VOICU GALLERIES

Gemology course for jewelers

This course was created and specifically designed to help jewelers better understand the world of colored precious and semi-precious stones.

What do you learn in the gemology course?

As a jeweler, when working with natural stones, you can encounter all sorts of issues: the stone may become dull, chip, discolor, visible cracks may appear, etc.

“Since each gemstone (precious stone) is unique, it will behave differently during the setting process, so we need to understand the physical properties characteristic of each gemstone in order to make the right decisions when handling it.

In addition, many precious stones undergo various treatments, some of which are stable and durable, while others are not. A jeweler should know how to recognize the treatments that may cause issues during the setting process.

Definitions and introductory concepts

We will start with a few definitions to better understand the gemological universe:

It is very important to differentiate these concepts and not confuse them with one another.

The world of gemstones

Gemstones are either minerals or organic gems. We will discuss each in detail. We will also take a look at the first gemstones and visually analyze them.

Physical properties analyzed by a gemologist

Gemologists analyze gemstones using specialized gemological equipment.

You will have the opportunity to see some of this specialized equipment and understand which physical and optical properties are analyzed by gemologists: hardness, refractive index, specific gravity, spectroscopy, dichroism, etc.

You will receive data sheets for the main mineral families with the values of these physical properties.

Gemstone durability

We will analyze the resistance of different minerals to scratches, impacts (chipping), chemicals, fire (heat), etc.

We will discuss the Mohs scale, cleavage planes, chemical structure, etc.

This chapter will help jewelers understand why some gemstones require extreme care during the setting process or why others cannot be subjected to ultrasonic or steam cleaning.

Inclusions that affect hardness

Often, if the mineral were perfectly crystallized, we wouldn’t have any issues setting it, but since nature is imperfect, we deal with minerals that have all kinds of inclusions, and these inclusions can affect not only the visual appearance but also how jewelers should handle them.

We will have a practical session where we will learn how to properly use a 10x gemological loupe to examine gemstones and identify these inclusions that could cause problems during the setting process.

Gemstone treatments

Many of the gemstones on the market are treated to enhance their color, clarity, or hardness.

Some of these treatments are not stable, requiring extra care during the setting process.

We will learn to recognize the treatments that affect the hardness and stability of gemstones, and we will have a practical session where we will learn to use the microscope.

Synthetic gemstones

A few words about synthetic and lab-created gemstones.

We will briefly present the main synthesis processes and examine some synthetic gemstones.

In some cases, we can identify whether a gemstone is synthetic using a loupe or microscope, and we will learn how to do this. For more complex cases, we recommend sending the gemstone to a gemological laboratory.

Teacher

Maria Dumbrava

“I am Maria, a certified gemologist with a great passion for the science of gemstones. I discovered gemology in 2017, when I started studying everything about the physical, optical, and chemical properties of stones. In 2019, I launched realgems.ro with the idea of bringing my discoveries to as many people as possible.

By profession, I am a Programmer. I graduated from the Faculty of Automation and Computers, followed by a Master’s in Web Programming. Since my job involves spending a lot of time in front of screens, I felt the need to see more color around me. Natural gemstones were the perfect answer because they added a splash of color to my daily routine.

I decided to focus on the scientific aspects of gemstones, rather than their symbolism, due to my analytical thinking. I want to learn everything that isn’t visible when you look at a stone: how it was formed, its physical, optical, and chemical properties, where its color comes from, and how to distinguish a natural gemstone from a lab-created stone. That brings me joy.