Moissanite
Design is Star Cut by Justin K Prim, but adjusted for the absurdly high RI this stone has. Pretty chuffed with how this came out!
In the UK, we've got https://www.gemsofeastafrica.com/ who provide trustworthy rough without having to pay huge amounts of intercontinental postage
I have a bit that's been sitting in my box for a while that I don't have the guts to cut!
Thanks! For me, my usual "1200 steel, 1200 lightning lap, alox lightning lap" only polished half of the facets (some sort of directional hardness going on). I bought some more intermediary diamon lightning laps and that fixed the issue.
Zircon
Tiny orange zircon. I cut this once and was super unhappy because only a few facets would take a polish. Bought more lightning laps to give me more prepolish steps, and suddenly everything is happy. Design is Square Princess Cut by Justin K. Prim
Amazing! I've got a moissanite I've been keeping for a special occasion- how do you find it vs something like sapphire?
Really good job! I'm just about to dop some synthetic red-pink sapphire, and it'll be the first corundum I've done in a year - wish me luck!
Pink Tourmaline
Design is Fusion Seven Oval 1.43. Got some finer grit lightning laps and now I'm getting a finish I really like on tourmalines.
Thanks! I deffo recommend it. Certainly a step up in stone quality from the usual gem-shop bins I dig through for rough!
Ametrine
Design is Emerald Cut by Justin K Prim. Probably a bit too much colour mixing on the ends of the stone, but I'm happy with the effect
Asscher-Cut Hessonite Garnet
Simple little stone to start off my year. Design is Asscher-Cut by Justin K Prim.
Stunning work. I'm a big fan of picking up cheap tumblestones and seeing if I can find a gem in there
Oh damn that's pretty! Nicely done to the both of you!
Another scapolite
Design is Trifectancy, by Andrew Brown. This was much larger but the culet decided to stay behind in the cone dop, forcing me to start over. Still, I love how affordable this stuff is, and it always looks nice.
indicolite tourmaline
Cheap bit of tourmaline but I'm happy how it turned out. The c axis didn't look this closed when I picked the design, but I probably should have done something to hide that, whoops. Design is Emerald Cut by Justin K Prim.
Aquamarine
I've got several very pale, quite long aquamarine crystals, and wanted to do something interesting with one of them. The design is Blue Ice, by Jeff Graham. Long facets are a pig to polish, I don't know why I keep picking them. I'm pretty happy with this, although I mistakenly overcut a facet by quite a bit, making me lose most of the girdle.
Amethyst, Round Portuguese Cut
To celebrate a year of doing the most expensive hobby ever, I tried my hand at doing a Portuguese cut. Sadly the veils weren't obvious until I started cutting, but I hate throwing things away so I just followed through to the end. Design is Round Portuguese Cut by Justin K. Prim, in amethyst
Scapolite
My first scapolite, in Trioptic Blast by Andrew Brown. I was expecting a lot more trouble with this, due to cleavage planes, but it was actually a joy to cut
Bloodstone
Bit of an experimental one, in my own design. Chunky bloodstone, cut from my stock of cabbing stuff. This guy decided to yeet off of the dop, but I managed to save it with superglue. Still, it's made the table a touch wonky.
Topaz
Another £1 special, a super cracked bit of topaz that actually polished up real nice. Design is Round Brilliant by Justin K. Prim.
Peridot
Teeny tiny peridot. It was a very cheap bit of rough for around £1, so I'm amazed I managed to get anything out of it at all. Still, I'm happy with the result and have a bit more experience with stuff that needs Aluminium Oxide to polish. Design is Emerald by Justin K. Prim
Green tourmaline
A heavily included bit of green tourmaline (my first!) in a simple square cut. You can see the different colours through different angles, which I didn't realise before I cut it! Design is Square Cut by Justin K. Prim
Pink Spinel
My first stab at a spinel. I think the cut is probably not great for a stone this size, and I'm not sure if it's hazy due to a bad polish, the weird design, or the stone just not being super clear. Design is Time Portal by Andrew Brown
Moss Agate
Social media keeps trying to sell me faceted moss agate jewelry, so I had a stab at cutting some myself. The stone is a bit too thick with moss (I can now see why the ads are for stuff that is tiny!) but it was a fun experiment.
Citrine
Square citrine I've cut. This guy threw from the dop a few weeks back and I've only just got round to actually finish it. Should have pulled the corners in further, as this would have allowed me a smaller table and better optics.
Tiny aquamarine
I had an offcut from my Smith Bar, so I did a simple brilliant cut to make sure that I could actually get a proper polish on the aquamarine crystal. Turns out it was definitely something with my technique in the last stone.
Smith Bar, in aquamarine
Had a crack at the Smith Bar, by Jeff Graham. Usually I'm fine polishing beryls but this guy just wouldn't behave, possibly due to the extreme angles I needed to do.
Prasiolite, in Frost Star Hex
I've been faceting since October last year and finally got the guts to do a frosted design. The colour is a bit washed out - it's greener in real life, but mobile phone colour correction always kills it. One day I'll figure out how to actually take nice pictures of gems.
Design is Frost Star Hex by Andrew Brown