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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 3 to 4 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.
