DARMAR ENTERPRISES provides a wide range of lapidary services for jewelers, designers, hobbyists and individuals. We repair, repolish, recut and facet all types of gemstone materials, including all colored gemstones, precious and semi-precious, and inlay materials such as onyx, turquoise, lapis, coral and opal, and synthetic gemstones. All gemstone repair and gemcutting is done right here in our own shop.
An example of our gemcutting is the portugese cut amethyst shown in stages at right as you page down
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Our customer wanted a portugese cut amethyst in a dark color. The chosen rough (shown above)was cut to length and secured to a dop stick with black wax. In the first, preform, stage the bottom of the stone is ground to the rough outlines of the finished stone.
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Faceting and Custom Cutting
We can facet stones to your specification using your rough materials or ours. If you haven't a design in mind, we work with you to give you viable choices and will suggest designs that best use the material.
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The stone is now cut on a lap for the faceting passes. Each subsequent pass uses finer and finer grit. During each pass, each facet is cut one at a time, in a specific order, so all facet edges and points will "meet" each other precisely when the last polishing pass is finished. The more facets a cut has, the more time each pass takes.
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Repair
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We can recut chipped and broken stones. A small chip or break can often be cut out so that the stone can be reset in the same piece of jewelry. Stones with large breaks can be salvaged by recutting, either to a smaller size of the original pattern or into a new shape.
Each stone is individually evaluated to determine what can be done to repair it. If you are thinking about getting a stone recut, let us know what you have in mind and send as many details as possible. We can give you some guidance and advice on what can be done and on how and whether a repair will change the stone.
Example: Top picture- One corner of the emerald was chipped during setting. The customer only wanted that corner repaired. Bottom picture: Repaired stone. No cutting was done to other facets to restore symmetry. This is a very acceptable practice when the stone is being returned to the same setting and dimensions must be retained. |
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After a very fine polish is done on the bottom, the stone is transferred to a second dop to start cutting the top of the stone. These passes start at the girdle so, at first, the facets join at a point at the top of the stone. The table is cut last.
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Repolishing
Stones with shallow scratches, especially those scratched only on the top, are greatly improved by polishing or cutting out the scratches. Sometimes this can be done on cabochon stones while the stone is still in the piece of jewelry.
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 The finished stone. This stone has a gorgeous color of deep purple with strong red undertones. These colors flash off all those facets and through the stone as it is turned.
More pictures.
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Carving
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Carving is another lapidary service we provide. This picture shows a ruby carved in relief to a customer's specifications. The customer supplied the ruby rough and a drawing for the name, and specified that the edges and carved surfaces be left rough. Additionally, two holes for stringing were drilled latitudinally through the width of the stone.
The customer provided an exact drawing, including size and style, of what was to be carved. She specified ruby rough with a rough or unfinished appearance. The word "Desire" and the border at the edge of the stone were carved in raised relief and polished. The lower carved background was finished with a hand tool to attain a roughly chiseled surface.
This piece was also drilled so it can be used as a necklace or bracelet station. The two holes through the widest part of the stone adn approximately parallel to the bottom of the carved word. |
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Reproductions
We can reproduce unusual and antique cuts which are difficult or impossible to find. This is also useful when you need to replace a lost earring stone.
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Inlays
Black onyx, opal, lapis, turquoise, coral, granite, and others - Modern, antique, ethnic, native American - All types and ages of jewelry have various kinds of stone inlayed using various methods. Inlay is a special type of gem setting which requires each piece to be cut and fit exactly into its seat. This sometimes requires carving to get a precise fit. We take great care inlaying replacement stones so they will look like new.
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What To Do
If you are thinking about getting a new stone cut or an existing stone recut, let us know what you have in mind and give us as many details as possible. We can give you some guidance and advice on what can be done. Although we must see the stone in order to give you a price quote, we can usually give an approximate or minimum price based on our understanding of you description of the stone.
Note to jewelers and other jewelry professionals: When contacting us for the first time be sure to include enough information about your company to allow us to verify your trade status.
Payment
We accept payment by check and money order and by credit card through PayPal under the verified account of service@darmarenterprises.com. To use this option go to: https://www.paypal.com or click the PayPal button below. When prompted for our account number enter service@darmarenterprises.com.
Contact Us
E-mail or call us with your request. If you want a particular stone or cut not shown on this site, e-mail, write or call. We have a lot of inventory not shown.
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Write or call:
DARMAR ENTERPRISES
P.O. Box 1065
Leander, TX 78646
Telephone: 512/259-3335
**Note: We do not claim to perform miracles. However, if you have broken the side off a good amethyst, for example, and don't want to glue it onto a vase or make it part of your desk decor, find out what we can do to salvage/recut it. It may be well worth the price. And fixing a chipped sapphire has oftentimes made it better than the original. (That's true. It's not bragging.)
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