Why Sliced gemstones
Posted by Benazir Arfi on
As a jewelry designer, I have really enjoyed using sliced gemstones ranging from sliced Sapphires, Aquamarine, Tanzanite, Opals and Emeralds. I feel it gives me a lot of flexibility.It gives me a free form palette to work with. The organic color and free form stone slices are great because they have a low production cost. It works well for both the designer as well as their customers.As a customer. it enables one to have a large gemstone that is still precious at a fraction of the cost of gem-quality stones of the same material. Click Here
I used sliced Sapphire for this particular design.
So what is the exact process for creating sliced gemstones. Not much different from slicing a loaf of bread, the rough stones are sliced on a trim saw and then later faceted or polished.The unfaceted slices are called cabochons. This extremely skilled person who transforms a raw stone to slices and faceted stones or cabochons is called a Lapidarist
Slicing a Smokey Quatrz
Picture credit: nature.berkeley.edu
Just like most art forms, it calls for a fascinating blend of foresight and technical skill to identify an average looking rock that may have the potential of sparkling color and sparkle on the inside. It takes further more skills and experience to find the best way to reveal the rough stone’s maximum potential, to transform a rock into a treasure of color and light. It is extremely important to know of the hardness, clevage and inclusions in a rock before starting to work on them.The whole process is outright magical and worth watching.
Sliced Tourmaline
Sliced Ruby
Of all the gemstones I have used, my favorite would have to be the sliced watermelon Tourmaline. They are known to be the juiciest of all gems. Just as the name resembles a ripe slice of watermelon. The dark pink center surrounded by a rim of green is often seperated by a sliver of pale pink or white. It not only adds a burst of color but also adds a sense of drama to a piece of jewelry.
Sliced Watermelon Tourmaline
It's generally hard to get your hands the most perfect sliced Watermelon Tourmaline. I am always in the lookout for them and I look forward to design more pieces in the future using them. Just like every trend in the fashion industry the demand and usage of sliced gemstones could vary from time to time. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly going to be one of my favorite.