Our world
Craftsmanship
Amber is worked more like wood than like stone. It cuts, it sands, it takes a polish quickly, and it punishes hurry at every stage.
Selecting
Rough amber arrives opaque, crusted and unreadable. Most of the judgement happens here: a stone is turned against a lamp to guess where the clear material sits and whether anything is trapped inside. Most of the weight is lost before the shape appears.
Cutting
Slow, wet, and with as little heat as possible. Amber near a fast wheel will craze under the surface where nobody can reach it, and a stone that looked perfect on Monday can show a white fracture line on Tuesday.
Polishing
Through progressively finer grits and finished by hand. This is where amber stops looking like a material and starts looking lit from inside, and it cannot be rushed, because the final passes generate the most heat.
When a stone splits
It happens, usually late, usually to the best piece of the week. Sometimes what is left becomes a smaller pendant. Sometimes it goes back in the tray. Nothing cracked is sold as whole.