Mark recently sent us the following article including the gem design -- a shown in the pictures above -- in (from left) Citrine, Ametrine and Amethyst.

         

 

   

  

 

 

 

ARYA AKHAVAN s one of the most enthusiastic (and most knowledgeable) people in the World of faceting.

You've probably been on YouTube and seen his series of videos "Faceting 101".

Well, Arya has added to "the course" - videos that discuss and explain the material you will come across in your faceting;

Faceting 150 - beginner gem materials -  Iolite 

Faceting 221 - unusual optical phenomena - the Usambara effect

Faceting 350 - advanced gem materials - Spodumene

Faceting 351 - high RI synthetic gem materials - Lithium niobate and Lithium tantalate

Check it out on YouTube - if you ask for Faceting 101, you will probably get the whole lineup from which to choose. 

Arya promises that there are more on the way!

A professional gemcutter, Jason says...

A childhood interest in rockhounding focused onto gem cutting at an early age when I apprenticed to a master faceter -- a top cutter in the Atlanta area. When I reached the age of 16, he told me, "Jason, you're getting pretty good at this.  Now try to figure out how to make a living doing it."  Well, I continued my college studies - faceting part time, mostly on commissioned custom stones.  After college, while working on a career, I moved into more full time faceting.

I had over 30 years of faceting experience, during which time I used a variety of machines. But about 2 years ago I decided to transition to an Ultra Tec V5, and faceting suddenly changed.  Instead of the precision of each facet being reliant on me, the Ultra Tec machine did it.  The V5's ability to reliably repeat a facet with extreme accuracy is amazing - something that still surprises me each time I cut a stone.

The Ultra Tec V5 rewards me financially.  It produces the high quality gems that my customers want and that I want to represent me.  The V5 also rewards me with pleasure - I love having a machine that does exactly what I want, right now.     

I look forward to guiding faceters to Ultra Tec - they can take advantage of my many years of my faceting experience.