May 2022 Program Information
May 2022 Program
We had a very interesting program at our May meeting. Kelly Lane did a talk about faceting, and had some samples to show.He got interested in this hobby when he bought a piece of equipment at a mineral show in Richmond several years ago. He has been experimenting on his own, and uses his mistakes to get better at the process.
It takes patience and attention to detail. He buys cubes of materials from creativegems.com. The stones he orders are synthetic because the colors and interiors are uniform.
Real stones, such as rubies and emeralds can get very expensive. He has done some natural stones, but sometimes the colors are varied, and minute fractures often cause cracks.
Kelly uses an index wheel to set the angle of the cut. He has to experiment sometimes to get the correct set.
For lighting, he uses three 100 watt bulbs. He uses DOCNIC glue which only takes a few seconds to set.
Super glue can be used on the dop, but it may take all night to set. A stone grabber with 4-6 thin wires works well to help pick up the small stones.
He begins with a cube of material and cautioned us that the lighter the stone, the more refraction takes place.
Kelly suggested buying a basic machine to begin, but more experienced folks can buy machines that cost $6000 or more. These machines can do most of the setting and measuring so there's little to mess up. Thanks, Kelly, for sharing your expertise with us!
For more information, you can go to this website below - it explains the process in an easy to understand manner.
https://www.theraregemstonecompany.com/gemology-articles/gemstone-cutting-how-its-done#:~:text=The%20process%20of%20cutting%20fine,and%20pavilion%20of%20a%20gemstone.
