Tris de Garnet
by Tom Herbst

This is my first gem design. Tris de Garnet is a very simple design - 9 pavilion and 10 crown facets. Nevertheless, it produces a lot of "action," due to its asymmetry and odd number of mains.

Note the cutting order. I originally designed it with an initial cut to center-point with the steep (54 degree) facets - the usual "outside-in" order. This can be very wasteful of rough, and I learned a great deal figuring out how to do the CAM and then "inside-out" order.

The name derives from the original GemCad filename: TRIS for Triangle, Simple. I named it after one of my favorite dishes, Tris de Pasta, which is a mix of three types of noodles and sauce. This gem also mixes things up pretty well (light, anyway), so the name seemed a natural.

Tris de Garnet is a very simple design, and it is appropriate for faceters with all levels of experience. It appeared on the OPLC faceter's CD.

At right is a 4.4 mm, 0.3 ct Tris de Garnet cut from Merelani Mint Garnet.