![]() Then it is pre-formed using a vertical steel grinding wheel. First, a Diamond-tipped circular steel saw is used to slice the rough gem into pieces. The steps in cutting are slicing, pre-forming, shaping and polishing. ![]() A gem's shape will affect the overall look of the gem, but if it's faceted properly, the shape won't necessarily affect its value. The cut is not just a gem's shape, it is also the cutting techniques (facet arrangements, finish and proportions) used to finish the gem from the rough. Sometimes they mean the same thing (a 'princess cut' is always square in shape) and sometimes they don't (a 'step cut' can be square, rectangular or octagon). One thing that can confuse is shape versus cut. How do you tell a good cut from a bad one? No one cut is always more beautiful than another, it's all down to the magic of nature and the artistry of the lapidary. Beauty will sometimes be sacrificed to minimise rough weight loss and vice versa. Sometimes size does matter and big can be beautiful, but this isn't always the case. It is important to consider windows (areas of washed out colour in a table-up gem, often due to a shallow pavilion) or extinctions (areas of darkness in a table-up gem, all gemstones possess some degree of extinction) on a finished gemstone's beauty. ![]() Maintaining a gem's critical angle (the maximum angle of refraction) often unavoidably results in a smaller gem. For every gem, the lapidary is looking for the best compromise between appearance and size, remembering that the value of the finished gem also depends on its carat weight. The lapidary performs a juggling act between beauty and commercial considerations, such as carat weight retention. The cut of a gem directly affects its overall value as the cut determines how well a gem returns its body colour back to the eye. Which style, cut and shape lapidaries select depends on the type, shape and quality of the rough gemstone. ![]() Derived from the old Norman French word 'caboche', meaning head, cabochon is an ancient shaping and polishing technique that remains popular today due to the yesteryear charm and character of what are typically, richly coloured gems.īecause of their different optical properties, coloured gems do not have an ideal 'brilliant cut' like Diamonds (see the diagram in this section).
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