Each day you will spend two to four hours with a lapidary. The rest of the time will be spend with looking at both roughs and cut stones, and making local excursions. We can only offer this course
to one person at a time, there is only one lapidary wheel. Working with gemstones takes patience. We ask you to bring plenty of this - as well as certain sense of flexibility to our course.
Course process-proposed timetable
(five days course)
Day one:
Watching a stone cut from rough to finish. Rough shaping of a piece of quartz into a round, ready for faceting. Visit to mine: there are several mines within walking distance from our guest house.
You can visit them as well as river site mining.
Day two:
Faceting and polishing table of quartz into a brilliant cut. Afternoon free but we recommend a visit to the Gem Bureau or the Gem Chamber in Ratnapura (both short rides away). Or borrow our books and
read about gems.
Day three:
Faceting and polishing the crown into a brilliant cut. Rough shaping of another piece of quartz into an oval. Afternoon: visit to river mine.
Day four:
Morning to gem market, with lots of chances to see different stones from the area. In the afternoon faceting and polishing of an oval cut: both table and crown.
Day five:
Second visit to the market, particular to buy a third stone. Advice will be given. Faceting and shaping and polishing of the third stone.
Rate: Rs. 12 000 per day
Special Offer-10 days gem cutting course
10 days intensive course (4 h cutting/day, educated by a professional gem cutter, cutting quartz and garnet).
Rate: Rs. 100 000