Diamond-cutting and Art

[Paul-Antwerp]

Thinking about some recent threads here, I have compiled a small article, which you can find in the journal: Article

Any comments are welcome, of course.

OK, I admit. I cannot stand Garry being most popular author of the Journal, and this is an effort to take the lead again. Too bad that I cannot produce such a sexy pic of myself, like he has, so I will just have to try it with a lot of articles.

Live long,

 

[strmrdr]

What is art has changed as time moves on.
In the end I think art is in the eye of the beholder.
If enough people view it as art then it is art.

Then there are several forms of art for example the art of war is different than a painting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art sums up my feelings well.

"By its original and broadest definition, art (from the Latin ars, meaning "skill" or "craft") is the product or process of the effective application of a body of knowledge, most often using a set of skills; this meaning is preserved in such phrases as "liberal arts" and "martial arts". However, in the modern use of the word, which rose to prominence after 1750, “art” is commonly understood to be skill used to produce an aesthetic result (Hatcher, 1999). Britannica Online defines it as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others"[1]. "

 

[Serg]

re:I do hope, however, that we will get recognition before we die.

What should we do for this?

 

[diagem]

Paul,

I agree that "most" diamond cutters are not artists, because 99% of them are cutting "common" shapes and faceting arrangements.

The other 1% (maybe a little more) can fall into the category of Artists..., since some of them are cutting depending a lot on their emotions, but naturally since the material is soo valueble, there has to be economics involved...

I wanted to ask you a question about "diamond designers"..., in your opinion does this term exists in our industry?

Congrats, i liked the article...

 

[fire&ice]

Art is not static. Art doesn''t have to be tangible. Art can have many end goals. Money making can be one i.e. - Donald Trump "The Art of the Deal".

Art is using a creative process to incorporate many different senerios, evaluate the effective use, etc. to produce the desired end result.

Whether one views the end result as beautiful, is in the eye of the beholder.

Art does not equal beauty.

 

[He Scores]

Paul...nice article. I always describe a diamond cutter as "part artist, part machinist, and part mathematician". There are aspects of cutting which one finds in artistry. We use optic illusions. We use math. We do neat work. But then so do surgeons, no? So do machinists. So do carpenters. So do sculptures.

Rather than call ourselves artists, maybe we are more like artisans? Like a basket maker who makes the same basket over and over?

Perhaps we''re just plain ol'' skilled craftsmen.

However, there is one thing that separates a diamond cutter from these other tradesmen. All of them except a diamond cutter can manipulate whatever medium he is working in. A diamond cutter works on natures hardest substance and is at the mercy of this most difficult material.

We could do these other skills, perhaps not as skillfully, but chances are, left to their own devices, these craftsmen wouldn''t be able to pick up our work and make much progress.

A rose by any other name is still a rose.


Bill Bray
Diamond Artist Craftsman Tradesman Atrtisan Cutter

 

[pricescope]

Date: 9/3/2006 10:41:33 AM
Author: Serg
re:I do hope, however, that we will get recognition before we die.

What should we do for this?

For starters - don't die before getting some

or as Paul signs - Live long...

 

[RockDoc]

Sure there are the ingredients that all of the above have mentioned, but I''d add that those that become recongnized for what they bring to the table isn''t always about, or primarilly about money.

There are some of us that were taught that you have to love what you do. Diamonds and other gems and the resultant attractiveness of their fashioning in cutting, as well as the design of the jewelry they are set in to some is not just about making a living and "xeroxing" a repetitive result such as something that is "stamped out" is done.

I think it is more about a love of what you do and the passion that you do it with. Those who appreciate and can tell the differences between just being "pretty" and what are the results of someone who cuts diamonds, colored stones and makes jewelry that is exceptional is the obvious yardstick of their passion.

Bill Goldberg had the passion. I met him and he was able to see when a diamond was exceptionally crafted. Others, have that passion and love for diamonds and jewelry had that passion too. The orignial founders of GIA and AGS had that foresight too, and developed it in to a burning desire to not be average but made it their love and goal. Dr. Gublein was one who had that dedication as well.

Gotta love the pet rocks!

Rockdoc

 

[Serg]

Date: 9/3/2006 12:57:13 PM
Author: Pricescope

Date: 9/3/2006 10:41:33 AM
Author: Serg
re:I do hope, however, that we will get recognition before we die.

What should we do for this?

For starters - don''t die before getting some

or as Paul signs - Live long...

Sure, sign Paul is clear now for me.

 

[kenny]

Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.

- Oscar Wilde

 

[oldminer]

The are skills involved in cutting regular shapes of diamonds and the shop foreman is the arbiter of any art that might happen to occur with one of his journeyman cutters. When you get into the arena of the Super Ideal cuts, like Paul has done, then your own artistic skill and artistic eye becomes personally involved. You have then moved from a simple diamond cutter to a higher level of those few who use advanced artistic jugdment in the process of the final appearance of each diamond.

Being recognized as an artist may come during one''s lifetime, but we all know how few artists do well financially. Paul''s work in getting some of the new AGS 0 princess cuts into the market is certainly an achievement which deserves recognition. Congratulations.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

well done Paul - thought provoking - could not agree more.

BTW saw this in the San Diego art Gallery - perhaps there is a long history of this cross over in your blood?

The painting is not that great - definetly craftsmanship rather than original creativity - can send you a copy if you like.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

opps

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 9/3/2006 9:24:30 AM
Author:Paul-Antwerp
Thinking about some recent threads here, I have compiled a small article, which you can find in the journal: Article

Any comments are welcome, of course.

OK, I admit. I cannot stand Garry being most popular author of the Journal, and this is an effort to take the lead again. Too bad that I cannot produce such a sexy pic of myself, like he has, so I will just have to try it with a lot of articles.

Live long,

I think you might have quite a bit more appeal Paul, than this middle aged dude

 

[Lynn B]

Hmmmm, interesting. Thanks for sharing, Paul.

And Mara, Belle and Alj got "honorable mentions"! Muses, indeed...

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 9/3/2006 10:59:31 AM
Author: DiaGem

Paul,

I agree that 'most' diamond cutters are not artists, because 99% of them are cutting 'common' shapes and faceting arrangements.

Before I post my overall perspective, I wanted to say that I am somewhat on DG's page here:

I believe someone who can take rough from start to finish is certainly an artist (even in common shapes). However, someone who was taught to do one part of faceting only, on an assembly line, may not be one.

Now for my rant...

 

[JohnQuixote]

Those who have said 'eye of the beholder' are correct.

Forgive me if I assert a strong opinion in this thread. I hold associates degrees in science and fine arts and bachelor’s degrees in education and performing arts - so the question is close to home for me. I think my friend Paul can be right or wrong, depending on perspective.

From dictionary.com: Art is the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

The key word is significance. This depends on the audience as much as the artist. Historically ‘artists’ have trained and performed their craft in order to survive. Historically some artists have dismissed what they do as a mere by-product of craftsmanship or training. Historically, their fans disagree.

Paul, it’s your right to consider a diamond merely a product of your ‘craft,’ but surely you respect the right of the couple in Nebraska who buys and wears it to consider it a work of art, don’t you? The significance to them is what determines this, isn’t it?

Regarding ‘craft’ versus ‘art…’ In some cases they are interchangeable. Cutting a diamond is like performing a piece of music. You can perform the same piece again and again but it will be slightly different each time depending on variables – and the piece will mean different things to different people – touching them in different ways. You and your staff may think it’s just a day’s work and your sellers may consider the sale a mere commodity. Similarly, musical performers and stagehands who put in a day’s work at the opera consider it routine…but the recipient of the beautiful diamond you shaped – and the audience member brought to tears at the opera – may place much more significance on the simple ‘day’s work’ you or the musical artist put in. I argue for their right to do this.

As a musician I am a percussionist. It is my craft. I played drum set and timpani on the same pieces again and again in stage bands and orchestras through high school, university and beyond. I admit I was not driven by emotion for every minute of every performance. I admit I became so familiar with such pieces I could do them ‘in my sleep.’ I also admit I did them to earn money. Nevertheless, my audience and my corporate endorsers viewed me as an artist. Furthermore, I found that when I invested care and quality into my performance it became more significant (to both me and to my audience). After shows where I was most invested in performing my craft at its highest level I found more audience appreciation at the conclusion.

I know you & Lieve well enough to know you care deeply about your craft. You perform with skill, at a level of quality that is uncommon. You and others like you are no less artists than extremely talented musicians who turn out the same song night after night for appreciative audiences. Why? Because of the significance of what you produce to those who are the recipients of your craft.

I’m sorry Paul. You are an artist.

At least you’re not starving.

At least you have hair.

 

[diagem]

Date: 9/4/2006 2:11:09 AM
Author: JohnQuixote

Date: 9/3/2006 10:59:31 AM
Author: DiaGem

Paul,

I agree that ''most'' diamond cutters are not artists, because 99% of them are cutting ''common'' shapes and faceting arrangements.

Before I post my overall perspective, I wanted to say that I am somewhat on DG''s page here:

I believe someone who can take rough from start to finish is certainly an artist (even in common shapes). However, someone who was taught to do one part of faceting only, on an assembly line, may not be one.

Now for my rant...

100% agree!!!

John, good point, but usually Diamond cutters who cut "common" shape, are involved in a "essembly" line...
You might find some cutters of significant size diamonds that will cut through all steps of the cutting procedures, but they are a "very" rare breed!!!

Especially when it comes to the shaping and brillianteering stages, most cutters that know how to brillianteer are to lazy. Allthough I personaly think it is a major part of the diamonds visible appearance.

 

[He Scores]

It''s funny. In some old time cutting shops, the term that was used for a skilled cutter was that he was a "good mechanic".

Also, neat brilliandeering, high precision cutting, call it what you want comes with price as well as a level of expertise. Original Eightstar cutters were being paid $750-$900 per carat wholesale during the early 90''s! It''s imperative because this type of precision cutting requires......TIME!



Bill Bray
Diamond Cutter

 

[He Scores]

Date: 9/4/2006 3:50:41 AM
Author: DiaGem

Date: 9/4/2006 2:11:09 AM
Author: JohnQuixote

Date: 9/3/2006 10:59:31 AM
Author: DiaGem

Paul,

I agree that ''most'' diamond cutters are not artists, because 99% of them are cutting ''common'' shapes and faceting arrangements.

Before I post my overall perspective, I wanted to say that I am somewhat on DG''s page here:

I believe someone who can take rough from start to finish is certainly an artist (even in common shapes). However, someone who was taught to do one part of faceting only, on an assembly line, may not be one.

Now for my rant...

100% agree!!!

John, good point, but usually Diamond cutters who cut ''common'' shape, are involved in a ''essembly'' line...
You might find some cutters of significant size diamonds that will cut through all steps of the cutting procedures, but they are a ''very'' rare breed!!!

Especially when it comes to the shaping and brillianteering stages, most cutters that know how to brillianteer are to lazy. Allthough I personaly think it is a major part of the diamonds visible appearance.

John...

A cutter who can take rough from start to finish is certainly a more highly skilled cutter than say one who just does the stars on a stone.

It''s interesting, but until the advent of this "patterning", brilliandeerers were considered domestic help in the industry. It took the least amount of skill and training to put on the girdle facets and stars than it did to block the stone, which was considered much more important. Why? Because it was always believed that the brilliance and weight loss was mostly impacted by the putting on of the main facets...blocking.

Nowadays...for the performance stones, mostly these are done with one cutter to do both the brilliandeering and blocking, while another is in charge of the girdling. Am I correct in this thinking Paul?

So to get back to the point, you have different levels of cutter skills like John pointed out. To amplify this, one can go back to the old school terms where the beginner was normally called an apprentice, as your skill progressed you graduated to journeyman who could do all the phases, but primarily only on the basic round shape and finally, the cutter who can perform all the *ahem* facets of diamond production, the shaping, blocking and brilliandeering of all shapes was the master cutter.

Sort of like the guy in the Mountain Dew commercial who can snatch the can and drink it!

All of this seems rather semantical, but still interesting.

Bill Bray
Diamond Cutter

" I don''t cares whats you call me, just so''s you call me"

 

[fire&ice]

So, exactly what is the process to cutting a stone these days? Is it a collaborative or just an assembly line?

A heart surgeon performs the actual heart surgery; but, someone else usually (skilled at this) will close.

If people do one particular aspect of diamond cutting - wouldn''t that be their specific specialty or art?

 

[pricescope]

Not that an assembly line is something new to Art - Raphael fresco-ed (or designed the frescoes for) for Pope Julius II. The ones completed by pupils or done entirely by them are based on cartoons or other designs, same his tapestry - nobody thinks maestro was sitting there forever weaving, yet one of his workshop's tapestries in Vatican leaving the deepest impression as a work of genius.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Date: 9/4/2006 10:15:07 AM
Author: fire&ice
So, exactly what is the process to cutting a stone these days? Is it a collaborative or just an assembly line?

A heart surgeon performs the actual heart surgery; but, someone else usually (skilled at this) will close.

If people do one particular aspect of diamond cutting - wouldn''t that be their specific specialty or art?

In many cases, the process is organised as an assembly-line, with centralised control.

We, however, organise our operation differently. Already in the planning-stage, sawyer and cutter are heavily involved, and before starting the first operation of sawing, we already try to identify the potential pitfalls, and come to a solution that works for everyone involved in the process.

In the past, I have often seen sawyers sawing a stones, which later on, is close to impossible to cut. What is the use of that?

Even when we are talking about the different tasks of sawing, bruting, blocking and brilliandeering, we are forgetting a high number of different tasks, that contribute to the final result. How about the planner, who has to draw the sawing-line, which the sawyer needs to aim for? Do not forget the setter of the stones, before they go to the sawyer, a highly under-estimated task.

The whole process can also be seen as a continuous effort of co-operation and motivation. At all times, anyone involved in the process has to go for achieving the desired result with the minimum weight loss. One could compare it to painting with as little paint as possible.

Live long,

 

[He Scores]

Once again, Paul''s right on. His experience in the business is showing. I used to buy and produce my own rough for wholesale to stores. On the marking of the rough for sawing I used a specific technique I had learned in school. The sawyer said to me..."we don''t saw like that anymore". Now what he was really saying is that "it''s faster for us to do it this way." His way equated to a 3% loss of weight in the sawing process. The way I wanted him to do my goods resulted in a 1% weight loss of the rough in the sawing process. Now at 50 cts at 1000 a carat that two percent saves me $1000, not to mention the additional weight my techique saved me in the rest of the cutting.

You can see that manufacturing rough is a very detailed oriented endeavor. One time I was looking over a business which for me at the time was a big deal....$75 grand of my hard earned money. I looked at the goods for about twenty minutes...sorting, figuring, basicallyl sweating. The old man selling me the goods came over to me and said..

"so Mr. Bray...this is not such an easy business we''re in is it?"

No it isn''t.


Bill Bray
Diamond Cutter

 

[WinkHPD]

Paul.

It seems to me that you are at least in part an artist.

As I understand it, the normal proceedure is for a major diamond sightholder to give a parcel of rough to the cutting house along with instructions like this, "I want the pavilion angle to be between 40.8 and 41 degrees, and the crown angles to be between 34 and 45 degrees. Don''t bother me with minor questions, I need them in x amount of days."

I know for a fact from our many conversations that you work with each piece of rough on a one on one basis and give it to the cutter with instructions more along the line of, "I want the pavilion angle on this stone to be 40.8 degrees and the crown angle to be 34.5 (I am making these angles up, they probably are different in Paul''s actual instructions). If, when you are finished with the pavilion, it is any thing else, call me and we will discuss how to adjust the crown angles to maximize the beauty of the stone." In addition you insist that he cut the stone with a pavilion angle deviation of no more than 0.2 degrees about half the tolkerances allowed by the major cutters.

It seems to me that this goes beyond the mere "cookie cutter" recipe of most houses and embraces the "art" of making a finished diamond from the rough. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it!

Wink

 

[denverappraiser]

Making good product from an assembly line is a difficult exercise. Many years ago, I was engaged as a consultant for a jewelry manufacturer who was trying to trim costs and improve quality. Rather like diamond manufacturing, the process involved many steps and mistakes early on tend to manifest themselves as problems for a completely different worker down the line. The wrong workers were being criticized and even fired, the product was crap and it was way too expensive to produce. Not surprisingly, they were losing money fast. It was a mess. The waxcarvers weren’t concerned about how hard it was to get a wax from the mold since they weren’t involved in making the mold, the mold cutters didn’t care how hard it was for the finishers, etc. They solved this by implementing a scorekeeping system where each worker continuously and anonymously ranked the work that went on before them. The polishers may not know the details of why some castings are better than others and which problems have to do with the mold cutter, but they sure as hell know which ones are harder to work on and which ones keep coming back from quality control for rework. By listening to them the management can figure out where the kinks in the system are. Teamwork is everything.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Date: 9/4/2006 12:48:16 PM
Author: Wink
Paul.

It seems to me that you are at least in part an artist.

As I understand it, the normal proceedure is for a major diamond sightholder to give a parcel of rough to the cutting house along with instructions like this, ''I want the pavilion angle to be between 40.8 and 41 degrees, and the crown angles to be between 34 and 45 degrees. Don''t bother me with minor questions, I need them in x amount of days.''

I know for a fact from our many conversations that you work with each piece of rough on a one on one basis and give it to the cutter with instructions more along the line of, ''I want the pavilion angle on this stone to be 40.8 degrees and the crown angle to be 34.5 (I am making these angles up, they probably are different in Paul''s actual instructions). If, when you are finished with the pavilion, it is any thing else, call me and we will discuss how to adjust the crown angles to maximize the beauty of the stone.'' In addition you insist that he cut the stone with a pavilion angle deviation of no more than 0.2 degrees about half the tolkerances allowed by the major cutters.

It seems to me that this goes beyond the mere ''cookie cutter'' recipe of most houses and embraces the ''art'' of making a finished diamond from the rough. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it!

Wink

You are right, Wink, but you are mentioning only a small part of the planning and decision-making process. In this example, we are making sure to maximize light performance.

Before that, we have spent countless time on deciding the strategy with which to attack the rough stone, taking into account shape, weight, inclusions and the technical limitations of everyone involved. In a sense, one could also compare the exercise to a sporting event, in which we try to get to the limit of a person''s abilities.

Live long,

 

[He Scores]

Yesterday I went to the Long''s Park Art Festival here in Lancaster, PA. It is one of the top ten art festivals in the country with all artists having to be invited.

I told an artist who knew me about this thread and whether or not I, as a cutter, was considered an artist. Her first reply was..."What is art really?" and then she replied that yes indeed, she considered me an artist.

I''m not sayin'' anything here or anything, I''m just sayin''.

Go ahead, and continue talking amongst yourselves.


Bill Bray
Diamond Cutter

 

[belle]

as someone who has no experience or skill at the craft but a deep appreciation for those who can plan and create such beautiful objects, i am honored to be a muse (thank goodness you chose that word instead of ''groupie''!) to someone like paul. no doubt that the increasing in awareness about the importance of cut will create a new generation of diamond connosieurs. i''m glad there are passionate people like paul working on the forefront of these efforts.

thanks for the thought provoking article. though, i''m quite sure the picture would have worked just as well.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

I can say one thing: Artists without muses are not artists.

Live long,