What are the cuts of a gemstone called?

An Introduction to Gemology

These cuts are also known as gem cutting styles. The three most basic cutting styles are brilliant, step, and mixed. For example, a “round brilliant diamond” has a round shape but a brilliant cutting style. Faceters can combine these styles to create many different gem designs.

Which cut is best for gemstones?

To most people the gem on the left with concave facets will look more “brilliant”. That is because its light and dark reflections are divided up by the curved facets on the pavilion of the gem into many smaller reflections. This breaks up the brilliance pattern into a far more complex and bright looking whole.

What is the most difficult gemstone cut?

Briolette. The Briolette cut is a pear or drop-shaped stone with 84 triangular shaped facets covering its entire surface. There is no table, crown, or pavilion. Because of this, the Briolette is the most difficult shape to cut.

What is scissor cut gem?

Just like its name suggests, the facets of a scissor cut gem look like the criss crossed blades of scissors. The style is a type of step cut, but it’s more reflective than an emerald or asscher cut because of its facet pattern. The scissor cut makes darker gems look deeper and bolder with a little extra shimmer.

What is a Portuguese cut?

Portuguese cut gems feature faceting technique where the gem is cut with two rows of rhomboidal and three rows of triangular facets above and below the girdle (the girdle is the line that divides the top or crown of the stone from the bottom or pavilion).

What is a precision cut gem?

Precision cutting, also called custom cutting, is a combination of faceting techniques and machinery facilities which allow us to cut the stones using original faceting designs and to get spectacular results in precision of angles and symmetry of the stone, together with exceptional polishing quality of the facets.

What is the most popular gemstone shape?

Round Round-cut gemstones
Round. Round-cut gemstones are the most classic and popular shape. Round gemstones are timeless, and they look great on everyone. The round shape allows for many facets, so your gemstone can sparkle brightly.

How do you cut gemstones?

To cut hard gems, use a faceting machine to grind them into the shape you want. If the gems are softer, like pearl or amber, you can use sandpaper and water to shape the gem. When picking a shape for your gemstone, choose one that’s similar to the current shape of the stone so you don’t waste a lot of it.

How do they cut gemstones?

All gems are cut and polished by progressive abrasion using finer and finer grits of harder substances. Diamond, the hardest naturally occurring substance, has a Mohs hardness of 10 and is used as an abrasive to cut and polish a wide variety of materials, including diamond itself.

Why would a cabochon cut be used?

Cabochons often act like a window, allowing one to see the gems natural details inside and display other visual effects such as play of color in Opals, cat’s eye and asterism (star). Cabochons are more likely to have natural inclusions and markings.

What is a fantasy cut?

1943) invented the fantasy cut (concave cuts made on the back of gemstones). Munsteiner freely sliced away carats on the backs of gemstones to create spectacular lightshows on their fronts. The only ideal proportion he acknowledged was the one that freed the natural beauty he saw hiding in the stone.

What is faceted cut?

A faceted stone is a type of gemstone cut where the stone has flat top, polished faces called facets across it and a pointed bottom. This cut refracts the light inside the gem and reflects light on the outside facets of the gemstone, maximising the stone’s brilliance and fire.

What is step cut gem?

step cut, also called Trap Cut, orCushion Cut, method of faceting coloured gemstones in which the stone produced is rather flat with steps, or rows, of four-sided facets parallel to the girdle (the stone’s widest part).