Advanced Cutting Workshop

Class Description

Taught by JUSTIN K Prim

Learn to combine the science and art of gemcutting

The Advanced Cutting Workshop is a one-week training course to add to your cutting skillset. Whether you've previously taken our Faceting Bootcamp course or learned to facet by another means, this course is sure to level up your gemcutting abilities.

The Advanced Cutting Workshop focuses on improvisation as an advanced form of cutting. Over the course of five days, you will complete three projects that will challenge you and push your gemcutting limits. We will cut from rough, as well as repair a broken stone without the use of diagrams. We will learn how to create a design from scratch (without the use of software) to best suit the shape of the rough or the repair. We will then execute the cut and build the design details as we go.

In Theory and Practice

Aside from practical exercises, the theoretical side of the course adds to your knowledge of gemstones and cutting by combining traditional gemological knowledge with an advanced understanding of optics to help you understand WHY different cuts help or hurt the color and brightness of a stone as well as WHAT each of the traditional cutting styles does for light and dark toned stones.

This course will look at a number of different topics related to optics and color. We will discuss design aesthetics with a historic and scientific analysis of 25 classic cuts, along with an extensive exploration of color and how the cutter can manipulate and master it through cut design. The course will also demonstrate the CAD software GemCutStudio in order to modify the design of a pre-existing stone to prepare it for an optimal recut.

Learning objectives

• Facet a stone without a diagram in a way that perfectly suits the rough

• Repair and reshape broken stones without the use of a diagram

• Learn to make matched pairs by hand

• Discover how gemology is used in the process of cutting and recutting gemstones

• Learn the science that dictates whether a stone does or doesn’t perform well

• Understand why the quality of the cut matters and learn how an understanding of the gemological properties of different materials plays a critical role for the master cutter.

• Compare a variety of cuts to determine how different designs can make or break a stone in terms of : beauty, brilliance, color, and more.

Who Should Take This Course

This workshop is for experienced cutters who want to move beyond diagram cutting and learn to cut more intuitively. It’s ideal for cutters who want to incorporate scientific understanding into their gemcutting process and then combine it with a trained eye and an educated design aesthetic.

Prerequisites:
Prior faceting experience is required. Students must be able to go through the entire process of faceting including; rough examination, preforming, dopping, cutting, and polishing. The course assumes that students are fully competent in these foundational skills and it is on these skills that the course builds from. Students who don't have these prerequisites are advised to sign up for our Faceting Bootcamp course.

The Advanced Cutting Workshop will be taught on handpiece-style faceting machines, though students with other types of faceting machine experience are welcome.

What's Included in the Class?

*The workshop lasts five days, 9:30am-4:30pm.

*Students will take home 4 stones that they cut from scratch; two fully faceted stones and set of preformed matched pairs

*Students will take home a certificate of completion.

Refunds & Credit

Please email us at info@bkmetalworks.com to withdraw from class. Withdrawals from class more than 7 days prior to the start of the class will receive a full refund for the class minus a 10% processing fee. If cancellation occurs 3-6 days prior to the class, we will provide a 50% refund. Cancellations 48 hours or less receive a 25% refund. Refunds will not be provided for no-shows or same-day cancellations.

We do not refund tuition for classes that students miss due to their own circumstances. There will be no refunds once the class begins in any circumstance, nor can we transfer you to a later semester. Students enrolled in multi-session studio courses (excluding workshops and intensives) may make-up missed class sessions during open studio hours for up to two weeks after the last class meeting.

We reserve the right to cancel or discontinue any class, in which case you may choose to receive a refund, apply the class credit towards a different course, or receive a tuition credit for future use. Tuition credits are valid for up to one year. Refunds will be issued within 30 days.