Guides · Advanced

Modern & Unconventional Cuts

Difficulty

Advanced

Best after

Round, oval, and princess cuts feel comfortable

Recommended

Model your design in GemCad before cutting

Once the fundamentals from the round, oval, and princess cut guides feel comfortable, unconventional cuts are where a lapidary’s own judgment starts to matter more than following a fixed pattern. There is no single fixed process here, this page is a starting point for experimenting rather than a guide, once you understand the standard cuts.

Where to start experimenting

Three ways to go beyond standard cuts

Freeform outlines

Follow the natural shape of an unusual piece of rough rather than forcing a standard silhouette onto it.

Adapted designs

Take a non-standard tier count or facet shape from a design library and adjust it in GemCad for your rough.

Asymmetric designs

Removing the « does it look even » safety check of a symmetric cut demands more deliberate planning up front.

Why modeling matters more here

Without a symmetric, well-known pattern to fall back on, there is no built-in way to catch a mistake by eye. Modeling the design in GemCad first, checking proportions and previewing the light path, is the only real way to catch problems before they are cut into the stone.

Where to go from here

Solidify the fundamentals first

Round cut

The foundation every other cut on this site builds on.

Oval cut

A stretched round brilliant, and a common next step.

Princess cut

Introduces corners and straight sides before going fully freeform.

Design templates

Ready-to-use GemCad files to adapt for your own unconventional design.

Not ready to go freeform yet?

Spend more time with the standard cuts first, the judgment this page asks for comes from practice, not shortcuts.

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