Online Faceting Designs & Diagrams: Moon Glow


Information and guide on Faceting Designs. An Online Faceting Design Diagram by Jeff R. Graham that presents various cuts, this one is called "Moon Glow".

2 Minute Read

Moon Glow by Jeff R. Graham

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Design 2006/2007 (for all of my customers)

Moon Glow - Tourmaline

Material: Tourmaline
Type: Pink/Peach (green/yellow highlights in some light)
Locality: Africa, Nigeria
Hardness: 7.0 good for almost any jewelry application
Design: Moon Glow
Cut By: Jeff R. Graham
Dimensions: 12.2mm x 15.5 x 7.4mm deep
Clarity: IF
Weight: 7.56 carats
Price: N/A
Treatments: None Known
Note: This is very lively and bright. This stone is actually a watermelon Elbiate. There are color bands when this stone is viewed from the back (see picture). But from the front the stone has all the colors and is mixed you really will not see the color stripes. As the stone is tipped and viewed from different angles yellow/green/peach/pink/orange highlights all flash from this rare and unusual stone. The design is unique and I made it especially for this piece of rough. The starting weight was 29.14 carats and my yield was about 26% which is pretty good considering this is a brilliant cut and the rough was quite flat to begin with.

Back side color zonesLeft in this picture you can easily see the color banding which makes this stone quite unusual.

It is always hard the tell exactly what color banding and color zones are going to do.

The type of design you pick is critical and in this case as the color zones were already mixed (which is the peach center color in the rough). I decided to cut it as a brilliant point and try to save the strongest banding out around the edge of the stone. I did so, you will note the banding out near the girdle. This created a stone that flashes all the colors in it depending on the tilt and light.

Moon glow rough
"Moon Glow" - Cutting Remarks

Here is an interesting cut. It is not as easy to cut as it may look because the pavilion sets the L/W and can be a little difficult. A good center point is a must on this design.

This design is intended to be cut in to a large stone (I would suggest 10mm or larger for the best effect. This works well in light to medium saturated materials, as well as a good Garnet cut. Cut in refractive indexes 1.62 to 2.14 with no changes.

This design is for many of my customers that have been wondering about a Christmas cut, here it is guys…. This design cuts a very lively, brilliant stone and it's both fast and interesting to cut. This design is great for faceters of about any experience level and I think will become a favorite of many people that cut it.

Enjoy cutting your "Moon Glow"… Drop me an email to let me know your results and what you've cut, or feel free to inquire if you have any questions or need some help regarding this design.


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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