My Stoecker Jewelers faceting lessons continued with the cutting of “the breaks” and reshaping “the girdle” of my ever evolving gemstone. I also got more insight into the jewelry business Mountain Home Style.
Faceting First
After some close examination of “the stone”, I discovered there were some very visible scratches that needed to be polished out. We got the polishing wheel out and I went about polishing out the scratches in pavilion facets. I quickly took care of this job and moved on to the next task.
Cutting in the “pavilion breaks” is a rather crucial task in gem cutting so I let the expert handle this delicate operation. I watched Kelly Willis do his mental geometry, dial in the faceting machine and within minutes the 8 breaks were cut. I took over and polished up these facets to a high gloss. Let me tell you, just cutting in those 8 facets and polishing them made a huge difference. Even the pointy “culet” turned into a nice sharp point.
Due to a few minor overcuts and undercuts, I had to go back and recut/reshape the “girdle”. This delicate job was all mine and within 30 minutes, I had that stone looking pretty darn good.
Some Stoecker Secrets Revealed
Spending time in the “Employee’s Only Area” of a jewelry store can reveal some interesting information. Here are just a few secrets I am willing to leak out:
1. Jewelers must eat lunch: I was taken in the “back-back room” for lunch and sort of sworn to secrecy as to what I was about to see. Let’s just say the back-back room is rather crowded. I’m not sure what Michael and Kelly are working on back there so I’ll leave it to my readers to figure out what it is and leave a comment.
2. No Lead Ammunition?: When a Master Jeweler makes up his mind to save the environment he will spare no expense. I understand the US Army is testing this blue sapphire gemstone filled “leadless bullet”.
In reality, Michael and Kelly make these and you can buy your very own in a tie tack, cuff link and hat pin version. Seriously! Check them out as they are very cool.
3. Eyeglass Frame Repair: Every time I have been in Stoecker’s both Michael and Kelly stay very busy. While I hope most of you know these two guys repair jewelry, I found out they also repair metal eyeglass frames.
Hard to see but this is Michael fixing a pair of eyeglasses
Faceting Words of Wisdom
My faceting lessons are moving along pretty much as I expected. Learning to faceting a stone can and will teach you patience. I’m still excited about this whole project and the projects the guys at Stoecker Jewelers have in store for me in the future. But to complicate matters, I present 2 direct quotes of wisdom:
- “No matter how many faceting mistakes you make on a stone, it can be easily be fixed” – Kelly Willis from Stoeckers
- “Never learn faceting on a gemstone you value.” – Michael Stoecker
Comments
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