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Learn to Facet with John Bailey
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A prolific faceter and design artist, John Bailey has been featured in both print and television media. He is known for developing and sharing new innovative faceting diagrams; for creating a fast new polishing system; and for promoting the value of high-precision facet cutting.
In 2008, John Bailey will hold two Boot-Camp-style Faceting classes – one in the Spring and one in the Fall. These classes are for the beginner to intermediate level faceter who wants to learn fundamental and vital aspects of faceting for both fun and profit.
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2008 Faceting Boot Camp Schedule:
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June 4 - 9
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Sept. (date TBA)
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Seat 1: Karla K.
Seat 2: Pam P.
Seat 3: Bob R.
Seat 4: Steven S.
Seat 5: Open
Seat 6: Open
Seat 7: Open
Seat 8: Open
Seat 9: Open
Seat 10: Open
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Seat 1: Open
Seat 2: Open
Seat 3: Open
Seat 4: Open
Seat 5: Open
Seat 6: Open
Seat 7: Open
Seat 8: Open
Seat 9: Open
Seat 10: Open
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Briefly, what attendees will get:
Visits to three working mines* at which you will be able to dig for your own gems* over a period of two days.
Thirty hours of classroom instruction in a close, friendly environment (limited to ten students), covering many fundamental aspects of both the craft and the business of faceting.
*Schedule and Curriculum:
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Day 1: (Registration)
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Students should arrive at the Klamath Falls school location, with all their gear, no later than 2:00 PM. Gear will be stowed, and there will be a short briefing at 3:00 PM, leaving time for students to shop for any last-minute items and get an early sleep.
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Day 2:
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*Sunstone Mining at Dust Devil and Spectrum Sunstone mines. Time at the Dust Devil will be hand-searching. Students will negotiate their own purchases of material from Dust Devil proprietors. Time at the Spectrum will be mechanized mining, the cost of which is included in class tuition.
Class will cover geology of the area; how to find Sunstone; evaluation of rough (whether to purchase the found piece or not – and at what price); mechanized mining methods; fee-dig etiquette; etc.
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Day 3:
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*Fire Opal Mining at the world-famous Juniper Ridge mine, the cost of which is included in class tuition. Time there will be hand-digging. In the afternoon, we will depart to Klamath Falls early enough to set-up the classroom for the following day.
Class will cover geology of the area, including development of the deposit; evaluation of rough; care and handling of fresh Opal; fee-digging etiquette; etc.
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Day 4:
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Meet at the classroom at 09:00 for hands-on faceting training.
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Day 5:
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Meet at the classroom at 09:00 for hands-on faceting training.
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Day 6:
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Meet at the classroom at 09:00 for hands-on faceting training.
Days 4, 5, and 6 offer about thirty hours of hands-on experience:
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Learn basic machine navigation, including a simple enhancement to the Facetron's ergonomics.
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Learn some basics of rough identification and selection, including some economics of rough selection.
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Learn to use immersion liquid, including tap-water and wintergreen oil.
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Learn some specific lighting techniques for rough evaluation, including white-paper test; back and side lighting; fiber optic lighting; dark-field lighting; and polarized lighting – what each technique is, and specifically when and how to use it.
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Learn some basics of orientation – including the considerations of: flaws that may affect structural integrity; directionality of color; inclusions; and yield.
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Practice rough selection, by browsing several parcels of rough gemstones of various kinds from which students will choose some stones for cutting in class.
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Discuss selecting design-for-rough versus selecting rough-for-design, and the economic implications of orientation and design-selection decisions.
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Learn and perform both hot and cold dopping; dop some stones; and begin faceting some simple designs. There will usually be practice in re-dopping some unexpectedly un-dopped stones...
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Learn to cut using the machine's feed-back dial (rather than constant looking at the stone).
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Learn to charge and polish quickly using the Voodoo Magic polishing system, including setting-up and using a double-charged lap.
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Learn to overcome various common difficulties involving dopping, calibration, "cheating" (fine adjusting), and polishing issues.
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Learn some fundamentals of turning a fifteen-cent piece of rough into $100, $200, or more, based on creating a "perception of value" during sales presentation.
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Learn some techniques for seeing the faces and meets as they come together on a stone-in-progress.
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Learn the visual techniques for evaluating the quality of meets and polish on a finished or in-progress stone.
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Learn how to fine-tune the meets on a face during polishing.
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Cover any other areas of interest that the preponderance of students wish to invest time into – and that time permits.
* Note that the mining components of the class are subject to various circumstances and conditions beyond my control, including weather, economics, equipment failures, or any other unforeseen thing. In the event that anything prevents any of the field components of the class from taking place, the class schedule will be modified to substitute similar hours in the classroom. Note also that Classroom curricula may be altered based on a democratic process with the attendees. These changes may take place without significant prior notice or any change of fees.
Required and Recommended Equipment
Enrollment Form
ONLY TEN SEATS PER CLASS
so sign-up NOW.
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