New gemology site

Dear all,

I have been working on a site to help gem(m)ology students. For now I
did colourgrading and symmetry (crystallography).

I would welcome any feedback, positive and negative,

http://yey.be

Alain

p.s.: if anyone of you has great pictures of “top grade” gemstones
that I could use for illustration, that would be a great.

    I have been working on a site to help gem(m)ology students.
For now I did colourgrading and symmetry (crystallography). I would
welcome any feedback, positive and negative 

I love it! Of course, I only just peeked at the site and I know
there’s more to come, but I like it so far. I can’t wait to hear
from some folks who haven’t had formal color grading training to
give their opinions. It’s easy for me to understand what you’re
putting out, but I’m already familiar with GIA’s grading system. And
I’m very happy you chose their system, since the actual words (or
numbers) for grading color (i.e. Red with medium tone and vivid
saturation, or R 5/6) is far more precise than saying “pigeon’s
blood red.” The latter will always be subjective, and usually
disappointing for the buyer.

One possible benefit to me that is outside the scope of your site is
the availability of color samples to grade by. When GIA came up with
their system, they had a company manufacture plastic color samples
that were available in kit form and were also very expensive. Over
the years, the batches varied in hue, tone and saturation to where
they weren’t as precise as was required. Finally, because of GIA’s
stringent requirements, production stopped recently because it
became too expensive to meet those requirements. There are other
color samples available, but they are still expensive and not as
easily available as you’ve just made them.

I also enjoyed the Symmetry Made Easy section. Your graphic
depictions break it down to easily understandable bites. As a
gemologist, I find it a very cool project. Thanks for sharing, and I
look forward to whatever you have in mind next.

James in SoFl

    I would welcome any feedback, positive and negative 

I did notice one thing. Along with their grading system’s
descriptions, GIA recommends grading under strong,
daylight-equivalent, overhead fluorescent lighting (a grading lamp)
with a neutral, non-UV background for consistency, about 18 inches
(45cm) distance from the light. And that’s for the very reason you
state on your site: The person in the other hemisphere will have
different sunlight than you have.

Beth and The Doctor,

Thank you for your kinds words.

Also there is a kind member who voluntered to spell/grammar check my
text (which is probably highly needed).

Alain