SweetHeart-cut - pink tourmalineSweetHeart-cut - pink tourmaline

SweetHeart: Online Faceting Designs and Diagrams


Jeff Graham’s SweetHeart cut shows great flash and dispersion. It’s a good choice for novices trying to cut their first heart design and experts looking for something easy to facet. It also makes a nice romantic gesture. Read on to learn more about the SweetHeart.

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This "SweetHeart" of a heart has excellent optical performance. It's not hard to cut, so it makes a very suitable design for novices who want to cut their first hearts. Professional faceters looking for a fast design will also like this heart.

You can find cutting instructions for the SweetHeart here.

Cutting Remarks

sweetheart cuts - garnet, amethyst, tourmaline
Three SweetHeart-cut gemstones. (Left) a 3.64-ct, 9.3 mm malaia garnet. (Center) a 7.9-ct, 16 mm lilac Brazilian amethyst. (Right) a 5.76-ct, 11.8 mm top-quality pink Nigerian tourmaline. This design exhibits striking dispersion, especially in the amethyst and tourmaline. All stones cut by Jeff Graham.

Since designing the SweetHeart, I've cut and sold over a dozen of them to local jewelers and wholesale clients. They incorporate them into Valentine's Day gifts, which warms my heart.

Exercise some care in lining up the centerpoint of the pavilion with the axis of the dop. If you're a little off center, just transfer (after cutting of course) to a V-dop instead of a cone dop.

The SweetHeart is so close to 1:1 in L/W (length to width ratio) that there's nothing unusual as far as dopping. The bottom all cuts to centerpoint and establishes the girdle line.

This design makes a really nice heart shape. It reads well from a distance, with lots of flash and dispersion. I designed the pavilion so you can cut this design in tourmaline, topaz, peridot, garnet, spinel, and sapphire without changes.

Enjoy faceting the SweetHeart.

Cutting Advice

Donald Specht offered this tip that I'll share with you. I think it's a good idea. (Thanks for the tip, Don).

I cut a SweetHeart in a synthetic spinel and found a very easy way to make sure all the pavilion facets meet at the centerpoint of the dop. First, I cut all of them (P1-P7) at the steepest angle (38.6). This isn't a temporary centerpoint — it's the actual CP centered exactly on the dop. It also doesn't waste any material. Next, I recut the facets using the correct angles. I find it very easy to see the recutting and bring it up exactly to the tip of the CP. Works for me.

Random - Cosine - ISO

Detailed faceting instructions by Jeff Graham available at The Rock Peddler


Jeff R. Graham

The late Jeff Graham was a prolific faceter, creator of many original faceting designs, and the author of several highly-regarded instructional faceting books such as Gram Faceting Designs.

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