My first cut stone

[Barrett]

My first cut stone..just finished it today..it''s called an easy 8(jeff graham)..a piece of brazilian amethyst rough finsih weight 2.10ct. onto the next stone..a cushion..should be a step up in difficulty..cutting is not as hard as it looks or I thought..whats hard is perfecting it..trying to get everthing to line up perfectly and meet perfectly..well, i guess it gets easier with time and more experience..thanks for looking

 

[D&T]

neat!!! can''t wait to see what else you got coming up.

 

[Gailey]

Very well done Amguy! Is this the debut for a long and distinguished career?

 

[T L]

Wow, you go "Mr. Man in a Purple Cape."

 

[icekid]

Nice job, ag! Gem cutting sounds so addictive

 

[beaujolais]

Great. Congrats to you. Very nice.

A PS toast to Amethystguy on his first stone !!!

 

[Tropicmaster]

After our recent experiences/adventures we will not be far behind you with our first one! lol

 

[kitoto]

loved it!

 

[mochi]

That looks awsome! I really love the facets.

 

[Fly Girl]

So pretty. Congrats on your first stone, Amguy! How fitting that it is an amethyst.

 

[marcy]

Very nice stone.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Very cool...I am guessing this is the first of many?

 

[zeolite]

Superb results on your first stone!!! Since you did so well on this, soon you will find it very easy to make everything line up and meet perfectly.This is an extremely important skill for you to develop!

 

[Barrett]

Thanks guys, i appreciate all the kind words and compliments.

 

[cindygenit]

amguy!!!

Pretty

Can you cut me a stone?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Great therapy, stone cutting. Either puts you in a Zen state of mind, or drives you crazy.

 

[Gailey]

Date: 8/11/2009 11:53:21 PM
Author: Richard Sherwood
Great therapy, stone cutting. Either puts you in a Zen state of mind, or drives you crazy.

Bit like weeding then?

 

[simplysplendid]

Very well done!

[raising glass] To many many more!

 

[Nomsdeplume]

Wow that looks awesome! So can we get cut stones at a reduced price from you then?

 

[chrono]

How long did it take you to do each section? Preform, dop, faceting, polishing, etc? I’ll say it looks very good for a first timer; I’m sure mine will look much worse. So….what’s your plan for all these practice stones?

 

[stepcutnut]

Congrats-looks like a great job!

 

[princessplease]

Looks very nice!!!

 

[Barrett]

Thanks guys for all the great compliments..it is very calming..so far..lol..i bet it gets real frustrating when you are cutting a good stone like a tsav or a spess and things don''t want to go your way and you are trying real hard to get it right becasue the rough cost you a pretty penny..takes patience and restraint which are the first things I noticed...first stone took like 16 hours total..like 2-3 hours increments..everybody tells me it goes faster and faster with each stone..one thing I noticed was the cut(the easy 8 by jeff graham) really lightened the stone..it was much more purple in the rough..i guess certain cuts are better for certain colored and saturated stones...Last night I started cutting a facetgrade white moonstone..It''s a nice chunky piece so i figured it would be another easy piece to cut+ i wanted to see what a faceted white moonstone looks like..here is the rough

 

[Barrett]

with the sun in front

 

[litebrite]

It''s great that you are sharing and documenting your learning experience with us. I appreciate it and hope to learn more. I wonder how many of us will become G.G.s, jewelers, designers or cutters based on the love that we develop for stones from this board. Maybe we can start an accredited Pricescope institute. LOL.

 

[chrono]

Am Guy,
Perhaps because the easy 8 pattern has larger table facets, the play of light becomes very different, allowing more light to go straight through giving the appearance of the tone and saturation getting lighter? Maybe a busier cut like a portugese will help it hold the deepness of colour?

 

[Jypsie]

Seems like a few of us are venturing down this specific learning path at the same time. We should keep this thread active and post our progress. My first stone was HILARIOUS!! It looks like an octogonal cotton ball - compared to the ones that followed. At the time, of course, I was absolutely astounded with my resulting stone and was ready to frame it and show it to everyone, everywhere! And then came the second, and third, and fourth stone - which amazingly, all look better than the one right before it.

I have recently cut a lovely light blue topax and a gorgeous golden citrine. I''m currently cutting a Rose de France in my first mixed cut pattern - challenging, but they all are. I still find that polishing is the most difficult part. Meet points were extremely challenging at first, but then I learned about that one little knob on the side... ahh how I love my cheater when it''s needed

Best of luck to everyone learning to cut!

 

[brandy_z28]

Thanks for sharing Amethystguy! I think you did a great job on your first stone!

I hope to see more!

 

[Arcadian]

Thats a really nice cut stone!

-A

 

[blingergrrrl]

I LOVE faceted white moonstone, can''t wait to see how it turns out. And kudos to you for doing something that you love. Thanks for sharing your experiences with cutting stones.