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 Post subject: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 10:57 am 
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Hello, I'd like to try cutting a "freeform" gem, to maximize a flat and wide piece of zircon rough. Does anyone have advice, or links to articles or videos that might help me prepare? I use GemCut Studio for doing faceting designs, if that helps? Or is it better to just start cutting and taking notes? I am sure I will need lots of practice before the designs cut nicely, but I am taking inspiration from Jean-Noel Soni, would love to create designs in his style someday
http://spaceunseen.com/topnotch-faceting-studio-visit-in-san-francisco


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 Post subject: Re: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 3:26 pm 
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What exactly do you mean by free form? Would that include shape? Or are you just describing laying facets down on a piece of rough to a pleasing result? Free form rose cuts are the easiest to start with in my opinion, start with the shape outline followed by the contour of the rough, go slow keep a log of your angles in the case you need to return to a facet and the index. But if your talking about faceting a traditional stone by not using a diagram I believe there is a past post by one the members here on laying down facets on a preform to maximize yield. Try the search functions or maybe he will chime in.

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 Post subject: Re: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 7:23 pm 
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Post some pictures and/or links to some stones that meet your criteria for freeform and inspire you. I am sure we can get you going in the right direction.


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 Post subject: Re: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:09 pm 
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Sure things, thanks for asking for clarification! I believe the idea is to let the gem rough dictate the design to maximize yield. Ann Gilbert has some great examples, like this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3lG5tThIiS ... _copy_link
And here are some photos of similar freeform designs from Jean-Noel Soni:
http://www.markpatterson.com/wp-content ... 613276.jpg
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0Xhl0aZzuwY/ ... 9900_n.jpg


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 Post subject: Re: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 6:45 pm 
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Not the freeform I thought you were referencing in the original post.
Many of these designs can be found on:
http://www.facetdiagrams.org/cgi-bin/showmatches.py?shape=44&code=&name=&designer=&reference=&year=&gear=&lbyw=&hbyw=&volfrac=&days_old=&nppg=20
Tip 1 is to orientate the rough correctly on the dop so the index positions matchup to the rough. After that has been achieved faceting is basically the same as most symmetrical designs.

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 Post subject: Re: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 5:06 pm 
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I've done quite a few free form gems, mostly quartz. My key is to make certain the pavilion has a cone or a keel with the critical angle of the material respected. I go with 43 1/2 degrees for quartz. Once you lay in a well angled pavilion, the gem will be bright no matter what you do on the crown.

Look at all the goods from the world's quick and dirty cutters. They are so often fish-eyed because they attempt to maximize weight and ignore pavilion angles.


Hope that helps.


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 Post subject: Re: Freeform faceting tips?
PostPosted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 10:54 pm 
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Watch this video of Gustavo Castelblanco discussing emerald cutting. It is a hallmark of tips about orientation and yield. Not directly translatable, but gets you in the right mindset.


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www.faceting.biz


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