and 6.7 mm.

Like the Malawi garnets, the Umba garnets also have a wide range of color.  This orangish red one is 1.06 carats and 6.0 mm. across.

Another parcel was labeled “Ruvu River” which is also in Tanzania.  This slightly purplish garnet is 1.02 carats, 5.8 mm.

 

 

 

 

Amethyst experiments

So once things were more or less caught up after Tucson, it was time for additional experiments with concave and fantasy variations.  First up is a 12.0 mm., 5.24 carat amethyst pentagon where concave facets were used for every other pavilion facet reaching the culet.

Next is this hexagon shaped amethyst which is 12.31 carats and is 14.5 mm. across. Similar to what was done with the pentagon,  this one has every other culet facet done as concave rather than flat facets.

The third amethyst in this group is 14.0 mm. across and weights 13.47 carats.  The concave facets were placed on the pavilion corners and as the center culet facets.

Then, for fun, a series of four round amethysts ranging in size from the 8.79 carat, 13.6 mm. one pictured above down to an 8.9mm., 2.58 carat version.  The culet facets of the pavilion were done as concave facets.  The diameter of the mandrel used for these was adjusted as the diameter of the stone changed.  Then for the crown, instead of the usual series of flat (or concave) facets, it was done as a single ring .

 

 

 

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.