Jeff White Master US Faceters Guild Competition!

[LostSapphire]

News from The Jeff White Website!


Jeff recently competed in the United States Faceters Guild annual cutting competition, which is open to all guild members world-wide (despite the name, the organization is not limited to US citizens). All participants in a particular class are given the exact same design to cut. It is to be cut to the same diameter and must adhere to very strict tolerances. Entries are judged based upon adherence to the specified design, accuracy of facet meet points, flatness of facets, defects (such as scratches, pitting, etc.), and quality of polish, among other criteria. Jeff placed 3rd in the world in this year's Master Class Competition, with a score of 99.0979 out of a possible 100 points. The Master Class cut for this year was the 97 facet "Gamma Brilliant," which Jeff cut in synthetic sapphire.

 

[Gailey]

Do we know who came 1st & 2nd? Anyone got a link?

 

[LostSapphire]

Date: 9/19/2008 10:52:14 AM
Author: Gailey
Do we know who came 1st & 2nd? Anyone got a link?

That was all I got.

I''m sure some of the more gem-savvy PSers could find out...

LS

 

[Proteus]

The US Faceters Guild has a website. The results will be placed on it in probably 6 to 8 months. No, I am not kidding. They are notoriously slow.

I think I need to clarify some things about this. There are cutting competitions held in other countries, so it is not necessarily 3rd place in the entire world, but just 3rd place in this year''s USA cutting competition.

A cutting competition, in my opinion, is not necessarily a good judge of a cutter''s work. For one thing, many entrants spend dozens of hours on the competition stone, which is a single stone of a single variety. Most often it is synthetic. No faceter can spend that amount of time on stones they plan on selling... just because someone did great on one stone doesn''t mean everything they do will be that good. Also, the competition requirements will vary from year to year, the entrants will vary and skill levels of said entrants will also vary. So, no two competitions end up being exactly equal. It makes it a bit ambiguous to compare one "master" to another.

But don''t take this as an effort to knock Jeff''s work - most of what I have seen of his cutting is top-notch. Rather, I dislike the concept of a cutting competition being used as any sort of gauge to a faceter, be it good or bad. There are many aspects of faceting, and everyone should understand what exactly a faceting competition means (or doesn''t mean...) Most of these aspects are not revealed in a single competition. I have seen some cutters stating they are "masters" of some form or another, but their typical cutting quality was far from impressive. Others regularly turn out quality pieces. So, judge their work individually, based on your own opinions and experiences.

 

[LostSapphire]

Fair enough.

I just thought it would be of interest to some here in coloured stones.
LS

 

[Proteus]

It certainly is interesting - I just wanted to provide a word of caution about the competition environment.

I entered the USFG contest once, and was so appalled at the obvious lack of scientific method and gemological expertise by the judges, that I withdrew membership. I didn''t feel that they had any business judging anyone''s cutting work, after examining their system. In the end, they did admit to their shortcomings, but also said that they were basically too set in their ways to do anything about it. Oh well.

That being said, the best judge of a cutters work is yourself.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Congratulations, Jeff!!!

 

[cinnamon013]

Jeff,
Congratulations! I love your work! My stones are awesome!

 

[chrono]

Congratulations, Jeff. His work is very precise and he is deserving of this win.

 

[icekid]

Congrats to Jeff! I can''t wait to have a stone cut by him grace my little hand..

 

[ptorraca]

Congratulations indeed! The medal is really fun, but I rather wish Jeff had taken a closer picture of the competition stone. I bet it screams.

I have huge respect for anyone who can do both commercial cutting and competition cutting. The two mindsets are miles apart (as Proteus notes above). Professional cutter are usually interested in balancing beauty, rough yield and time. I suspect some of us could place very well indeed in competitions, but we have to be very time-conscious order to pay the rent, etc. OTOH, Competition cutters are usually hobbists who just love to facet. They''re more interested in having a technically perfect stone than anything else. Many of them are not really interested in gem materials as much as the process of cutting.

For example, I had the opportunity to meet one of the World Champion cutters a couple years back and see his championship stone -- he won an individual first place in the Australian Facetors'' Guild''s biennial International Faceting Challenge competition, which some describe as "the Olympics of faceting". The winning stone was a complicated design cut in CZ. It was an absolutely amazing stone from a faceter''s perspective - but the what stick in my head is the fact that it took him 300 hours to complete!

I love cutting gemstones -- but spending that much time on a single stone would take all the fun out of it for me.

 

[ramin_makaber]

Dear Mr Jeff White
Congrad,you have done the greate,i am sending this e mail from a place very far from you and i dont know even your age and i didnot your photo either.but from far ,i am so happy for you .
wish you luck and sucsess
Ramin Makaber

 

[loriken214]

Jeff, you are my hero.....still loving my precious little asscher spinel and will be back for more soon! Congratulations!

Lori

 

[Harriet]

Jeff was way overdue for an award.

 

[LostSapphire]

Date: 9/23/2008 11:01:31 AM
Author: Harriet
Jeff was way overdue for an award.

I think this calls for a field trip for the "presentation"...anyone else interested?

LS

 

[coatimundi_org]

Date: 9/23/2008 11:01:31 AM
Author: Harriet
Jeff was way overdue for an award.

Indeed. His cuts are remarkable. Hopefully I''ll have one soon.

 

[LostSapphire]

Date: 9/25/2008 7:38:52 PM
Author: coatimundi

Date: 9/23/2008 11:01:31 AM
Author: Harriet
Jeff was way overdue for an award.

Indeed. His cuts are remarkable. Hopefully I''ll have one soon.

Hm.mmmmmmm.....is that a "scoop" Miz Coati???

LS

 

[coatimundi_org]

LS! I wish!
I''ve communicated with him about different rough, but unfortunately, he doesn''t have the size I''m looking for. I''m going to wait until the perfect stone emerges...or, go down in size a bit. We shall see!

 

[LostSapphire]

Date: 9/25/2008 9:47:42 PM
Author: coatimundi
LS! I wish!
I''ve communicated with him about different rough, but unfortunately, he doesn''t have the size I''m looking for. I''m going to wait until the perfect stone emerges...or, go down in size a bit. We shall see!

So the mystery continues!

What type of stone are you looking for from JW?

LS

 

[zeolite]

Date: 9/19/2008 12:44:27 PM
Author: Proteus
The US Faceters Guild has a website. The results will be placed on it in probably 6 to 8 months. No, I am not kidding. They are notoriously slow.

I think I need to clarify some things about this. There are cutting competitions held in other countries, so it is not necessarily 3rd place in the entire world, but just 3rd place in this year's USA cutting competition.

A cutting competition, in my opinion, is not necessarily a good judge of a cutter's work. For one thing, many entrants spend dozens of hours on the competition stone, which is a single stone of a single variety. Most often it is synthetic. No faceter can spend that amount of time on stones they plan on selling... just because someone did great on one stone doesn't mean everything they do will be that good. Also, the competition requirements will vary from year to year, the entrants will vary and skill levels of said entrants will also vary. So, no two competitions end up being exactly equal. It makes it a bit ambiguous to compare one 'master' to another.

But don't take this as an effort to knock Jeff's work - most of what I have seen of his cutting is top-notch. Rather, I dislike the concept of a cutting competition being used as any sort of gauge to a faceter, be it good or bad. There are many aspects of faceting, and everyone should understand what exactly a faceting competition means (or doesn't mean...) Most of these aspects are not revealed in a single competition. I have seen some cutters stating they are 'masters' of some form or another, but their typical cutting quality was far from impressive. Others regularly turn out quality pieces. So, judge their work individually, based on your own opinions and experiences.

This a general comment on cutting competitions; no relation to Jeff's fine work. The description appears to relate to the cutter's ability to precisely cut and polish a known gem design to perfection. I think the most critical qualities of a gem cutter are not revealed at all under this type of competition.

A cutter needs to look at the rough, mentally remove all of the flaws, and then choose a design fits into the remaining shape of the crystal. That is quite a difficult mental task. I don't think a super-computer could do it.

Then, most importantly, the cutter needs to choose a design that improves the basic lack of perfection of the crystal. If the tone is too dark, he must choose a design to lighten the tone as much as possible. If it is too pastel, he must choose a design that doesn't wash out the color that is available. If it is zoned, he must orient the crystal to smooth out and blend the color. If it is dichroic, he must orient for the best color, even taking a large yield loss. After orienting for color, he may have change his previous design to lighten or deepen that best color.

All of these qualities has nothing to do with controlling the machine, to attain perfect facet meets and polish.

 

[Proteus]

Date: 9/27/2008 3:08:25 PM
Author: zeolite

This a general comment on cutting competitions; no relation to Jeff's fine work. The description appears to relate to the cutter's ability to precisely cut and polish a known gem design to perfection. I think the most critical qualities of a gem cutter are not revealed at all under this type of competition.


A cutter needs to look at the rough, mentally remove all of the flaws, and then choose a design fits into the remaining shape of the crystal. That is quite a difficult mental task. I don't think a super-computer could do it.


Then, most importantly, the cutter needs to choose a design that improves the basic lack of perfection of the crystal. If the tone is too dark, he must choose a design to lighten the tone as much as possible. If it is too pastel, he must choose a design that doesn't wash out the color that is available. If it is zoned, he must orient the crystal to smooth out and blend the color. If it is dichroic, he must orient for the best color, even taking a large yield loss. After orienting for color, he may have change his previous design to lighten or deepen that best color.


All of these qualities has nothing to do with controlling the machine, to attain perfect facet meets and polish.

Thank you, Zeolite. You are a very sensible person. I'm glad you understand all of the many concepts and challenges which a faceter faces. Cutting competitions only touch on a few of the basic mechanical aspects of faceting. In my opinion, they mostly judge how expensive the cutter's equipment is. I feel it kind of cheapens the art of gem cutting.

I got into a huge argument with the USFG staff when I entered. I had noted that they marked mistakes on the plot, and then not graded them later. They had also graded some points harsher than others, while when I measured the actual mistake in a microscope, their harshly-marked points were actually not as bad as some of their minorly-marked points. They also graded a number of "problems" which were absolutely not even existent. I work as a lab gemologist, I grade gems every day. I have access to all sorts of laboratory equipment, and I can tell that the guild doesn't follow any kind of scientific standard. I also had 3 other experienced gemologists examine the stone, who were in agreement with me. It makes the guild's grading very erratic, ambiguous, and unfair. And it's not as if I was upset that I didn't "win," because what's the point of winning at a total farce of a competition? You can't compare one "winning" faceter to another if they weren't even graded in the same manner!

The proof of a faceter's skill is their everyday work. There's just no two ways about it.