The turnout was good, the 'vibes' were good and the faceting was excellent. There were about twenty cases on display by the Guild members. The award for Best Case was based on a vote. That is a departure from the usual method of judging, but a little eavesdropping in the exhibit area showed how seriously the voters, most of them facetors, took to the task. The winner was Bob Frahm, who is an Ultra Tec facetor (and the trophy was given by Ultra Tec). Bob is someone who has shied away from competitions. One does not have to spend much time looking at his case, however, to realize that his faceting is of the best. Bob was also winner of a second award with this case, the Southern California Guild's perpetual trophy for best exhibit.

The winner of the award for Best Single Natural Stone, for the second year running, was Jack NcLelland. Jack, an Ultra Tec facetor, cut the stone as a 'warm-up', planning to cut the same design for a customer. The design was a "cushion triangle" and was really most striking in appearance. So, even though it started out as a practice cut, it went so well that he submitted it and won. The award, incidentally, was a Facetron award.

Another Ultra Tec facetor won the Cutters Three Award for a set of three stones, two synthetic and one natural. The winner, Claus Sondermann, has been faceting a bit more than two years and this was his first attempt at competition. Needless to say, it is always nice to start out with that sort of super performance. I have a hunch that this has given Claus "the bug. and that we will be hearing from him in future competitions.

A fifth competition was won by Mark Ellesberry who facets on an Imperial. He won the Spruce Goose trophy for the Best Single Synthetic.

Right after the mailing of the last Newsletter was the California Federation show in Ventura. The traditional O'Brien Trophy has been changed to the Facetron Trophy, and the winner was our long time, good friend, Ultra Tec facetor Don Cassler. You may recall that Don contributed a design for this Newsletter several issues back and it was that design, the Fantastic II, which was used for the winning stone. We were happy to have the opportunity of congratulating Don for this award.

Coming up soon now is the grand-daddy, the International Faceter's Fair in San Jose, California and I look forward to seeing many of you there. (And most likely gone-by by the time you receive this letter.)

OLD STUFF.

OFFSET ATTACHMENT:
In the prior Newsletter we described the situation regarding the Offset Attachment--that its sales volume was low, and consequently we would be raising the price (as an alternative to not making it at all). We did have orders on hand and we set up to make those and as long as we were at it, we went ahead and ran a good quantity. So, we are able to offer this special run quantity at a very special price. We then realized that if we could make a good amount at a time, we could sell at an attractive price, and why not try it at this time. From the time you receive this letter until March 30th, you can purchase an Offset Attachment for $106. That's about 40% off the present price and 30% off the old price. Those of you who have been receiving these letters for awhile will remember that we have done this sort of ~special run' thing in the past and it works well. Delivery on the Offset Attachment will be good since we already have the parts on the shelf, but we do have to limit this offer to the parts on hand.

POLIFLOW:
We had a chat on the telephone the other day with Dr. Henry Owens--the developer of Poliflow. He continues to receive just excellent reports about the performance of Poliflow from commercial facetors. Since those people are faceting all the time, they have good visibility of the benefits of Poliflow, as compared to those of us who work at it just occasionally. The users report faster cutting and better lap life, the result of the improved flushing action when Poliflow is used. More interesting to me, however, is the improved polishing that they report for almost all materials. It's worth a try. Poliflow comes in six-packs of 4 oz. bottles. You mix it with water in the ratio of 16 to 1, so a little goes a long way. If you order before March 30th, we will throw in a seventh bottle free as a little bonus.

Dr. Owens, incidently, contributed the faceting design that we have included in this letter.

NEW STUFF

STEADY REST/CALIBRATOR:
We do have a new accessory to announce - a Steady Rest/Calibrator. We have had many requests for this sort of accessory in the past, and when John Stacy stopped by about six months ago with a good idea for the design, we decided to go ahead. What the Steady Rest does is provide a super firm stop to be used when preparing the girdle of the stone. It is a help for those with either too timid a hand or too heavy a hand. It is good for those who like an extra bit of assurance that they are forming a symetrical girdle.