So this is a good example of great light return from a very saturated pyrope garnet. This stone I cut shortly after I first started cutting, and on machines that were not very precise. You can see how the cut isn’t very symmetrical near the table on the left side.
This stone like many others I keep around and don’t give or sell. They are good reminders to me that even if you make a mistake, and something isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean you haven’t succeeded.
My teacher gave me an old garnet he had laying around, it’s extremely saturated and fairly large so I can’t even shine light through the center. (The edges are purple though so I’m guessing rhodolite.)
I was planning on making it one of my first cuts expecting it to come out miserably dark… But now I’m starting to rethink that expectation. 😅
Shallow design… you will want to reduce the overall depth of the stone as much as possible to get color and light return without going past the critical angle.
Good luck!