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| HOME : FORUM : EDUCATION : GEMSTONES : Lapidary : How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque) |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#26 @
12-10-06
, 03:28 PM
Okay...continuing... I realign the stone (crown) by setting the index to 90 degrees and making sure the girdle face it flat on the cutting lap. When I flipped the stone, it torqued a little which is why I have to do this.  I am cutting all of the crown with a medium lap first since these facets are relatively small.  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#27 @
12-10-06
, 03:30 PM
You can see in the above pic how much wax I accidentally gooped onto my stone. This is a slight problem because it makes seeing the girdle facets difficult. Fortunately, I have enough girdle showing around the pointy part of the stone for me to gauge off of:  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#28 @
12-10-06
, 03:33 PM
I accidentally over cut one of my main facets here.  Can you see it how it goes below the level of the break facets? (The ones closest to the girdle). Fortunately, all I have to do is recut the entire row agan and then recut the mains. Because this is a step cut, recovering from error is a lot easier than recovering an error on a brilliant cut stone: I've started cutting the table here. Notice how a pit appeared. Moldavite has certain areas of weakness due to it being glass and relatively soft (5 or 6 on Moh's hardness). I'll continue cutting with a fine lap until the pit dissappears:  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#29 @
12-10-06
, 03:38 PM
The pit's gone now. I'm almost done cutting the table here:  I cut the star facets on a fine lap that isn't spinning. This because these facets---the ones that are next to the table-- are really tiny and I don't want to over cut. I sweeep side to side 20 times and that's enough to cut each one:  I'm done cutting the crown! Here you can see the rows of breaks, mains and star facets easily.  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#30 @
12-10-06
, 03:41 PM
time the polish! Normally you polish the table first. The table is hardest facet to polish and it is also the one you should polish the best (course, you want to polish all of them really good!). Polishing for this stone occurs on a cerium oxide lap and the friction and heat literally melts the scratched surface of each facet into shiny surface:   |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#31 @
12-10-06
, 03:44 PM
Because resin and wax do have a bit of "give" to it and the polishing process does produce heat, stones will often drift a little. Here you'll see my stone is now non-perpendicular to the polishing lap indicated by the prominent polish on only one side of the table: Handsets are equipped with "cheaters" that allow you adjust the pitch to combat this. I turn the knob so that my table is more parallel to the wheel:  This fixes the tilt and thus the table is evenly polished:  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#32 @
12-10-06
, 03:47 PM
when I'm finally done polishing all the facets, it's time to remove the stone! This is the easiest part of hte whole process. All I do I gently heat the dopping wax over a candle flame:  You can see the wax softening here:  Eventually it'll be soft enough that I just nudge the stone away from the wax:  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#33 @
12-10-06
, 03:51 PM
At this point there is still a lot of wax and resin on the stone. the final cleaning is with acetone (nailpolish remover works). You dunk the loose stone (and the dopping sticks) into this chemical and wait...and wait...and wait... for it to eat away at the wax:   Finally it softens enough to be wiped off the gemstone. I had a feeling at this point that it would come out nice because it was already sparkling before I was even done wiping it clean:  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#34 @
12-10-06
, 03:53 PM
And the moment of truth. One more dunk into the acetone bath and another dry off...voila!  Wheeeee! The stone came out really nice. What do you think?  Look at how chapped my hands are in the winter. :P But hey, the moldavite sure is pretty:  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#35 @
12-10-06
, 03:58 PM
the stone has a lot of life because it is cut to exact proportions. It measures 11.5x9mm and is 7mm deep.  Normally you want a crown that is around 1/4 to 1/3 the depth of the stone although flatter crowns work too. what is important is that the pavillion is cut properly.  At the final weigh in, we see it is 3.5 cts. Not a *huge* loss (I'm being sarcastic...the orignal weight is on the 1st page):  |
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Last edited by briolette : 12-10-06 at 04:03 PM.
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#36 @
12-10-06
, 04:01 PM
 So there you have it! A moldavite cut by yours truly from start to finish. I hope you enjoyed seeing the whole process and maybe learned more about the art of gemstone cutting.  |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#37 @
12-10-06
, 05:11 PM
I am so envious! You are so talented! It turned out beautifully! What a great step by step learning process! You will have to keep us posted as to what you are going to do with it! ~Ronda |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#38 @
12-10-06
, 05:47 PM
Thanks so much for finishing up the "story"  It turned out great, and I love the color. I second Ronda's question, what are your plans for it?
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#39 @
12-10-06
, 06:09 PM
Very nicely cut Briolette ! Looks like the perfect pendant stone to me. Some lacy wire work to keep it pointed straight, a nice thin chain and you'll have people stopping you in the streets wondering where you got it. |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#40 @
12-10-06
, 07:07 PM
Thank you! I was thinking it would probably be best as a pendant...I guess it's too soft to be a ring stone eh? Although, I wonder if a bezel setting would be enough protection. Too bad it isn't a more durable gemstone. I could see this in a split shank ring. |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#41 @
12-10-06
, 07:28 PM
Good job Briolette! Thanks again for sharing! |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#42 @
12-11-06
, 01:25 AM
you know i see people cutting stones all the time but never learned the exact process and why they did certain things they did... so for me this was a very interesting thread, thank you for sharing
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#43 @
12-11-06
, 09:23 AM
You're quite welcome! It's definitely a fulfilling hobby. Too bad I don't have the proper equipment to cut diamonds or harder stones though. You need really stable equipement and a turntable that spins incredibly fast to be able to polish a diamond, but the mechanics are pretty much the same except that laps are much larger and have rings of different cutting grades and polish (gets finer as you go towards the nut of the wheel). You cut and then plolish each facet as you go along which apparently results in less carat weight loss... |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#44 @
12-11-06
, 09:47 AM
Bri-what a gorgeous stone!!! Thanks for sharing the whole process-so neat to see. I have always wanted to learn something fun like this for a hobby! Can't wait to see what you do with this beauty! |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Post#45 @
12-11-06
, 09:56 AM
WOW!!!! Briolette, It came out stunning!!!!!! You go girl!! Can't wait to see it set into something. |
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Re: How I cut a gemstone (modavite pendeloque)
Briolette -- thank you for the fascinating look at gem work. You are not only a gifted artist, you are a wonderful teacher as well. Great lesson! |
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