Talk:Voltolini - Pandoro

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Pandoro - Marco Voltolini

Test-cut in Brazilian smoky quartz


Test-cut in rose quartz. In the box it is shown the "glow" under a weak point light source
Small "Mali garnet"

This design features a very simple pavillion with a dome crown creating the final reflections pattern. The result is a nice pattern, but without a lot of sparkle (keep this in mind before deciding to cut this design in that piece of rough which calls for sparkle). This is ideal for rose quartz (where the sparkle would be hidden by the material haziness), that was the target material for this design. The performance on perfectly transparent quartz it is not bad at all (see picture on the right) nevertheless, and the resulting stone is very pleasant. In any case I prefer it in rose quartz, where a nice glow is highlighted (see the other picture on the right).


There are a couple of designs by J. Graham that may look similar (although not very similar...), but one of the main differences (besides symmetry, etc.) is in the crown facet tiers angles: in this design there are a couple of tiers (A, B) with very steep angles and the other remaining tiers feature quite low angles (see the lateral view in the design diagram). I found, by chance, that this combination of angles gives a quite good light return and a more than reasonable tilt performance in quartz. The lateral profile reminds me of a "pandoro" (a typical Italian cake), hence the name of the design, even if the symmetry of the "pandoro" is 8-fold...


I hope you enjoy cutting this. If you find a nice chunk of rose quartz with some decent transparency, try this design: you won't be disappointed.