face-up button cut - tourmalineface-up button cut - tourmaline

Button: Online Faceting Designs and Diagrams


Inspired by faceted shell and mother of pearl buttons from the Roaring Twenties, the Button design by Jeff Graham is a simple cut perfect for large, lightly colored gemstones.

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Inspired by buttons from the 1920s, the Button gem design is easy to cut.
Button - diagram
Button gem design by Jeff Graham © 2000.

You can find cutting instructions for Button here.

Cutting Remarks

Button - Nigerian tourmaline
An approximately 7.06-ct, 12 mm x 6.06 mm deep Button, cut from a flawless Nigerian peach tourmaline by Jeff Graham.

I found a container of old shell and mother of pearl buttons from the 1920s. Some were hand faceted and had interesting dome shapes. I thought it would be nice to reproduce them as gemstones. So, I designed the "Button."

Cutting this design is simple. It's basically a round brilliant variation with a very high light return. I prefer it in a larger size (8 mm or greater) and in lightly colored material. It has very nice sparkle and will also deepen light colors quite a bit.

Enjoy cutting your own "Button."

Button - array
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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