Buddy Shotts, a gemcutter from Lucedale, Mississippi, unloads his faceting machine from his car. He is preparing to teach a faceting class for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Society in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
MGCGMS members Barbi Beatty, Lisa Fitch, Buddy Shotts, and Tom Simmons facet gemstones during the weekly faceting class hosted by the club. Club members pay a fee to use the gem cutting machines in order to learn and practice the craft.
MGCGMS members Lisa Fitch, Buddy Shotts, and Barbi Beatty fix themselves plates. The members each bring food for a potluck style dinner to eat before starting class each week.
Tom Simmons who joined the club a year ago eats a burrito before working on his gemstone. Tom is working on a round brilliant clear quartz.
Lisa Fitch who has been gemcutting for two years pins her hair back before cutting her next stone. She is cutting a citrine which is named after the french word for “lemon” because of its yellow color.
Buddy Shotts, who teaches the faceting class, works on cutting a rose quartz. He has been a gemcutter for 20 years.
Buddy Shotts checks the facets on his rose quartz. The stone will be donated to the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies for their annual raffle. The money raised will be used to give scholarships to geology students.
Buddy Shotts shows Tom Simmons how to set the angle of the stone on his machine. Tom finished cutting his first stone during the class.
Barbi Beatty, who has been gemcutting for two years, moves her green obsidian in to place on her faceting machine. The stone’s facets are marked by number in sharpie because sharpie can be easily removed from finished stones with rubbing alcohol.
Lisa Fitch who has not worked on a stone in nearly a year references a facet guide while cutting her citrine. The faceting guide breaks down each facet by angle and size.
