Gemstones.
Publié le 11/05/2013
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In the late 1960s a method was developed for “growing” diamonds by heating a diamond particle to a high temperature and subjecting it to methane gas.
The gasdecomposes into carbon atoms, which adhere to the diamond crystal.
The crystal structure of the enlarged diamond is identical to that of a natural diamond.
Diamondsof about 1 carat (200 mg or 0.007 oz) have been produced by this method, but their cost is still considerably higher than that of naturally occurring diamonds.
Sapphires are made in an apparatus resembling an oxyhydrogen torch.
The flame is directed into a fireclay support inside an insulated chamber.
The oxygen gas carriesfinely powdered pure aluminum oxide into the flame, and the powder fuses into droplets, forming a cylindrical boule, or matrix, on the support.
The size of the resultingsapphire is controlled by varying the gas flow, temperature, and amount of powder.
Boules weighing up to 200 carats (40 g or 1.41 oz) can be produced by thistechnique.
Perfect rubies and sapphires up to 50 carats (10 g or 0.353 oz) have been cut from such a boule.
Rubies are made by the same process by adding 5 to 6 percent chromium oxide to the aluminum oxide.
Colors other than red are produced by adding different metallicoxides.
Stars can be added to synthetic rubies or sapphires by adding an excess of titanium oxide to the aluminum oxide powder and heating to temperatures greaterthan 1000° C (greater than 1832° F).
In gems made with this technique, synthetic stars appear sharper than naturally occurring stars.
Emeralds, some of which are of gem quality, are synthesized by still-secret methods.
They can be distinguished from natural emeralds by their red glow underultraviolet light.
VI GEM CUTTING
The shaping and polishing of gem materials to enhance their beauty and, in some cases, to remove imperfections is performed by expert workers known as lapidaries.Their trade, although highly skilled, is not as exacting as that of the diamond cutter.
A Materials and Equipment
Gems are shaped entirely by being ground on abrasive wheels or revolving abrasive disks.
For minerals that are no harder than quartz, natural sandstone wheels aresometimes used, but for the harder stones, such as rubies and sapphires, synthetic grinding wheels of cemented Carborundum (silicon carbide) must be employed.
The first step in the cutting of a gem is to saw it roughly to shape.
Thin abrasive disks or metal disks charged with powdered diamond or other abrasives are employedin this process.
Wheels (called laps) made of Carborundum or of abrasive-charged cast iron are used to shape the stone.
The stone to be shaped is cemented to theend of a wooden stick called a dop and is held against the revolving wheel or lap with the aid of a supporting block placed adjacent to the wheel.
This supporting blockcontains a number of holes in which the end of the dop can be rested.
By changing the dop from one hole to another the lapidary is able to control the angle of thefacet, or face, being ground.
When the stone has been ground to the required shape, it is brought to a high polish on wooden or cloth wheels charged with a fineabrasive such as rouge or tripoli powder.
B Gem Cuts
The oldest and simplest of the many standardized shapes or cuts given to gemstones is the cabochon cut, in which the stone is smoothly rounded.
The cabochon cut isessential if a star or cat’s-eye is to be visible, and is the most satisfactory cut for opal, moonstone, and colorful opaque gems.
Cabochon-cut stones usually are roundedon the back; this is sometimes advantageous in improving appearance, but often is done in order to give the stone extra weight.
Various forms of faceted cuts, in which the gem is given a number of symmetrical plane surfaces, or facets, are universally employed in the cutting of diamonds and areused extensively for other stones as well.
The most common cut is the brilliant.
In this cut the top of the stone is ground to a flat so-called table from which the sides ofthe stone slope outward to the broadest portion of the stone, which is known as the girdle.
Below the girdle, the sides slope inward at a slightly broader angle to a tinyflat surface, the culet, parallel to the table at the bottom of the stone.
The ordinary brilliant-cut stone has 32 facets besides the table in the top portion of the stone(called the crown or bezel) above the girdle, and 24 facets besides the culet on the bottom portion of the stone (called the pavilion or base) below the girdle.
In rarecases the number of facets is increased by some multiple of 8.
Scientific studies have worked out proportions of the size and inclination of the facets that give themaximum brilliance to a given gem.
In addition to the round brilliant, stones are cut in a variety of square, triangular, diamond-shaped, and trapezoidal faceted cuts.
The use of such cuts is largelydetermined by the original shape of the stone.
Large rubies, sapphires, and emeralds are often cut square or rectangular with a large table facet surrounded by arelatively small number of supplementary facets.
The emerald cut, which is frequently also used for diamonds, resembles the brilliant, but has a large square orrectangular facet at the top and a total of 58 facets in all, although more or less facets may be used, again added or subtracted in multiples of 8.
See also Jewelry.
VII GEM ENGRAVING
Designs are cut in precious or semiprecious stones either as cameos, in which the design is raised in relief above the surface, or as intaglios, in which the design isincised into the surface ( see Cameo).
Intaglios were formerly often used as seals for making impressions on wax or damp clay.
The technique of gem engraving requires, on all hard stones, the use of a rotating metal tool.
The stone is fastened to a wooden handle and moved against the tool,which does not itself perform the cutting of the design but merely rubs abrasive powder on the stone.
The ancients probably used emery powder for this purpose, butsince Roman times the abrasive has been a mixture of diamond dust with oil.
A Ancient Engraving
Intaglio cutting probably started during the 4th millennium BC, in Mesopotamia, during the Elamite and Sumerian civilizations ( see Mesopotamian Art and Architecture). The first seals, made of stone, were usually cylindrical and were suspended on a cord.
The art reached its peak about 2800 BC, in elaborate cuttings on cylindrical rock crystal; these commonly dealt with the adventures of the mythical king Gilgamesh.
By the 1st millennium BC the art had spread throughout Asia Minor and Egypt. Although the cylindrical form was still common, domed and conical seals with flat surfaces for the intaglios became popular.
The Egyptians initially adopted the cylinderbut later produced seals of various shapes, including that of the scarab beetle, often cut in one of the colored quartzes, such as amethyst, carnelian, or jasper.
Unlikethe people of Asia Minor, they engraved symbols rather than pictorial scenes ( see Egyptian Art and Architecture).
Although the Egyptians made use of the quartzes for their engravings, the most popular material for the making of seals was glazed earthenware.
The earliest Cretan gems were carved in soft steatite, but by about 1700BC harder stones such as chalcedony were employed.
The engraving of seals for the bezels of rings was first practiced about 1100 BC.
The carvings on the gems of Greece and Rome provide a complete miniature history of the art of every period during which they were made ( see Greek Art and Architecture).
The Greek gems of the 6th century BC were cut in agate, carnelian, and chalcedony; by the 4th century BC the last had become the most popular material, although lapis lazuli, agate, jasper, and rock crystal were also employed.
Gems of the Hellenistic period, dating from about 330 BC, were cut in a large variety of stones,.
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