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GemCast
All Gemstones from GemCast have been personally hand fossicked in the North-East of Tasmanian. Gems are faceted either here in Tasmania or in Thailand. The rough gems that are not able to be cut, are polished and then used in the resin art pieces.
The fun part to gemstones is getting out into the creeks and rivers in the North-East of Tasmanian and digging away in areas where heavier rocks tend to sit. Sapphires, Chrysoberyl, Zircon and Topaz are all heavier than more common rock types. They are quite similar in density to Spinel (the black rocks in the shovel picture beside), so tend sit in the same places. Spinel are a little more common than the others, so acts as a great indicator of where the gemstones might be.
Finding gemstones is done by sieving gravel that contains Spinel and then sorting through the concentrated heavier material for the gemstones.
The gemstones that have no cracking or inclusions in them can then be cut. It's not always easy to tell before cutting if a stone will be free of inclusions and the final product can often be a surprise. Clarity ratings used for gemstones description include:
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Loupe Clean: No or very difficult to identify inclusions using a 10x magnifying loupe.
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Eye clean: Minor inclusions visible using 10x magnifying loupe but cannot be readily seen with naked eye.
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Slightly included: Inclusions easily seen using 10x magnifying loupe and may be visible to naked eye.
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Included: Inclusions readily visible to naked eye.
Most gems are not clean or big enough to cut. Approximately 1 in 40 that I find make it to be cut. The rest are fun to polish in a tumbler and get creative with.
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