Note: This is Volume 2 of Amateur Gemstone Faceting, containing Chapters 10 to 20. To track down Volume 1, search for "Amateur Gemstone Faceting Volume 1: The Essentials."
Have you ever gazed in wonder at a faceted gemstone, at the ever-changing interplay of light, colour, and sparkle, and asked yourself how such a thing could come into being? Gemstones have been a source of fascination, mystery, and power for millennia, yet it is only in the last few decades that the tools and knowledge for creating these tiny miracles have been available to the average person.
In this second volume, amateur faceter Tom Herbst helps you expand your faceting horizons. You will learn about the optics and mathematics behind the magic of gemstones. Subsequent chapters on the properties and treatment of common gem materials will help you identify and make the most of your valuable rough.
To really expand your horizons, try faceting on your computer, visualizing gemstones before committing the stone to the lap. Nothing can match the satisfaction of creating and cutting your own unique gem cuts. Chapters on general design principles and a specific case study should help you on your way. Finally, faceters are inveterate tinkerers, and the concluding chapter lays out ideas for multiple do-it-yourself projects, including instructions for building a precision digital angle encoder for your faceting machine.
Happy cutting, and may your horizons expand before you.
Chapter 10 - Gemstone Mathematics and Geometry
Introduces the essentials of trigonometry needed for faceting, including tangent ratio scaling. Discusses gemstone symmetry and maximizing yield from a piece of rough.
Chapter 11 - Gemstone Optics
Explains the wave nature of light and how its interaction with matter produces colour, refraction, internal reflection, and luster.
Chapter 12 - Gem Material Properties
Explains the optical properties of gemstones (colour, refractive index, dispersion, saturation, colour change, birefringence, and pleochroism), as well as their physical characteristics (density, hardness, crystal structure, cleavage, and inclusions).
Chapter 13 - Gemstone Treatments
Explains the procedures and ethics of gemstone treatments, ranging from heat and radiation to oiling and exotic techniques.
Chapter 14 - Common Gem Materials
Easy to read tables of properties for the most common gemstone materials, with a focus on faceting-related information.
Chapter 15 - Faceting on Your Computer
Use your computer to maximize your enjoyment of faceting. Describes commercial and freeware gem design and optimization software, and includes a tutorial on three-dimensional rendering - literally cutting the gem inside your computer.
Chapter 16 - Designing Your Own Gemstone
Provides guidance on expressing your individual artistic urges via gemstone design, from simple modifications to existing cuts through creating your own, new, unique, gems.
Chapter 17 - Establishing the Gem Outline
Explains the CAM, OMNI, CLAM, and ECED pre-forming methods.
Chapter 18 - Case Study: Designing the Briar Rose
Chronicles the conception, development, and execution of a novel hexagonal cut, including hints on channeling inspiration into actual facets.
Chapter 19 - New Gemstone Designs
More than twenty new and unique gemstone designs for all skill levels.
Chapter 20 - Do-It-Yourself Projects for the Frugal Faceter
A collection of do-it-yourself projects, ranging from a better drip tank, to an inexpensive dichroscope, to adding a true digital angle encoder to your faceting machine.
Index
The two volumes of Amateur Gemstone Faceting comprise 20 chapters and almost 900 pages. The merged index helps you quickly find what you need.
About the Author: Tom Herbst is an amateur faceter and all-round rock enthusiast. Born in eastern Ontario, Canada, he received his formal education in Montreal, Quebec, Waterloo, Ontario, and Ithaca, New York. A research astrophysicist in his "day" job, Tom specializes in the design, construction, and scientific exploitation of novel astronomical instrumentation. Although he began collecting pretty rocks as a kid, it was not until his mid-thirties that Tom realized that creating gemstones is within everyone's grasp. A few faceting lessons and a homebuilt machine later, he was deep into the hobby and has never looked back. Tom currently lives in Germany, along with his wife and their two teenage sons.
