Faceting Designs Book

Description

FACETING DESIGNS BY CLAUDE MARC-AURELE ©2024

ISBN : 978-2-9822286-0-3 (Backorders will be sent late June 2024)

This booklet contains 30 diagrams for faceters looking for new cuts that are off the beaten track. Some have a modern and fancy look, with original and exclusive patterns, while others have a rather artistic style, reproducing figures or motifs belonging to ancient cultures or civilizations.

Most of these diagrams have hundreds of facets. Some of them have a floating layout while others are arranged according to meetpoints. In many cases, patterns are highlighted by frosted facets, which accentuate the contrast and give the stone an impression of increased brightness. In other cases, they are highlighted by polished or unpolished facet edges, which bring out the finesse of the details and delicacy of the work performed by the faceter.

The difficulty level of the diagrams ranges from medium to very difficult. They are designed for
faceters who have mastered the basics of cutting, are looking for original and complex cuts, and are eager for new challenges.   Each design is accompanied by a short description of the difficulties likely to be encountered during the cut and by some basic techniques to overcome them. Most of the designs featured in this book have between fifteen and twenty-five tiers of facets. Such a large number of tiers makes reading the diagrams difficult, if not impossible in some cases. The letters or numbers used to identify them are superimposed, making the diagram overloaded and unreadable. To easily visualize the location of each facet, two types of diagram are used: a “traditional” one, where the main facets are lettered or numbered, and a new type of diagram, designed to easily identify the floating facets and the polished or frosted facet edges.

The diagrams presented in this booklet require the use of index gear 64, 80, 96 and 120. The last two are the most widely used because of their versatility, allowing you to position certain facets in places that would be inaccessible otherwise. They are indispensable for cutting elaborate diagrams, made of complex figures or patterns, having tens of tiers or hundreds of facets. Most of the cutting angles have been optimized for quartz (RI: 1.54), corundum (RI: 1.76) and cubic zirconia (RI: 2.15).

Color images illustrating the rendering, and graphs showing the percentage of brightness, are presented. These images and graphs are provided for illustrative purposes only.