SomeTimes Lapidary Newsletter from ULTRA TEC -- December 2011 -- www.ultratec-facet.com

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December 2011

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In this issue...

CONGRATULATIONS...IN ORDER ...AGTA Award winners

GARY KRATOCHVIL VISIT TO ULTRA TEC

Gem Weight Estimator

Keynote Articles: Download Links Available

Join Our Facebook Community

INTRODUCING-- New Representatives

Welcome to the latest edition of The SomeTimes Newsletter!

It's not a very "original" thing for me to say "another year gone by!" - but, yes, it is another year gone by. 2012 coming up!

The entire ULTRA TEC crew joins me in sending this Holiday Greeting - to all of you in our ULTRA TEC "extended family" throughout the USA and around the World.

We hope that 2012 brings PEACE and HEALTH and HAPPINESS to you and your loved ones.

CONGRATULATIONS IN ORDER ...AGTA Award winners
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In the AGTA competition category of "Innovative faceting"...if we asked you to guess who might be the 2012 award winners, you might guess Dalan Hargrave. You might guess John Dyer. You know what? You'd be right.

Congratulations to Dalan for his first-place - a 30 ct. Morganite - he named it "Hugs and Kisses"

Congratulations to John for his second place - a 63.57 ct. "Super Citrine" Starbrite cut

GARY KRATOCHVIL VISIT TO ULTRA TEC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gary Kratochvil

Last month ULTRA TEC was visited by faceting award winner Gary Kratochvil. Gary was in California (from home in Texas), mining tourmalines - and had a related reason for visiting the factory: we were making some special tourmaline dops for him, for specially long and thin tourmalines.

Here's Gary in our machine software, at the CNC machining center that was doing the work -- holding one of the dops (being, and looking, pleased).

See Gary's website www.jewelcutter.com

Gary says he enjoyed the visit to ULTRA TEC - we certainly enjoyed having him visit.

Software: The Gem Weight Estimator

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At www.gemcutter.com , aside from an array of exceptionally cut gems, you will find an interesting computer program that you might find useful: The Gem Weight Estimator. It is a program written by Gary Kratochvil - free for you folks of the faceting community.

Gary Kratochvil gets the ULTRA
TEC Company Tour from
Robert Mendoza

You can download the software here.

Keynote Articles: Download Links Available

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Joe Rubin, ULTRA TEC President

Our recent Keynote Articles have been getting a lot of buzz since publication. They have been the 'Most Clicked On' Features we've had in the SomeTimes Newsletter.

To make sure the material is available for interested faceters and the web-surfing public at large, we have produced PDF versions of the articles which can be downloaded at the following addresses.

Joe points out that "we are always on the look-out for new and exciting articles and information that we can share with the lapidary world." So, If any of you are interested in contributing designs, polishing recipes or even your faceting experiences -- we are always pleased to hear from you!

Recent KEYNOTES have included...

BUYING ROUGH -- by Lisa Elser

Can you make money faceting? -- by John Bailey

Join Our Facebook Community -- Almost 350 'LIKES' & growing everyday!

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ULTRA TEC Faceting has a thriving community on FACEBOOK. Take a look at our page for interesting links and updates.

We welcome all our ULTRA TEC cousins as FANS -- your, pictures, videos, expereinces, comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Don't Forget to Click on the LIKE button to be added to the community.

Find Us on Facebook!

INTRODUCING-- New Representatives

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We Welcome Larry Mattos

... Petaluma, California

Larry Mattos

Larry Mattos, doing business as Ashton Gems, is located in Marin County, California (north of San Francisco). Larry is a devoted faceter, involved in classic faceting and fantasy and concave faceting as well. Larry tells his story on his website, www.ashtongems.com , and you would enjoy a visit to his website and a look at the gem gallery. Larry describes himself as a "passionate" gem cutter. His love of gems dates back to his early youth, an interest he shared with his grandmother, with whom he attended lapidary classes when he was 12 years old. Larry's love of gemstones "never faded".

We Welcome JW Thomas

... Williamsberg, Virginia

James Thomas lives near Williamsberg, Virginia. James is comparativelynew to the

JW Thomas

world of gem faceting, but not at all new to being someone who pays great attention to detail as he strives for perfection. Those virtues, valuable to a faceter, led him to success in his prior professional career where he was a Mechanical/Nuclear Engineer, and a US Navy Commander. Having retired, he has turned his focus to faceting, with an intention to cut gemstones competitively. He's declared himself ready to "continue a journey from Novice to Grand Master". Having learned on other machines, James chose Ultra Tec to help him on that path.

For a full listing of all our Domestic & World Wide Reps click here..