Jewellery Cuts
Gemstones are cut in many different shapes for use in jewellery, and most types of cuts are determined by the original shape of the rough stone. Even with improved cutting techniques, today it's still likely in most cases that a gemstone will lose more than fifty percent of its original weight after the cutting and polishing process.
Gem cutters cut and polish natural and synthetic gemstones to enhance their colour and brilliance before they are sent to a jeweller to be set in a piece of jewellery. There are many different types of jewellery cuts available with some terms being:
- brilliant cut
- bullet cut
- princess cut
- pear cut
- calf cut
- emerald cut
- round cut
- radiant cut
- heart shaped cut
Round and Brilliant Cut
The round and brilliant cut are the most popular cuts of gemstone on the market today. Over 70 percent of all diamonds are cut this way. The princess cut is a fairly new cutting technique that is basically a square version of the round brilliant cut. It is becoming extremely popular these days with more and more people choosing this style of cut for their jewellery.
Princess Cut
The princess cut works best with deep stones and because of the cut used it allows for maximum weight retention and this in turn lowers the final price per carat. Another advantage of the princess cut is that they work better for certain designs because of their square shape they can go side by side with other stones without leaving any gaps, which a round gemstone cannot.
Radiant Cut
Henry Grossbard invented the radiant cut in the 1970s based on the earlier emerald cut and round brilliant cut. The radiant cut has blocked corners like the emerald cut but generally has a more rectangular outline. A radiant cut gemstone looks great by itself, but because of its shape, it also looks great when paired with other stones alongside it. A radiant cut gemstone also has special prongs attached to the end product to securely hold the blocked corners in place.
Heart Shaped And Pear Cut
The heart shaped cut is a difficult cut to achieve and takes the most time to cut to perfection. It is similar to the pear shaped cut, but has a cleft at the top of the diamond to achieve the heart look. In many cases diamonds are cut this way because they may have an inclusion in the cleft and therefore by removing the cleft to form a heart they remove the inclusion. A heart shaped cut must also be held by special prongs to make sure that it stays in place.
The pear shape cut is best described as a sparkling teardrop because of one end being rounded and the other being pointed. Good symmetry is important when cutting a pear shaped diamond, as this will allow the light to reflect evenly especially at the point. Because of the shape many people choose pear shaped earrings.
There are many different cuts for people to pick from when purchasing jewellery. Most cuts are done depending on the shape and size of the stone, but there are always certain cut stones available. Talk to a professional from JewelleryMaker.com.au to find out more about jewellery cuts.
