LESSON 7: GEM FASHIONING
Preparing a gem for use in jewelry, or for display as an ornamental object, is known as fashioning. In certain cases no fashioning is done at all; the gem material is used just as it came from Nature.
re-fashioning See re-cutting.
reflected light Light beams that bounce off the surface of the diamond versus transmitted light that enters the diamond. Also see angle of reflection, angle of incidence and critical angles.
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FASHIONING - Any operation employed in preparing rough gem material into polished gemstones such as cleaving, cutting, or faceting.
Fashioning. More so than for most gem materials, fashioning plays a critical role in jadeite beauty and value. Typically, the finest qualities are cut for use in jewelry - as cabochons, bracelets, or beads.
Agate is used in fashioning stoneware, objets'd art and even furniture. The different hues and forms are enthralling and with new agates found every year, they have an endless fascination. Its beautiful colors make intriguing jewelry too.
MARQUISE - A fashioning style for gemstones with the girdle outline in an elliptical shape with pointed ends.
MELEE - A term used primarily to describe small, round faceted diamonds or colored stones of approximately .18 carat or less.
The term "cut" also refers to the fashioning of a gem. . There are numerous types of cuts. RELATED TERMS: See Antique, Briolette, Eight-cut, Fantasy, Pear Shaped, Marquise, Radiant, Rose Scissors, Ceylon, Emerald, Single, and Table Cuts.
As part of the normal fashioning process, most emeralds are immersed in colorless oil or resin so small voids are not as noticeable.
Care should be taken to protect it from scratches, sharp blows, household chemicals, and extreme temperature changes.
metallurgy The science and procedures involved in extracting metals from ore, refining the metals, blending them into alloys, and fashioning useful objects from them.
Morse covertly trained American men and women in the art and skill of diamond fashioning and the American diamond cutting industry was born.
A cabochon is a special style of fashioning that lacks facets. It consists of a polished, domed surface. This style may be used on any shape of rough, but the most common forms are round, oval, and cushion.
The quality of the jade is taken into account when fashioning. In Hong Kong, the world center for jadeite cutting, dealers earmark the best pieces (free of white or black streaks, fractures) for cabochons, ...
A knowledge of cleavage for the cutter is important as it can lead to an easy first step to the fashioning process for diamonds.
Girdling - The step in the fashioning process of a diamond in which the stone is given a circular shape.
During the Late Harappan period craftsmen began to work with bronze, copper silver, and gold, fashioning simple necklaces, head-bands, bangles and other ornamentation from cast metalwork, glazed faience (a non-clay ceramic), terracotta, shells, ...
Heket (Egyptian) Represented in frog form, this goddess assisted in fashioning the child in the womb and presided over the birth in her capacity of midwife.
This is followed by extremely arduous processes of mining, cutting, polishing, and fashioning. Seen this way, the number of earth hours and skilled man hours that go into a diamond make diamond jewelry the highly valued product they are.
The "cut" is a term used to refer to the fashioning of a gem. Other cuts used in all gemstones are:
Antique: small table surrounded by symmetrical facets
Briolette : slender pear shaped stone covered with facets.
Bearded girdle: If a diamond is rounded up carelessly in the fashioning (polishing) process the surface of the girdle will turn out rough and numerous minute hair-like fractures are likely to extend a short distance into the stone.
Bruting
A method of rough-diamond fashioning by rubbing one diamond against another.
Cabochon
A gemstone with an unfacetted domed form. The oldest form of gem cutting.
Commesso: Developed in Florence in the late 16th Century, commesso is a technique of fashioning pictures with thin, cut-to-shape pieces of brightly colored, semiprecious gems.
"Cut" is also a term used to refer to the fashioning of a gem. See "Gemstone Cut." ...
The table may take many geometric forms, dependent on the shape and style of fashioning. On a round brilliant-cut diamond, for example, the table forms an octagon.
Meerschaum - A fine, compact, usually white claylike mineral of hydrous magnesium silicate, H4Mg2Si3O10, found in the Mediterranean area and used in fashioning tobacco pipes and as a building stone. Also called sepiolite.
A third pyroxenoid is the abundant rock-forming mineral, wollastonite. Again, the only source of facetable crystals is Asbestos, Canada. Catseyes are cut from fibrous material, but fashioning the stone is complicated, ...
The cut of a diamond refers to two different things: the shape (pear, round, marquise, princess, radiant, emerald, heart, or trilliant) and the make (the quality of the work in fashioning the shape).
The gem was used for carving purposes and for fashioning toggles or buttons for the jackets worn by the royal court and by other wealthy individuals. Even now, her body rests eternally on a tourmaline pillow.
They almost always have the highest grades on polish and symmetry as well, indicating the great care taken in the overall fashioning of the stone. These diamonds have had the finest craftsmanship to maximize the beauty of the diamond.
Rubies from Kenya and Tanzania were discovered in the sixties because their color rivals the world's best. As part of the customary fashioning process, virtually all rubies are heated to permanently improve their color and appearance.
 See also: Color, Stone, Jewel, Gemstone, Jewelry
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