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Faceting Classes & Instruction

The current Faceting class is being offered on Wednesday's at 6:00pm - 9:00pm.  Depending on the instructor, the class size is usually between 1 to 2 students. 

Students are not required to purchase their own faceting machine for the class, and in fact our instructors recommended that you do not even consider such a purchase until you have finished the course.  The club has faceting machines available for use during the class.  Below is a partial list of course instruction, and some of what you will be learning during the classes.

• Types and various uses of facet machines.
• Different types of Flat Laps and their use in shaping your stone.
• Dops and the use of Dop Wax or Epoxy.
• Using and different types of Transfer Blocks.
• Polishing Laps and Polishes.
• What type of Rough (emeralds, diamonds, ruby, synthetic,etc.), should I cut.
• Gemstone Faceting Terminology.
• Beginning faceting instruction (students usually begin with the standard round brilliant as their first faceted stone), and about the  100's of cutting diagrams available.
• Time required to cut a stone.
• Learn about angles, critical angles, refractive index.
• Cost of owning your own equipment.
• Can I earn a living faceting stones?

Our instructors use the " meet-point method" to teach beginning faceting.  One way to think of meet-point, is by thinking of putting together triangles, squares, rectangles, or other combinations of varied shapes, with each meeting another at a specific point to form a facet design.  Below is an example of a what a faceting design (Simple Brilliance) looks like, which should give you some idea of how the meet-point method woks.