Archive for Diamonds
Tips for Taking Care of Diamond Engagement Rings
Posted by: | CommentsDiamond may be the hardest naturally occurring material known to man, but that doesn’t mean you can avoid cleaning it and making sure it looks its best now and for the generations to come. There are some basic steps for making sure you look after and acre for your diamond which you should understand and practice when you have been given a diamond engagement ring.
Basic Cleaning and Care Tips
Here are some basic tips to keep your diamond engagement ring in perfect condition:
· Clean your diamond engagement ring at least once a week to ensure the diamond and metal retain their sheen and sparkle;
· Remove your ring before you start on household chores or working in the yard – this will stop it from accumulating dirt, getting scratched and even worse, loosing it;
· Make sure you arrange insurance for your ring, not just in case of loss or theft but for repair if it becomes damaged or the diamond setting becomes loose;
· Never wear your ring when engaging in sports – you can injure another player as well as damage it;
· Make sure you have your ring appraised by a professional who will certify the value of the ring which will help you in the event of a claim on yoru insurance policy;
· Don’t take your ring off or place it near the sink, the bathtub or drains;
· Don’t wear your ring while you are applying make-up or using skin creams and lotions;
· Never wear your ring while swimming, whether in the pool, lake or the sea because the water will cause shrinkage of your finger and the ring can slip off;
· Store your engagement ring in a separate box apart from other jewelry because it will scratch other items or be damaged by them; and
· Never wear your engagement ring while using chemicals such as bleach or cleaning agents because they can cause discoloration.
How Do I Clean the Ring?
It is a myth that you can use ordinary soap and water to clean your ring – many ladies think their ring is getting a good clean when they are washing their hands, but this is far from the case. Soap and water will help to dull the piece and the diminish the attraction and beauty of the ring.
To clean your diamond engagement ring you will need a mild detergent (don’t use a concentrated detergent) and a soft-bristle brush. Using plenty of water, make a weak detergent solution and immerse the ring – take the toothbrush (and be sure it has soft bristles) and use this to work free dirt and grime which has accumulated in and around the setting. If you are really concerned, you can buy a specially created cleaning solution from almost any jewelry retailer. If you are confident, you can use ammonia to clean the ring and gemstone but, you must be extremely careful that your stone does not have any fracture within it because this will cause the stone to appear cloudy and misted over.
Knowing All About Diamond
Posted by: | CommentsI’m still waiting for our economic climate to recover and am wondering if present stimulus package and other recuperation efforts are genuinely going to work. And I start to wonder if recovery is achievable if our leaders do not truly recognize what induced our economic climate to crash in the initial place.
Then I come across some facts on the web about a brand new book by Zubi Diamond entitled “Wizards of Wall Street & Washington Lap dogs; The Scam That Elected Barak Obama.” Diamond writes that President Obama just isn’t conscious how the crash was brought on by financial advisors who’ve close access into the White House.
One the SEC safeguards were gone, the conspirators engineered the near-collapse of our economic system. Diamond identifies George Soros because the mastermind of this effort.
This excerpt from the book can be a excellent summary of what Diamond things of short-sellers: “Hedge Fund shorter sellers do not want selling price appreciation or increase in value, they only want and have an expectation of the future price decline and decrease in worth leading for the destruction in the companies. Hedge Fund quick sellers are not investors; they may be masquerading as investors, they are the proverbial wolves in sheep’s clothing; they’re the financial market place looters, selling what they in no way owned and stealing what they in no way owned, due to the fact that is certainly what small selling permits them to do.”
Diamond Certification is a extremely prevalent system now globe over. It is often a program whereby the diamond is evaluated by yet another 3rd party and given a rate.
There are 2 major firms which have been involved in diamond certification. They are the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the American Gemological Society (AGS). The GIA is deemed since the business standard. So the simple minimum requirement to know the purity and excellent of an diamond is often a GIA certification. Though the GIA certification could be the industry standard, the AGS is considered superior with the colour certification.
We possess the Accurate Gemological Laboratories (AGL). They basically see the four C’s that are responsible to the perfection of the diamond.
We also contain the International Gemological Institute. The benefit they provide is that they are cheaper in cost.
The writer says our congressional committees and representative leaders have surrendered the responsibility to write policy and regulate banks and also the stock marketplace to hedge-fund short-sellers whose greed for power and cash led them to subvert capitalism and our no cost economy.
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Bigger is not Always Better: Understanding How Gemstones are Weighed and Measured
Posted by: | CommentsFrom cushion cut engagement rings. Although bigger seems better and more expensive, it’s not always so in the world of Jewellery. In fact, size isn’t even synonymous with carat weight and you need to keep that in mind when shopping for Gemstones.
Carat Weight versus Size
Diamonds and colored Gemstones alike are evaluated and appraised according to the 4C’s which are made up by cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. Carat weight is very much different from size and definitely more important than the latter. Also, take note that carat is different from karat, which is the measurement unit used for gold. Carat weight uses the abbreviation ct and ct TW for carat total weight.
In the past, carob seeds were traditionally used to measure a Gemstones weight because of its uniform shape and size. In 1913, however, the Jewelry industry managed to set universal standards for measurement and the carat weight system was born.
Now, one carat is always equivalent to one-fifth or twenty percent of one gram. One carat is made up of one hundred points. As a Diamonds weight goes up, so does its value or price per carat.
The way carat weight is discussed is occasionally a cause for confusion. Remember that a Gem with .005 ct may be called a half point Gemstone. A .25 ct Gemstone could be called a quarter carat while a .50 carat Gem may be referred to as a half carat or fifty points.
Diamonds are often listed according to their size because it is more uniform than carat weight. Two different Gems may have the same size but different carat weights and consequently, different prices as well.
Factors Affecting Gemstone Carat Weight
Gem Material A 1 carat ruby is smaller than a 1 carat emerald. This is mainly due to the Gems specific gravity. A Gemstones denseness level can make it carry greater weight even though it has a smaller size than other Diamonds with the same carat weight. While carat weight is very much important for traditional and much-prized Diamonds, it tends to lose its significance when it comes to common Diamonds with high supplies like blue topaz, citrine, and amethyst. Amethyst, in fact, used to be classified as one of the precious stones but its price went down when loads of shipment arrived from Brazil in the 19th century.
Gem Shape or Cut The shape and cut can occasionally affect the carat weight. While most Jewelry designers cut Gems with size and carat weight in mind, others place more importance on its aesthetic value and may therefore reduce carat weight and size in favor of improved looks. The same can be said for shape as well.
Table Diameter The table diameter is often considered important only for measuring or evaluating the brilliance of a given Gemstone, but what few people realize is that it can affect the Diamonds carat weight as well.
Similar to gem cut and shape, if the table diameter is shaped in such a way to maximize its window-like characteristics, carat weight might be consequently sacrificed.
Today, studies show that a lot of Diamonds sold on the market are cut to take commercial concerns into consideration. Many of these Gems report loss in weight of just 10% or lower. Some are even cut to the extent of making them appear bigger as well.
Girdle Thickness The girdle is the dividing line between a Gemstones pavilion and crown or its bottom and top facets. Ideally speaking, girdles must be extremely thin and preferably visible only to the naked eye like a light line. Thick girdles not only reduce brilliance and light yield but negatively affect the Diamonds color as well. Girdles are often referred to as edges and they are graded as any of the following: very thin, thin, medium, thick, thick, and very thick. Thin girdles look better, but they’re lighter in weight and easier to chip.
Crown Height The crown of a Diamond refers to its upper area and positioned on top of the girdle. Acceptable crown height for Diamonds is between 11.0 to 16.2% of the girdle diameter. Greater crown height often means greater carat weight.
Pavilion Bulge The pavilion is the bottom portion of a faceted Gemstone. Greater bulge usually means heavier carat weight.
Culet Size This is the facet at a Gems tip. Like the girdle, culets are better invisible to the naked eye. It may be sharp or pointed.
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Cat’s Eyes and Star Gemstones – Bad is Sometimes Better
Posted by: | CommentsFrom cheap emerald cut diamond engagement rings. Cats eyes and stars appearing in Diamonds are still considered inclusions but of a unique type. While the presence of inclusions in often detrimental to the value and looks of Gems, cats eyes and stars have the opposite effect. These may occur naturally or man-made but ultimately, they enhance the beauty of Gemstones. Use the following tips when shopping for Gemstones with stars and cats eyes.
What You Need to Know about Cats Eye
Cats eye is a product of chatoyance or chatoyancy. It is an optical effect brought by a certain light intensity emitting in a specified direction from the Gemstones surface. Cats eye may either be produced by fibrous cavities or inclusions, such as the case of cats eye in chrysoberyl, or fibrous structures like cats eye in quartz.
The effects of chatoyancy can also be achieved in woodworking and providing products with 3D appearances.
Chrysoberyl This Gemstone is arguably the most popular Diamond for its cats eye inclusions. Chrysoberyl is often mistakenly believed to be under the beryl group of stones. In truth, chrysoberyl is not part of the beryl group, but aquamarines and emeralds are. Chrysoberyl are mostly found in East Africa, Sri Lanka, and Brazil.
This Diamond registers the third highest rating in the Mohs Scale for naturally occurring stones. There are three types of chrysoberyl: alexandrite, the more common yellow chrysoberyl, and lastly cymophane or cats eye.
Common chrysoberyl is yellowish-green. It may be translucent or transparent. If it turns yellow and see-through, that’s the time it can be used as a Gem. Alexandrite, on the other hand, has colors varying from orange-yellow to red to emerald-green. It can display even other colors if seen under artificial lighting.
Lastly, there’s cymophane or the chrysoberyl cats eye. Its name was derived from its similarities with a cats eye, showing a silk-like spread of light stretching from a light-green source.
Beryl Certain Diamonds belong to the beryl group can also display chatoyant features. This includes golden and green beryl, aquamarine, and emerald. The effects are, however, not as intense as those in chrysoberyl and therefore needs special mounting to strengthen the look and feel of its cats eye.
Quartz This is the most abundant mineral in the Earths crust. Not all of the minerals belong to the quartz group are able to display cats eye on their surfaces. Those that can are rose quartz, citrine, smoky quartz, cats eye quartz, and amethyst. Some believe that cats eye quartz are able to help improve vision problems, self-healing, concentration, and psychic abilities, as well as provide better judgment.
What You Need to Know about Star Gemstones
Stars in Gemstones occur mainly because of asterism. It is another optical effect caused by a certain reflective portion of the Gemstone. There are two kinds of asterism that occur in Gems.
Disasters Stars appear when light is transmitted through the Gemstone. It will only be visible, however, if light illuminates the Diamond from the back. Rose quartz exhibits this effect.
Epiasterism This occurs mostly with rubies and sapphires. Light this time is reflected on inclusions positioned in parallel with each other.
Star Gems come in a wide variety. For sapphires and rubies, there are yellow, purple, gray, black, blue, silver, white, and 12-ray stars. Burma and Sri Lanka are the top producers of star sapphires and rubies. Other Diamonds with stars possibly appearing on their surfaces include sunstones, garnets, rutiles, quartz, diopside, citrine, moonstone, prasiolite, and chrysoberyl as well.
How to Shop for Star and Cats Eye Gemstones
Light A single light source like a candle, light bulb, or even sunlight is best used when judging the quality of stars and cats eyes in a given Diamond. This type of lighting will reduce chances of blurring and make it easier for you to determine the intensity of these much-coveted inclusions.
Distinction The appearance of the cats eye or star must be clearly distinct from the body of the Gemstone.
Size How far does the star or cats eye extend? Bigger size is better, but some clients may prefer a more subtle effect.
Color More specifically, color for stars in Gemstones differ. It is up to you to choose which appeal to you the most.
Lastly, remember that all Diamonds with stars and cats eyes are cabochon cut to maximize their effects. Thus, viewing uncut Gemstones won’t yield accurate results.
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