Intricate Snowflake Cut

By John W. Pascal
Intermediate faceting project.

This stone was cut from clear rutilated quartz; the streaks of rutile add a blizzardlike appearance. Notice that the pavilion is cut quite deeply. This is necessary to allow for the wide diversity of angles in the various facets.

I came up with a list of hints that should help when cutting this design. Tenths of degrees are important, particularly when cutting the appendage and diamond facets. Use a very slowly turning prepolish lap experimentally to find exactly the right angles - 1/10° too deep or shallow will alter the shapes of these delicate facets.

Cut and prepolish all frame facets first. Notice that, visually speaking, the POF and PMF facets cover about half the distance from girdle to culet; PIF, FOF, and FIF cover the remainder. Use a very slowly turning prepolish lap to cut in all large appendage and small appendage facets. Use a very slowly turning prepolish lap to cut in all inner diamond facets.

Polish all frame, large appendage, small appendage, and inner diamond facets that are meant to be polished. Do not polish facets meant to be frosted. You will probably obliterate or at least greatly reduce the size of the appendage and inner diamond facets that will be frosted. Don't worry! They will return even stronger when you frost them in.

Use an extremely slowly turning coarse lap to touch in the frosted facets. This takes only the lightest of touches to a lap that is barely moving!

96 index - Angles given are for rutilated quartz

PAVILION
Basic Frame Facets:

STEP

ANGLE

INDEX

1

64.5°

96, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88; polished outer frame (POF)

2

59.0°

96, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88; polished middle frame (PMF)

3

52.0°

96, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88; polished inner frame (PIF)

4

45.0°

7, 17; 23, 33; 39, 49; 55, 65; 71, 81; 87, 1; frosted outer frame (FOF)

5

40.0°

7, 17; 23, 33; 39, 49; 55, 65; 71, 81; 87, 1; frosted inner frame (FIF)

Large Appendage, Base:

STEP

ANGLE

INDEX

6

53.0°

1, 7; 17, 23; 33, 39; 49, 55; 65, 71; 81, 87; base outer central (BOC); frosted

7

57.7°

1, 7; 17, 23; 33, 39; 49, 55; 65, 71; 81, 87; base outer peripheral (BOP); frosted

8

54.0°

2, 6; 18, 22; 34, 38; 50, 54; 66, 70; 82, 86; base middle central (BMC)

9

56.7°

2, 6; 18, 22; 34, 38; 50, 54; 66, 70; 82, 86; base middle peripheral (BMP)

10

55.7°

3, 5; 19, 21; 35, 37; 51, 53; 67, 69; 83, 85; base inner (BI); frosted

Large Appendage, Diamond:

STEP

ANGLE

INDEX

11

60.0°

1, 7; 17, 23; 33, 39; 49, 55; 65, 71; 81, 87; diamond outer central (DOC); frosted

12

62.7°

1, 7; 17, 23; 33, 39; 49, 55; 65, 71; 81, 87; diamond outer peripheral (DOP); frosted

13

61.4°

2, 6; 18, 22; 34, 38; 50, 54; 66, 70; 82, 86; diamond inner (DI)