Your custom cut gems

[ma re]

How do they compare to your..."other" gems of comparable size, color, shape - preferably in diferent lighting conditions? I won''t mind any graphic explanations and examples either

 

[neatfreak]

Not sure what you mean? Custom as in we COMMISSIONED them to be cut for us? Or custom in a sense that a good cutter did the cutting? The biggest difference is the cutter, not necessarily that it was custom cut...I''ve seen some pretty bad "custom" cuts out there!

 

[ma re]

Good cutter i.e. precision cut.

 

[Elmorton]

No comparison whatsoever. But my two are both concave cuts - one is by Richard Homer and the other was by a local cutter - and so they''re hard to compare with the traditional cuts you see in say, department stores, anyway. I guess the best way to describe mine is that there is an inner glow to them that my other gems just don''t have - the other ones seem very flat in comparison. But even a traditional cut that is cut well is going to have a life to it that a department store gem won''t have.

 

[chrono]

I''m very picky about my custom cuts - I make sure I like the cutter''s other work before commissioning a design and picking the rough. So far, I''ve been very pleased with their skill.

 

[ma re]

Do you guys think that precision cut stones with great clarity look their best when light intensity is higher? For instance, I''ve seen some that looked great under overcast skies eventhough the color was a bit washed out - reason being, strong indirect light puts an emphasize on cut and clarity, while artificial light is always weaker and often emphasizes color better than anything else. Opinions?

 

[FrekeChild]

Diffused light gets reflected off of all or most of the facets instead of in strong light where the light is reflected off of only a few.

I own stones cut by Dan Stair and Barry Bridgestock, and all of the stones perform beautifully in all light conditions- although differently in different conditions.

One thing I''ve noticed is that with a designer cut is that the facets are incredibly crisp and uniform. My native cut stone''s facets are not as uniform, and rather uneven and funky looking. But...sometimes I look at my perfect designer cuts and think they don''t look real because they are so beautiful and flawless looking.

I''m not sure exactly what you''re asking. Maybe someone else can answer.

 

[ma re]

FrekeChild, I''m basically asking about things you already wrote - designer vs. native cuts in various lights, as well as how designer cuts perform in different conditions.

I just wouldn''t mind if someone could post a picture that compares, side by side, a native cut to a designer cut similar in size, shape, color etc. just to see that difference done by precise facet placing and superior finsih.

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 8/12/2008 8:45:17 AM
Author: ma re
FrekeChild, I''m basically asking about things you already wrote - designer vs. native cuts in various lights, as well as how designer cuts perform in different conditions.

I just wouldn''t mind if someone could post a picture that compares, side by side, a native cut to a designer cut similar in size, shape, color etc. just to see that difference done by precise facet placing and superior finsih.

Here are pictures from Dan Stair''s website showing the differences between "commercial" and custom cut stones. Link

 

[LostSapphire]

Hi.

I don't know if this will help, as I dont' have perfectly similar 'before' and 'after' pics. But here goes:

Pic #1 Native Cut Sapphire 2.86 carats

Pic #2 Same stone, recut by Jeff White 2.06 carats

LS

Pic #1 below:

 

[LostSapphire]

Pic #2 (the recut)

 

[Proteus]

Perhaps I can help to illuminate the difference of custom/American cutting versus native cutting.
I have images of 2 scanned gemstones. These were scanned in an extremely sensitive 3d scanner. The first is a native-cut tanzanite, of about 4.5 carats. The images are rather enormous, so I hope no one minds. I wanted to keep as much detail as possible. You can see from the 3d wireframe what an utter mess it is... the crown is way too shallow, the girdle is highly uneven, and about a third of all the bezel facets are falling off the crown. The symmetry of the pavilion facets is pretty bad. The pavilion is also deep and fat. This gem was cut for the purpose of getting a lot of weight yield out of the piece of rough, and the beauty was sacrificed. See below for a custom cut comparison...

 

[Proteus]

So here is a scan of a spinel, cut by myself. The spinel is a round brilliant cut, and is only about 0.80 carats. In comparison to the above tanzanite, you can see that the general symmetry and proportions are much better. They are not, of course, perfect. Some minor symmetry deviations are more or less always going to be present, especially on a smaller stone. I have a relatively old faceting machine, and it has some quirks... In my opinion, native cuts really pale in comparison to properly faceted gems, when cut by experienced cutters with precision equipment. Think about it this way: what is the value of a poorly cut diamond compared to an ideal cut diamond? It can be quite a large difference in price. Unfortunately, colored gems are not put under as much scrutiny regarding polish, symmetry and proportions as diamonds. They certainly should be, these factors affect the overall beauty of colored stones every bit as much as they do for diamonds, if not more.

 

[LostSapphire]

Date: 8/12/2008 8:53:37 PM
Author: Proteus
So here is a scan of a spinel, cut by myself. The spinel is a round brilliant cut, and is only about 0.80 carats. In comparison to the above tanzanite, you can see that the general symmetry and proportions are much better. They are not, of course, perfect. Some minor symmetry deviations are more or less always going to be present, especially on a smaller stone. I have a relatively old faceting machine, and it has some quirks... In my opinion, native cuts really pale in comparison to properly faceted gems, when cut by experienced cutters with precision equipment. Think about it this way: what is the value of a poorly cut diamond compared to an ideal cut diamond? It can be quite a large difference in price. Unfortunately, colored gems are not put under as much scrutiny regarding polish, symmetry and proportions as diamonds. They certainly should be, these factors affect the overall beauty of colored stones every bit as much as they do for diamonds, if not more.

Thank you for posting these: I LOVE looking at the CAD drawings!

LS

 

[Proteus]

You're welcome! I wanted to show the proportion/symmetry difference in terms of raw data, without any refraction making it look too busy.

It can be hard to capture in a still photo what the difference in cutting quality is, but in person, it really does show. I can also post some simulated images of the two gems if you like. I don't have a real photo of the tanzanite, unfortunately.

Two things the CAD drawings can't capture are the flatness of the facets and the quality of polish. These are issues I see with a lot of native-cut material, the facet junctions can be very rounded and muddled. It makes the gems look a lot less lively and sparkly, and tends to hurt scintillation. The polish is often so-so, with a lot of lap marks (wavy facet surfaces) which make the facets look uneven, and fine scratches, which can make the stones look a bit hazy.

 

[Proteus]

Here's a rendered preview of the spinel. Note the fire and scintillation. Good symmetry and proportions help a lot with this, in my experience. It has a bright, even display of brilliance, and good tilt performance.

 

[Proteus]

Here's the rendered preview of the tanzanite. Notice all the ugly, dead areas. The poor symmetry gives the whole stone a messy, uneven look. Also, what fire it does have tends to be in random bits, with less nice, broad flashes of color. It's a bit hard to compare because tanzanite actually has much higher dispersion than Spinel. If the tanzanite were cut better, it would have quite a bit more fire. Something that can't be captured in this rendered preview (as I mentioned earlier) is the facet rounding. This stone had a dull look to it in person, due to the so-so quality of polish, and rounded facet junctions. The computer simulation, unfortunately, assumes that all surfaces are immaculate.