Talk:Voltolini - Darts

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Darts - Marco Voltolini

Test-cut in Brazilian smoky quartz, 3.0 ct. In the real life the stone is quite brighter...


This design was born as an alternative for a buff top. Instead of the buff top I though to take advantage of the faceting machine to get a series of "circular" facets (truncated cones). This crown is coupled with a simple pavilion to better see the effect of the curved facets on the crown.

Don't be frightened by the number of facets in the diagram since I used tiers with 96 facets where the rounded facets should be. So instead of the 96 facets you get a single rounded facet. To get these rounded facets you simply have to cut against the hard stop of the machine with the quill locked in freewheel position. Remember to rotate the quill (and sweep across the lap as usual) when you cut/polish these facets. It's easy and there's the bonus you don't need to use the cheater to cut this stone.

This design has very little sparkle, but the pattern of reflection of the stone is quite pretty (try ray-tracing simulations using the .gem file to check it).

I still don't know if I like it, but it's an interesting alternative to buff top cuts and it's offered as such.