I have a friend who does a lot of work in polymer clay. This
same individual has been collecting good quality facet rough for a
couple of decades now. He is interested in having some of it cut,
so that he can set it in his own jewelry. However the rates he has
been quoted for having the faceting done here in the US would make it
a losing proposition. He has made contact with a couple of overseas
firms, but I told him that I would ask all the folks out on Ganoksin
if they could recommend a good honest overseas cutter for the
material. After reading all of the horror stories about people
either never receiving the cut stones, or having their rough replaced
with inferior stuff, I thought it would be best to ask you all first.
Take this as it is meant. I do not know you, and this is not a
personal attack. Still what you propose is objectionable to many of
us.
I would not tell you where your friend could get his rough faceted,
if I knew! Many on this list are US lapidaries, and many of them are
struggling to compete against shops in countries where labor laws,
CHILD labor laws, and environmental regulations are either
non-existent or not enforced.
There are some on this list, I am sure, who will recommend an
overseas cutter. Probably in a nice place where child labor, prison
labor, starvation, etc make labor costs hard to beat. There are some
truly beautiful souls in the jewelry business, both here and abroad.
After all, the real value of anything is measured in dollars and
cents, never in human terms.
I have a very reliable company that I have been using for cutting
for several years. There are two options that I can offer for you, I
can give you the contact directly or I can handle
everything from this end. Pricing is about the same since I get
discount prices due to the volume that I have cut each year, but I
can handle all correspondence and shipping, etc. myself instead of
dealing with a overseas company. I can also supply pictures of the
cutting quality if you want to see examples.