Merry Christmas

A merry Christmas to all my customers and may the coming year be a happy and prosperous one.
Lloyd.
Custom cut gems

A good days cutting.

Today I  started on a custom order for a client and finished this fine 3 ct  color shift Tanga  garnet from Tanzania Africa,it has a strong  color shift from light wine red /pink in natural light to pink/purple in fluorescent light to pink/red in incandescent light.The blue flashes are numerous and seen in all light.I managed to capture these blue flashes easily in many parts of the stone with the camera,they are not subtle at all which is very unusual combined with the fairly strong color shift I hesitate to use "color change" because the term is abused so often.

All in all a good days work!


Custom gem cutting

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Well, thanksgiving has come and gone.I certainly hope everyone had a happy turkey day.Bonnie and I drove up to friends in Jupiter Florida and a good time was had by all,we had to drive back Thursday evening and got back to the keys around 9:30pm pretty beat.It's always great to sleep in your own bed again.

On another note,rough gem material of good quality is becoming more scarce and  more expensive,this is not good for  cutters(The rough suppliers still get their price) due to the customer expecting great quality at a better price because of the economy but the cutter has to pay more for the material,everyone is putting their prices up but I will try to hold mine as long as possible without sacrificing quality. The old adage still applies "How do you make a fortune in the gem business?" answer: "Start with an even larger one". Happy holidays!
Lloyd
Custom cut gemstones

Mailing list sent out

The "new stones" mailing list was sent out a couple days ago with not quite as many stones as I would like to have but I just have not had the time to cut as much for my inventory as originally intended.This will hopefully be rectified in the near future.Keep a look out for December's list and if you haven't signed up yet now is the time to do so,that way you can get that beautiful stone for your Xmas gift to yourself or a loved one at wholesale pricing.
Custom gem cutter

NEW STONES MAILING LIST

The new stones mailing list will be out soon,in between the orders I've had to fill I've not had much time to cut too much for my own inventory.The list will contain some really top tourmaline and aquamarine.
I have some gorgeous rough on the way from Africa as well,in the parcel are Tanga garnet,spinel and blue tourmaline.Keep checking the blog and website for news.

I used this piece of Brazilian Maraba amethyst to proof cut a new design for a piece of sapphire rough for a client.I always try to use material with some value even when proof cutting.Most cutters proof cut new designs in synthetic material which is fine,nothing wrong with that but I just like something with value for the time spent experimenting.I think this design will do the job!
Custom cut gems

Another gem

I just finished another one for my inventory.A bubblegum pink tourmaline Barion rectangle 2.3 ct.

Barion's are harder to cut but well worth the effort,this stone is very bright even in artificial dim light which is exceptional for tourmaline.Tourmaline is known as a "day stone" because most stones look their best in daylight and usually have areas of extinction(sooty,black) in artificial or dim light.This stone sparkles in any light.
Custom cut gemstones

Just finished this set up today,the one on the right is amazing! They were both cut from the same crystal but the one on left came out quite a bit darker,I have another piece I will cut to try and match the right one for an earring set. Most of these crystals are light pink/red on the a/b axis and hot pink/purple on the c axis.So far I have cut most on the better color c axis.

Custom gem cutting

One of my other passions - photography

Some of my recent pictures.Photography is similar to faceting,there are so many nuances that you never stop learning.Note the reflection of the palm tree in the rain drops.
Custom Cut Gems

Here's a picture of the hot pink trillion set I cut.I think my wife has claimed them but if not they will be up for sale soon.The weight is around 1.9cts.The one on the right is slightly darker but the same hot pink except the camera perceived the slightly darker saturation as a different color.
Custom Cut Gemstones

Gems cut so far from new rough!

I have been pretty busy with customer orders but have made some time to cut a few stones for my own inventory.This is a 2.1 ct Rubelite tourmaline from the new parcel I received .I also cut a matched pair of trillion hot pinks which will make a gorgeous set of earrings  and will post a pic as soon as I have the time to take a photo,I've noticed with this material that it  is hard to reproduce the exact color,the stone above is actually hot pink/purple with some peach highlights,the peach highlights do not show and the exact amount of purple also is not exact.I will have to play around a bit more with camera settings to try to get it 100% or as close as I can get.However this material is all natural with no heat so I believe the multicolor reflections are an asset.Origin is Nigeria and the cut is just spectacular with awesome flashes when moved,notice no table because the petal like facets come to a point where the table would normally go.

Custom Cut Gems

Rubelite tourmaline

As promised a picture of the new tourmaline parcel.Most of these will cut gorgeous stones.
Custom Cut Gemstones

New tourmaline rough arrived today

I just got some beautiful tourmaline rough in hot pink,peach,red/purple and will be cutting a few pieces starting today.If you have signed up for my mailing list look out for new stones shortly as I also have some nice medium blue aquamarine on the way as well.Cheers.
Lloyd

Clear Cut Gems