Yes, it is possible to make a living from your gemstone faceting and no one has done this faster than John Bailey of GemstoneArtist.com. This year, 2010, Bailey will hold ONE boot-camp-style Faceting class.

July 8 – 13, with over 60 hours of classroom instruction in a close, friendly environment. This course is perfect for the beginner and experienced faceters alike.

This course is so much more than just “how to facet.” John includes vital information on how to value rough, saving you time, money and frustration when you buy rough that you’ll never sell because you overpaid. You’ll also learn basic Gemcad (and if you know Gemcad John is more than happy to teach more advanced concepts). This course is highly recommended by Kathryn Martyn, our club’s secretary and webmaster who attended the boot camp in 2009 and plans to attend this year as well.

The course includes all of the following

• Faceting Machine Orientation
• Rough evaluation
• Rough Evaluation Lab
• Gemstone orientation
• Cold Dopping Methods & Tools
• Hot Dopping Methods & Tools
• Orientation & Cold Dopping Lab
• Hot Dopping Methods & Tools Lab
• Beginning Cutting & Polishing Sequencing
• Advanced Polishing & Repair Cutting
• Beginning Cutting & Polishing Lab
• Intermediate Cutting & Polishing Lab
• Training the Eye to See (Quality Control)
• Beginning Design & Geometry Planning
• Advanced Geometry & Design
• Beginning Design & Geometry Planning Lab
• Basic Gem Photography
• The Well Fed Artist (Getting Paid)

Complete details are found at GemStoneArtist.com

John has several videos posted on YouTube as well, including the cutting sequence when he faceted Oregon’s largest flawless red sunstone

Related posts:

1. Faceting Design Contest

By Dick Walker. Published in FACETS, January 2005

The time-tested method of dopping with hot wax seems to have gone the way of the Dodo bird for most people. I still use hot wax on occasion when I am in a hurry or perhaps someone else is in a hurry. Now I favor the use of epoxy, the five-minute variety. I could use the longer cure variety but it takes a long time for it to become stiff enough to stop running all over the place. Now I use the quick cure epoxy but I use only the epoxy in the tubes, not the kind that comes in the double syringe form. I have found that the double syringe variety becomes a study in madness and frustration.

Why you might ask? Well most of the resins and the hardeners or catalysts are not the same viscosity.  As a result making a proper blob of each is virtually impossible, leaving you with epoxy that will not cure rock hard.

Over the years I have heard of numerous additives used to thicken the epoxy and make it less runny and yield more readily to the solvents used to dissolve it. I have heard of using com starch, corn meal, cream of wheat and cerium oxide, the cheap brown stuff that is. A bit confusing, you bet. I decided to give them all a try to see which method actually was best.

Cornstarch & Epoxy

Cornstarch seemed to be an inexpensive place to start. I prepared a blob of epoxy and proceeded to add an abundance of cornstarch to my blob until it appeared to be sufficiently thick and dopped a stone. After a sufficient wait, I proceeded to facet the pavilion of my stone. After completion of the pavilion I transferred the stone using the same doping method.

Then came the task of removing the first dop so I could cut the crown. I found that the cornstarch epoxy required quite a bit of heat to free the initial dop, enough that it made me just a bit nervous. After completion of the crown again what I felt an inordinate amount of heat was necessary to remove the dop.

Corn Meal & Epoxy

Oh well on to the next filler material. I decided to try com meal this time. I proceeded to mix the com meal with the epoxy as instructed put the stone on the epoxy dop and waited. I do not know what the problem was here but the epoxy failed to harden to my satisfaction. Perhaps some of either the resin or the catalyst was absorbed by the com meal. This was tried again with approximately the same results.

Cream of Wheat & Epoxy

On to cream  of wheat with just about the same results, I may have to juggle the resin catalyst mix a bit.

Cerium Oxide & Epoxy

So on the last suggested filler, cerium oxide. I had tried this filler in the past with satisfactory results but I decided to mix up a batch filling the resin catalyst with enough of the cerium oxide to thicken it sufficiently. This mix hardened quite rapidly with very little tendency to run. After about two hours under a light bulb it was hard enough to commence cutting. When it came time to remove the epoxy from the stone and dop the amount of heat necessary to effect separation was quite satisfactory even for the more heat sensitive stones.

As far as I am concerned the cerium oxide makes the most satisfactory filler for epoxy dopping.

A note on Dops

I have found that the cone dops make a much better base for epoxy dopping than the flat top dops because the epoxy does not work as a thin film adhesive. More mass is required to form a satisfactory bond for dopping. One of the best features of epoxy is that it is waterproof and resists shearing. I have never had a stone come off when dopped carefully with epoxy.

Watch for Humidity

One last thought, one factor that might effect your success with epoxy in general is the humidity in your shop environment. If the humidity is high, as in near a dryer vent or in an utility room, there is a pretty good chance that your efforts to dop with epoxy may result in rubbery or insufficiently rigid epoxy. Make every effort to use epoxy in a warm dry area, for best results.

Related posts:

1. Dopping Tips – Cleaning Epoxy Mess

With the dizzying array of equipment available, Your Gemologist has a nice write-up explaining a bit about what many of the various gemstone identification tools do and why they do it. This equipment is used by both gemologists and faceters.

What equipment do you use? Did you teach yourself?

Related posts:

1. Where to Learn Gemology

A few sources for gemology education include the International School of Gemology (more expensive) and IGS, International Gem Society (less expensive). I have not attended either so only cite what I found online but both look interesting.

Also check out Your Gemologist (warning, it has audio that plays no matter what, so turn down your speakers — I turn mine completely off). This site features tons of information on properties of individual minerals, gemstones, and much more.

I found on the late Jeff’s Graham’s site that his opinion was the money you’d spend at a course could be better spent buying equipment and teaching yourself. He may be right but you’d need to be the sort that really can self- teach so you don’t just buy equipment then put in on a shelf for when you get a round-to-it.  Read what Graham had to say on the subject and if you have an opinion, please send it in, or post a comment!

Related posts:

1. Free Gemology Course
2. Overview Gemological Equipment

If you are interested in faceting you may already have an interest in gemstones or rocks in general (most of us do). But where do you go when you’d like to get a bit more in-depth education?  One great online resource is Barbara Smigel’s free Gemology Course offered through CSN (College of Southern Nevada). The entire course content is online and available for anyone at no cost, and it is also available for credit for a fee through the college.

Smigel’s site provides answers when one might ask, “Are you Interested in Gemstones?” She answers these questions about gemstones:

• How do they form?
• Why do they shine?
• What sets value in a gem?
• How can you spot a simulant or synthetic?
• What creates a cat’s eye or star in a gem?
• How can you tell one red gemstone like ruby from another like garnet or piece of red glass?
• Which gems are best for jewelry and why?
• Where and how are gems mined?
• How are they cut and polished?
• What is the toughest gemstone (no, not diamond)?
• and What the Heck are These?

You’ll spend countless hours learning at Barbara’s site and maybe even developing a lifelong passion for gemstones! You may also run into Barbara at the Gemology Online forum. I’ve read many posts by Barbara there in the Lapidary forum.

Related posts:

1. Where to Learn Gemology

Refractor is a common material used to examine “inside” a stone. Here’s a great explanation in how to use refractol found at TheImage.com.

Related posts:

1. Identifying Gem Materials

Nov 3, 2009, 7:30 PM at OMSI the CWFG’s meeting features a presentation on making your own Polariscope. I tracked down a few online tutorials to supplement.

• YourGemologist.com shows how to make a polariscope from Sunglasses
• Charles Lewton-Brain 1997 wrote a nice tutorial on building a polariscope
• The Gemology Project has an extensive write-up on Polariscopes
• John Baily sent a link to Polarization.com where you can buy polarizing film by the foot! Awesome resource
• Polar Shop another place to buy polarizing film by the foot who knew?
• Another great resource, kid’s science sites! Check out SciToys.com and their tutorial on Light & Optics
• How to Make Polariscope at Gem  Lab Tools
• Here are instructions on building a polariscope for use with glass but it’s the same principal for looking at gemstones and very well done

Have more resources? Let us know in the comments below and have fun building that Polariscope. Next … how to use it

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The Columbia-Willamette Faceters’ Guild in conjunction with the Rice Northwest Museum offer a number of educational programs promoting the art of gem faceting. following are class descriptions and details.

Beginning Gemstone Faceting

This class introduces the theory and techniques of faceting gemstones. During the course, students will facet one or two gemstones with material and equipment provided by the Columbia-Willamette Faceters’ Guild. Students will gain sufficient knowledge and techniques to continue faceting on their own.

Winter 2009 Classes

All classes are held Saturday afternoons from 1:00 – 5:00 PM at the Rice Museum and run five weeks.
Where: Rice Northwest Museum
When: Saturday 1 – 5 PM
Cost: $135.00

Classes fill fast so please submit your request as soon as you can to be guaranteed a seat. For more information or to register, contact the Rice Northwest Museum at (503) 647-2418 or visit the Rice Northwest Museum Website

If there’s something you’d like to learn about faceting, just ask. We’ll find out for you or point you in the right direction.

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