Sarah Marks
Faceting is the art of turning glass and semi-precious and precious (diamonds) stones into beautiful gems and works of art. Recent gemstone auctions have rivaled antique, collectible, and classic art with record-breaking amounts when the gavels fell.
Charle Lewis Tiffany, Henri Cartier, and Harry Winston are just a few of the world-renowned jewel artisans famous for setting magnificent gemstones in rare, one-of-a-kind necklaces, brooches, and earrings.
The Hope Diamond is the most famous faceted stone at 45.52 carats. On permanent view at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., this deep-blue cushion-cut stone was gifted to the museum by Harry Winston.
Closer to home, the Sun Lakes Rock, Gem & Silver Club starts eager stone cutters with a Faceting 101 class taught by instructors Jim White and Tony Thompson, who share over 30 years of gem cutting experience. Students begin with clear quartz, colored glass, or a semi-precious stone of their choice. Learning the language of faceting (Girdle, Star, Breaks, and Table) is part of the process, along with patience and style.
Like many of you, Tony, Jim, and I do not have a family history of gem and diamond cutters. Rather, we love being creative and taking on new challenges in our retirement. My first project was a Round Brilliant Quartz stone 10mm in size. Truth be told, this rock tested my patience, but my teachers taught me well, and I have come to love this art form. I couldn’t wait to start my next stone, and the one after that! My favorite gem, completed recently, is a 14mm Tequila Sunrise Brilliant in yellow and orange. The desire to learn other shapes (Marquis, Cushion, Trillion, and Square) leads to wanting to study more complicated designs with names like Medicine Wheel, Diaspore, and Sparklehex. Bringing a new dimension to the addictive nature of faceting is Intaglio and Cameo, carving done to the top or sides of the polished stone. The best in this field is the creator of the Fantasy Cut, cutter and carver extraordinaire Tom Munsteiner. Munsteiner is also the man behind the 2022 Guiness World Record “Apollo,” a 196.17-carat Paraiba tourmaline. I hope to try my hand at unique Fancy Art cuts with Intaglio embellishments in the future.
The faceting equipment is amazing and expensive. Thanks to the club’s investment and donations of money and time from an all-volunteer corps of instructors like Jim and Tony, we can learn these time-honored crafts. If you haven’t joined the club for 2025, get started on our website www.slrgs.com. You won’t regret it! Our monthly meeting is held on the third Monday of the month at 10 a.m. in the Computer Learning Center, Steve Nolan Lecture Hall, at Cottonwood Country Club.