Best Lab Created Diamonds?

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thank you for all the helpful responses. I lost my wedding ring after having it for 10 years and I am sick about it. I can't see spending all the money to buy another one Im sure my DH will be happy about the lower price, too!

[Anonymous]

zumbamama wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a lapidary artist, aka, gem cutter.

What an interesting job. Where do you train for that?

You have several options, most in the US, and a few abroad. In northern Georgia, there is the William Holland School of Lapidary Art. Can see all the info about them here: http://www.lapidaryschool.org/ They operate from roughly April thru October, or so. There are many one week classes though not all regarding faceting.

Also in the south, is the Wildacres Retreat located in North Carolina. It is operated by the Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies. One must be a member to use the facilities - though it is very inexpensive to be a member. Can be found here: http://www.amfed.org/sfms/wildacres-retreat.html Wildacres operates in a similar fashion to William Holland; one week sessions running late spring to early fall.

Then there is John Bailey in Oregon. He runs some week-long classes during the summer months. John's an awesome faceter and he is held in high regard in the faceting community. Can find out about his 'boot camp' here: http://www.gemstoneartist.com/BootCamp.asp

In northeast Ohio you have Jim Perkins. He conducts classes in his home workshop, and it is likely you may receive one-on-one instruction. Jim will have numerous types of machines available for you to try out. In addition, Jim has published over a half dozen books on gem design. Very innovative guy. Can find him here: http://www.northcoastfaceting.com/id65.html


I took classes from Jim Perkins. It was a one week class and there was just one other student in the class. The other student was taking his third class and learning to use a new type of faceting machine.

The lessons didn't stop coming once I returned home. I am still learning all the time about the materials I am using. Most of the gems I mined myself and I really have a ton of stones to work with though most of them are a quartz of some kind.