Loupe SKILLS

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

You can of course star-gaze without a loupe. But to fully appreciate (and understand) a jewel we need to hold and touch it, feel its weight, twist and turn it, listen to it, sometimes smell it – and look at it closely with a 10x magnification loupe. You can get one here or in any jeweller’s supply shop.

Knowing how to use a loupe correctly will considerably increase your credibility when you’re buying or selling.

Illustrations coming soon.

1. Find your dominant eye: with both eyes open, focus on a point in mid-distance.

2. At an arm’s length, stick one thumb out until it’s more or less on the spot you focused on. Now close one eye, then change to the other side.

3. When you focus with your dominant eye the thumb will have moved very little or not at all.

4. a.+b. When you focus with your non-dominant eye, the thumb will have moved considerably to the left or right.

5. Take the loupe between thumb and index finger of your dominant hand.

6. If your dominant hand and eye are on the same side, you’re in luck!

7. If your dominant hand and eye are on opposed sides: you have four options. Find out what works best for you. Try each method for a while before deciding.

8. Either you cross your dominant hand over to your dominant eye, coming from below (turn your face a little towards your dominant hand)

9. Or you cross over by coming from above the eye.

10. Or you re-educate your eye, holding your loupe in your dominant hand and making your non-dominant eye work harder. This is what I unknowingly did as I didn’t know about the dominant eye issue until my optician came along 15 years later.

11. Or you re-educate your hand taking the loupe in your non-dominant hand. This is what I would try now were I to start from scratch.

12. With both your elbows on the table, you are now going to create a continuous bridge between them.

13. Take the object in one hand and the loupe (between thumb and index) in the other.

14. The hand with the loupe now rests on your face for maximum stability.

15. One or two fingers from one hand are always touching the other hand for maximum stability.

16. Turn the object manipulating it between your hands while moving your loupe closer or further away for focus. This will take practice. Be patient!

17. Keep both eyes open! Yes, this will take a while to get used to. You need a lot of practice for your eyes to be loupe-trained: one that focuses, the other one that is just lazying about. You will save yourself countless headaches (and wrinkles).

18. Voilà, you’re all set to go!