Today's faceting lesson

[Mimx]

Today I learned that I need to have patience and let the chemicals do their job. After finishing a pretty blue cushion cut beryl, I was anxious to see the finished stone. So instead of letting the stone soak for a few hours in acetone so it would come off easily, I tried to force the issue with a little bit of excessive pressure. The punishment for my impatience was that I heard a little ~<crack>~ and took some of the facets off along a cleavage plane. You can see the damage at ~ 4 o'clock in the crown view and on the left side of the pavillion in the other picture. Oh well...live and learn. Hopefully I will only need to learn that lesson once.






Edit: I didn't mean to start a new thread,. I thought I was continuing my old one. Oh well...

[Mimx]

I finished a cushion cut YAG last night and I had a bit more success getting it out of the dop unscathed than the previous one. (YAG is indeed, as explained by a contributer in my other thread, Yttrium Aluminium Garnet. A synthetic stone commonly used in medical laser applications such as hair and tattoo removal.)

Anyway, here are the vital stats:

• 1.71 carats

• 6.93mm x 6.83mm width

• 4.92mm height

...and just for grins, this is what it looked like before I started:

[Mimx]

Here is the stone I just finished this evening. It's a trilliant cut citrine. It's vitals are:

• 1.0 ct

• 7mm x 7mm x 7mm wide measured from the apex to center of the base

• 4.7mm high

The girdle looks a little wide in the picture for some reason, but doesn't look that way in person. <shrug>

Here is one taken with a black background. Lots of dust specks there, but I like the contrast.



Next on my list is an amethyst in the same design. It's being an ornery little sucker...I've had to re-dop it twice. It will be a fairly small stone when it's done since I am using my smallest dop (2mm) to handle it. With any luck, I will be able to cut it tomorrow night.

[Luet]

I like the trillion cut a lot. Really cool.