Michael Holmes

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...

Sam and Chloe weren’t supposed to take this class together. If not for a broken foot, they probably never would have met at all. That’s the thing about this craft. It doesn’t care how you found it. It just tends to keep people, and sometimes it brings the right two people into the same room by accident. Day 1, showing Chloe and Sam the cutting sequence in a computer model Two Different Roads to the Same Bench Chloe works in sales and lives right here in Pennsylvania. We met her last winter at...

Left: a YAG cut in American meetpoint style. Notice the unique reflection pattern and the angular, faceted girdle. On the right: a hessonite garnet cut in a traditional trillion with a smooth rounded girdle. Both cut with precision. If you've spent any time reading about gemstones, you've probably seen "precision cut" used as a synonym for American meetpoint faceting. It's understandable — American style stones are stunning, and the cutters who work in that tradition are meticulous. But...