Articles

Lapidary Techniques

A comprehensive guide to the methods of transforming rough mineral into finished gemstone — from cabochon cutting and classical faceting to concave faceting, fantasy cuts, and computer-aided design with spectral ray tracing.

History of Gemcutting

Five thousand years of lapidary innovation, from the first polished beads of ancient Mesopotamia through Greek glyptic arts, the invention of the scaife, the brilliant revolution, Tolkowsky's mathematical breakthrough, and the spectral rendering frontier.

Science of Light and Optics

The physics behind a gemstone's beauty: refraction and Snell's law, total internal reflection, dispersion and fire, the Sellmeier equation, spectral rendering, and CIE color matching — the optical principles that guide every faceting decision.