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Jim Perkins’ gemstone designs account for 20% of the gemstones faceted in the Hashnu Studio. I once heard Jim say that his designs were 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, meaning he spends significant time optimizing the gemstone design. This philosophy shows every time I cut one of Jim’s designs. He has the ability to take classical gemstone lines and forms and turn them into a gemstone that makes my seasoned stone buyers comment on the performance. An example of this is when a jeweler comments that a gemstone is an unusual color for a tourmaline and I have to inform them that it is actually quartz. The usual reply after that is, “You can’t make quartz perform like that.” Yes, you can. Quartz, garnet, sapphire, and other gemstones take on a whole new dimension when you rely on Jim’s designs.
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In addition to the designs here, you can purchase Jim’s design books at:
kingsleynorth.com/faceting.html | ||||||||
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Here is Jim’s gemstone history.
Jim Perkins began his interest in grade school when he was about 10 or 11 years old after finding a concretion outside his house. He hid it in the bushes in front of the house until he returned home from school. There was no logical explanation where the concretion came from and to this day, he has no idea how it got there. His father and mother shared his interest and joined the Akron Gem & Mineral Society, now known as The Summit County Gem Club. They also joined The Medina Gem & Mineral Society. |
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The family traveled most of the Continental United States collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils. Jim first began tumbling stones with a rock tumbler his parents bought him for Christmas. By this time, his father had opened up a rock shop in the basement of their home in conjunction with his mother’s ceramic shop. Jim’s father took classes and learned to make cabochons. Jim used to watch him work while sitting on the basement steps. He asked a lot of question but his father would not teach him to cut stones. After Jim felt he had learned enough by watching, he would run home after school (5th grade) and practice cutting stones. He ruined a lot of stones until one day he cut one correctly. He set it in a pendant and presented it to his mother at the dinner table. Once his father knew Jim could cut stones, he gave him many jobs cutting stones for customers in addition to cleaning the saws and tumblers. Jim used to beg his father to buy a faceting machine as he studied the diagrams in the lapidary magazines. However, his father didn't understand faceting and wouldn't invest in the equipment. During Jim’s college years (1969 - 1975), Jim taught cabochon classes at Mobley's Craft Center in Wadsworth, Ohio.
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In 1990, he finally purchased his first used faceting machine and took lessons. He cut a round brilliant from natural quartz. The design angles had been calculated using a slide rule and transposed from diamond cutting angles. Jim looked at it and thought it was nice but knew he could do better. In 2001, Jim was at the Northwest Faceters Symposium in Portland, Oregon where Jerry Capps, a well known designer, showed him how to use Gem Cad software. When he returned home, he began to create his own Gem designs for faceted stones. After setting up a lapidary studio in his home, he began teaching faceting classes on Saturdays and later, he began 5-day classes. Mr. Perkins has taught people from all over the United States and several foreign countries. He has published over 20 books about faceting and gem designs for faceted stones. He publishes designs and writes feature articles from time to time in Lapidary Journal/Jewelry Artist and Rock & Gem.
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