How the Hearts in Diamoods are Formed

Hearts & Arrows

How the Hearts are Formed

A view of the hearts and arrows forming during the cutting process through the Hearts and Arrows viewer.

The main pavilion facets outlined and one heart highlighted in red.
The main pavilion facet reflects on the opposite side.
It takes 4 facets to make one heart and one arrowhead on the pavilion and an additional 2 upper girdle facets to finish up and square off the tips of the rabbit ears of the heart.
This takes a total of 6 different facets. to create 1 Heart,-( 2 main pavilion facets and 2 Lower girdle facets and it is the 2 upper girdle facets that square off the bottom of the heart shape.) See pic.4-A: without upper girdle facets and pic. 4-B: with the upper girdle facets in place. Note the squared off heart shape.

It is the lower girdle facets that are also responsible for separating the arrowhead from the heart. This is because of the difference between the angles of the main pavilion and lower girdle facets. Therefore, if the physical symmetry is out the slightest, the optical symmetry will be affected. We are not referring here to meet point symmetry which is where the facet junctions meet.

The labs grade symmetry according to meet point symmetry. The physical symmetry is made up of X,Y, and Z-axis which is what influences the optical symmetry. The optical symmetry will clearly show the physical symmetry being in or out of perfect harmony.

The lack of optical symmetry will be seen very clearly when viewing the diamond through the Hearts and Arrows viewer. It is easier to camouflage errors in the formation of the arrows, but it is impossible to hide any inconsistencies in the heart pattern. In forming the arrows there are less facets to align so errors are more easily camouflaged, whereas in the hearts there are 6 facets that complete each heart shape, and the slightest deviation is easily noticed.

Arrow Effect ť