Bling Blog

Gemstones are a miracle of nature and are awe-inspiring on their own. However, their awesome majesty is realised by man’s touch – the lapidary which produces the internal fire of the gemstone and creates the mesmerizing scintillation which makes a gemstone so alluring to human perception.  This piece examines the incredible and exceptionally accomplished process that turns a rare uncut gemstone crystal into an artist’s joy

The whole process kicks off with the uncut crystal, as an example a Tanzanite crystal. These present themselves in a variety of dissimilar shapes. Many are still in their “crystal habit” (the natural form in which a individual gemstone mineral comes into being) others have been denatured by the mining procedure or by nature itself with the bending of the matrix in which it materialized. Similarly, others, are alluvial and show the appearance of water damaged stones.

Gemstones are cut in several methods but with high grade, rare gems, the shape of the rough generally ordains the eventual shape of the completed piece, other than any attempt to cut to a calibrated size. This is due to the fact that rare gems are very hard to find and expensive and a cutter will try to capitalize on the yield he achieves from a piece of rough in order to diminish loss of weight. Balancing the requirement to maintain weight and the value of excellent proportions to create strong light return is the cutter’s perpetual challenge. Gemstones which are cut solely to maintain weight and do not take into consideration proportion, appearance and scintillation are not considered to be fine grade.The method of cutting fine rough into a finished gem is called faceting. This is an extremely consumately skilledcutting method where a cutter places a number of carefully placed facets (or faces) onto the table and pavilion of a stone. To start with the stone is preshaped using a specialized spinning lap. The cutter grips the uncut stone in his hand and abrades it. This will yield the very essential shape of the cut. 

The partually cut piece of gemstone rough is then affixed to a specialized iron rod known as a dop employing special wax. This is now affixed to a handheld faceter.Hundreds of tiny faces or “facets” are placed onto the top and pavilion of the gemstone. 

The grinding spinning wheel is then disconnected from the cutting machine and a faceting lap is then used which is a great deal more fine wheel. Using the faceting machine, the cutter employs numerous angles to place each unique facet on the table and bottom. 

The concluding phase is polishing. The cutter then uses a dedicated polishing cutting wheel which is even finer than the faceting lap. This is also layered with extremely fine diamond powder. Each facet is then polished independently to a deep polish, giving the piece a fine luster.

An accomplished cutter will perform each phase with perception and expertise producing a sparkling, attractive work of art. Gemstones are beautiful but under the influence of a good cutter they are utterly breathtaking.

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