Five Days in Franklin

Michael doing a cutting demonstration during the symposium

Franklin, North Carolina is a small town that turns into the center of the faceting world once a year for the US Faceter's Guild "Franklin Faceting Symposium. " I spent five days there and taught, sold, presented, and identified a piece of glass someone paid real money for in Ethiopia. More on that in a minute.

The week started Tuesday and Wednesday with a two-day workshop. Small group of serious cutters, and some of the best moments I've had at a table all year. People cut genuinely great stones. One faceter watched how my scored polishing laps performed and decided on the spot to score her own. (Scoring laps is one of those things you don't believe until you see it work. Then you can't work without it.)

Roger Dery doing a breakout session about cerium oxide polishing during the 2-day workshop

Then the symposium itself, three days of representing both Oak & Stone and Facetron, plus talking to anyone who wandered up! I gave my presentation on studying gemology in Bangkok. I thought people would be interested in the credential. What they actually wanted to hear about was the gems, the market, the whole experience of learning to cut and buy stones in a place where the trade lives and breathes. So I floated an idea: what if I led a trip to Bangkok, to learn about gems and buy them at the source? At least ten people told me they'd come! I'm now taking that seriously.

Michael Holmese giving his presentation "Studying Gemology in Bangkok" at the 2026 Franklin Faceting Symposium

I also ran two workshops on Gem Cut Studio, the software I use to design cuts. Watching someone go from fighting the interface to designing their own stone in one sitting never gets old.

Answering crowd questions during a Panel of Experts session at the Symposium

The best story of the week came from my free gem ID table. I offered to identify anyone's mystery stone, and a man brought me a very large blue gem. He'd bought it as rough in Ethiopia. He was hoping for something spectacular. It was glass. I could see the tell right away, a donut-shaped gas bubble sitting inside it, the kind of thing that doesn't happen in nature. He showed me a photo of the rough he'd been sold, and it was a beautifully deceptive fake. He took it well. He'd only paid a few dollars for it, which is the one detail that turns a sad story into a good one.

Oh no! The telltale donut-shaped gas bubble in a piece of glass.

I signed up a new student, saw more friends and associates than I can list, and met a lot of people who love this craft as much as I do.

That's Franklin. Same town every year, never the same week twice.

If you’ve been curious about faceting and want to be part of the community, the four-day Foundation class is the best way to find out if it’s for you too. Just email us and we'll set it up!

5 of the lovely green YAG garnets we cut during the workshop!