Hi everyone. I’m not a professional jeweler. But I have sculpted/created a replica of a very old ring that had 3 simple cut stones and I would like to actually make the ring for someone. All 3 stones are the same shape, just 2 side stones are slightly smaller then center. The stones have a lot of inclusions, not eye clean so I would actually want poor quality. I can print the ring with settings ready in resin or wax for fitting. Is there someone who might hand cut these simple shapes? Thanks for any info. Center stone would be natural emerald (but lots of inclusions, roughness I have pictures of original) and the 2 side stones would be amethysts but can be close to rose quartz in color as the original amethysts lost a lot of color from 400 years of U.V. light, also not eye clean, very rough. With such a simple cut of stone, I think I need lapidary person, not a gemcutter.
I feel like we saw this same post once before. You are likely looking for someone who facets…Rob
Yes I posted about this last year, good catch. I never finished it. Took me a long time to make sure the final ring design was correct. (I had to sculpt the ring from scratch just based on photos, didn’t have good dimensions of original and I’m not trained). Zbrush is a bizarre sculpting software that artists usually spend 20K in tuition or more ot learn and I had to teach it myself so took me a while but now I’m finally ready to source the stones and know what size, etc. Lapidary is only for cutting stones completely flath on one side then? If I do need a gem cutter who does facets, I guess that actually makes it easier for me perhaps. I may have to purchase the rough stones and just send them with the model of the ring I guess. It’s hard for me to find any gem cutters though not being a professional jeweler. When I search gem cutting where you send in your own stones, I only see Thailand and was hoping I could keep it all in the U.S. since I may be shipping the model of the ring, model of the stones to show the shape, etc.
Hi Rick!
You definitely need a gem cutter, and in particular, one that specializes in custom work. I specialize in creating heirloom quality bespoke jewelry in the Art Nouveau style, so I frequently have need of a gem cutter. I’ve tried the services of several different cutters on past projects, but once I found Egor Gavrilenko I’ve never gone back to any of the others.
Full Disclosure: I do not receive compensation of any kind for referring customers to Egor. I’m just a highly satisfied customer.
Egor has done multiple custom projects for me. I’ve always been extremely satisfied with his pricing, his level of experience, his professionalism, the truly outstanding quality of his work, the speed with which he delivers, and the excellent customer service he provides before, during, and after the sale.
Egor is not the cheapest cutter available, but in my opinion his professionalism and experience make his service a wonderful bargain compared to the many discount clown show cutters I’ve dealt with in the past. Egor will treat you right and do a professional job for you on the very first try. He really knows his business.
Send him your drawing and a description of the work you want done. He can supply exactly the quality of rough material you want at a very reasonable price, or if you prefer to supply your own he can usually work with it as long as the quality is sufficient to cut the sizes and shapes you need without encountering problems.
Just be aware that he’s currently doing another small project for me, so you’ll have to wait your turn ;)))
Good luck with your project!
thanks for the reference. It’s so illuminating to me that this project is so hard to do. I thought it would be easy since there are only 9 total flat facets, a very easy cut. I tried reaching out to the Thailand source where you can send in stones and they cut them for 8 dollars a karat because I believe I should pick out the stones for the inclusions and cloudiness needed to match the original 400 year old ring. But apparently from what I heard, American custom gem cutters don’t charge by the facet but rather have a starting price of 150 minimum per gem to cut. I can send a model of the ring so they can size it and a model with what the stones should look like in place as well as photos of the original ring/stones to match the inclusions/roughness. Not for it to be perfect match but to illustrate that we don’t want eye clean stones. This is more of an art project and will defy what gem cutters/jewelers would want to do I guess. LOL. I just don’t understand how this shape stone is not more of a simple bead than a gem.
Egor is great! The quote he gave me to cut these stones was very reasonable. He said the cut would be very easy but that I would have to find the rough emerald. I don’t know how to buy small rough emerald. All of the rough emeralds on Ebay and Etsy are fake. So this is my new challange is to find a rough emerald that is not eye clean at all and looks kind of poor quality to match the old ring. I would think best solution is for me to find out who cuts a lot of emeralds and they would have a lot of bad/rejected roughs? Who cuts the most emeralds? Finished size just needs to be around 7.5mm square and 4.5mm high.
Hi Rick!
Yes, Egor is great to deal with!
Finding emerald with inclusions is like finding leopards with spots or tigers with stripes. Emerald with few or no inclusions is both extremely rare and eye-watering expensive.
I would agree, most of the gemstones listed on Etsy and eBay are man-made synthetics. It is possible to find genuine earth-mined stones, but one must have enough experience to know what to look for.
Fortunately, there are other options. I recommend you try out Gemrock Auctions. The site is curated and the owner-operators do not permit synthetic or man-made materials to be sold on their site. Here is a direct link to a site-wide search for emerald rough:
Please keep us posted on your progress…
Greg