Ruination: design by Arya Akhavan.

Pair of non-matched lab grown green sapphires in 'Ruination' cut.

The first cut of my new design. A Sunwheel, Wheel of Taranis in natural black spinel. Frosted facets form the spokes.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

The first cut of a new design. This is what I was originally going for with my 'Apostate' cut. The frosted facets form the Hagal rune. This is the original Scandinavian - Younger Futhark glyph with the longer vertical lines.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal. I neglected to clean all the epoxy off the girdle before shooting, this has been rectified.

'Star of David #3', adapted from a design by Fred van Sant, 61 facets

My latest Star of David - a popular design for me. This is cut in the rather rare Lithium Niobate and is most probably the only one presently available worldwide :-). Rather pleased, this rough video does not do it justice - in sunlight this material explodes into a riot of colour.

Not easy to do, getting the frosting this even is tricky whilst the Niobate was an absolute sod to polish. I nearly gave up - unfortunately giving up is something I find difficult. Probably took about 40 hours all told.

10% of sale price via this site will be donated to the British charity - World Jewish Relief.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Design by Marco Voltolini, 25 facets.

Yttrium Aluminum Garnet, as known as alexite, amamite, circolite, dia-bud, diamite, diamogem, diamonair, diamone, diamonique, diamonite, diamonte, di'yag, geminair, gemonair, kimberly, Linde simulated diamond, nier-gem, regalair, replique, somerset, triamond, YAIG, and yttrium garnet. This was widely used as a diamond simulant before the development of lab-grown cubic zirconium. It has a high moh hardness of 8.5, higher refractive index than sapphire (more sparkly) and a high dispersion. Widely used in the laser industry it is a rare gemstone material.

An interesting variant on the ‘opposed bars’ concept. Usually opposed bar designs have the bars inverted (orthogonal) with respect to this design. The upshot being that rather than seeing long bars one sees squares. As the stone is moved square flashes occur.

Design by Ian Robinson.

Brilliant cut pavilion and a high crown with 8 narrow frosted parallel-sided facets in a star shape. - vid

3 stones cut in my 'Apostate' design. Blue is lab-grown spinel, clear and yellow are lab-grown sapphire.

20% of sale price via this site will be donated to the charity Humanism UK - link

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Design N^o7 - Apostate A - vid

Gorgeous cobalt blue lab grown spinel in my Apostate cut. Brilliant cut pavilion and a high crown with 8 narrow frosted parallel-sided facets in a star shape. Quite a large stone which would make an impressive centrepiece or single setting. This should be easy to set in a round setting.

20% of sale price via this site will be donated to the charity Humanism UK - link

Tears of Elune, design by Arya Akhavan. Cut in light pink sapphire -vid.

Nice: shard like narrow pear shape.

Somewhat time consuming and fiddly to cut taking me about twice as long as similar pear designs.

Design N^o7 - Apostate A -vid

Light yellow lab grown sapphire in my Apostate cut. Brilliant cut pavilion and a high crown with 8 narrow frosted parallel-sided facets in a star shape.

20% of sale price via this site will be donated to the charity Humanism UK - link

Design N^o7 - Apostate B -vid

Pure white sapphire in my Apostate cut. Brilliant cut pavilion, the crown has 8 narrow frosted parallel-sided facets in a star shape radiating from a central polished table.

20% of sale price via this site will be donated to the charity Humanism UK - link

Design N^o7 - Apostate A -vid

Pure white sapphire in my Apostate cut. Brilliant cut pavilion and a high crown with 8 narrow frosted parallel-sided facets in a star shape.

20% of sale price via this site will be donated to the charity Humanism UK - link

Design by Jeff Graham -vid

Some slight veil in one corner though not really visible to the naked eye.

The Brilliant Pear is designed to cut like a standard round brilliant and look like a pear. The light return is excellent, much better than any traditional pear I've ever seen. Unlike many pear designs, this one employs a centred culet. The pavilion is basically a split mains variation of the SRB with 3 elongated sets of facets, and the crown is also a modification of the SRB pattern. This produces a pleasingly shaped stone with the added attraction that this design can be mounted in standard 4-prong findings and settings designed for round stones.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Standard Round Brilliant - 'Stacked Mains - design by Long & Steele

Just a comparison of 2 pairs of sapphires cut in hot pink and lilac-pink sapphire. They are very bright and sparkly, in part due to the quality of polish on the pavilion - the bottom of the stone.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Standard Round Brilliant - 'Stacked Mains - design by Long & Steele

This is a matched pair of precision cut sapphires each of 2.90ct. Would look nice in large drop earrings. Being essentially round (strictly 16 sided) they should be easy to set. They are very bright and sparkly, in part due to the quality of polish on the pavilion - the bottom of the stone.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Brilliant cut square with frosted facets showing an Iron Cross - vid

Design by Ian Robinson, 41 facets.

3 gemstones cut in my 'Iron Cross' design. Blue is lab-grown spinel, black is natural black spinel, clear is lab-grown 'white' sapphire.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Brilliant cut square with frosted facets showing an Iron Cross - vid

Design by Ian Robinson, 41 facets.

Having cut a number of cross designs I was looking for one that was simple and bold where the design could be clearly seen without magnification. This seems to work well and has attracted a lot of interest.

The Iron Cross has been a German military award from 1877 to the present and its design may be traced back to the cross pattée of the 11^th century Teutonic Knights of Jerusalem and earlier.

No retouching, colour modification nor dust spot removal.

Design by Marco Voltolini, 66 facets

Hanami (花見, "flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers Another interesting design by Marco Voltolini. 'Hanami' is modelled on a cherry blossom. A set of tiers is left frosted with the 'petals' polished.

Classic Square Brilliant Cut

Came out rather nice Strictly approx 1/3^rd of stone is amethyst with 2/3^rds being citrine. Under normal lighting the internal reflections tend to make the effect more symmetrical.

Youtube

No retouching, colour modification or dust spot removal.

adapted from Thank You Bern'd by Marco Voltolini

This was cut in lemon quartz, likely natural (not irradiated) as from 1974 stock. Two bubbles are carved into the bottom giving rise to interesting reflections.

Originally cut for U.K. Facet Cutter's Guild display in Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Now on display at Assay Office, University of Birmingham.

No retouching, colour modification or dust spot removal.

Video

'Chrysanthemum', by Quincy D Howell, 81 facets

Cut in Rose De France (light Amethyst). Marking are internal to the stone due to reflections from a small veil - I think this adds interest :-)

Originally cut for U.K. Facet Cutter's Guild display in Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Now on display at Assay Office, University of Birmingham.

No retouching, colour modification or dust spot removal.

Video

'Geometric Etude No 1', adapted from a design by Arya Akhavan, 49 facets

Very hard to photograph well.

No retouching, colour modification or dust spot removal.

Video

'Gram Emerald', Design by Jeff Graham, 45 facets.

Cut in dark moss green natural tourmaline.

This is not the highest quality tourmaline hence the low price. However the cut is certainly to at least my usual standard. The stone is eye clean and large enough to form the centrepiece of a pendant.

The video on youtube may give a better impression than the photo above

No retouching, colour modification or dust spot removal.

Video