A local gem collector found this piece of Topaz here in Colorado. Topaz is one of the gemstones which can be found right here in Colorado, in addition to Aquamarine.
He wanted his piece faceted into the best yield possible.
Below, you will see the steps I used in faceting his Topaz.
Here you can see the raw crystal which he found.
I studied the piece, examining it for flaws, to see how best to facet it into the largest stones of shapes which the owner liked.
After studying his crystal and seeing a flaw that I needed to avoid, I drew shapes for a round and a trillion cut.
Here you can see me sawing the Topaz between the two shapes.
You can see that there are now 2 pieces.
The next step in the faceting process is to 'preform' each piece into the shapes we want.
You can see here that I have placed the first few facets onto the pavilion
I am not cutting a standard brilliant cut on this stone. The customer wanted a different facet pattern.
I am now putting the first few facets onto the crown of the Topaz.
Here I am working on the crown of the trillion cut.
You can now see the finished stones.
Because this was nice clean material, the stones are very brilliant and sparkly.
→ Take me back to examples of Faceting Gemstones from a rough crystal .....
Denton Anderson,
Gemologist & Gem Cutter
click photo for Video
Graduate Gemologist, GIA, GG
Over 20 years of experience.
