Faceting Focus: Trisparkle 12 Design

By Mark Oros

Faceting Focus is sponsored by…

New Design Marks New Approach

I want to thank Jim Perkins for his many years of providing outstanding faceting designs for the Rock & Gem readership. Jim’s gemstone design philosophy has always been, “10% inspiration and 90% perspiration,” with the results being a final faceted gemstone that outperforms most of the designs I have cut during my faceting tenure. In my opinion, Jim is a giant in the arena of classical gemstone design and faceting. I will be taking over his gemstone design column while Jim pursues new facets of interest in the lapidary world. These will be big shoes to fill, but I am fortunate to be able to stand on Jim’s broad shoulders.

While Jim always provided his interpretations of classic gemstone designs, I will be featuring a new generation of global gemstone artists and their contemporary designs. The designs will vary in complexity and gemstone material. While the majority of designs will feature the 96 index, there will be times I venture into the symmetries of alternative indexes of 72 and 120. If you have a question about a featured gemstone design, you can always reach me via my website’s contact form at hashnustones.com.

Andrew Brown provides this edition’s gemstone design. He resides in Tasmania. Andrew has two gemstone design books in publication and is working on his third. Andrew has taken a new approach to gemstone design using his “fusion” process that uses both odd and even symmetries within the same gemstone design. This technique, along with the benefit of modern rendering technology, makes Andrew’s designs both creative and captivating.

In his own words, “They [gemstones] were often cut for weight rather than performance. Times have changed. My designs have gone through multiple revisions where I try to balance brilliance, scintillation, and aesthetic appeal. Where possible, I try to make my designs easy to cut, and since they perform well, they largely work in a broader range of refractive indexes.”

You can see more of Andrew’s designs at www.hashnustones.com/andrew-brown.html and facetingdesigns.com.

I am featuring Andrew’s gemstone design Trisparkle 12, which is a simpler version of his original Trisparkle design found in his second book. This design’s most compelling trait is that it looks like a round brilliant gemstone from the design and when finished, but the pavilion is actually a trillion.

Andrew has matched the pavilion and crown to create even light return fitting a trillion based pavilion seamlessly into a round shape. This, along with the use of odd symmetry, produces some really beautiful gemstones, especially at a lower Refractive Index (RI).

Please keep in mind that you will be dealing with a trillion pavilion when you transfer the gemstone and will have to use the appropriate dop or dopping technique for a trillion pavilion. I faceted this wonderful gemstone design in golden citrine (heated). I hope you enjoy faceting this gemstone as much as I did.