Archive for Diamonds
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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Jewelry with a Capital J, Understanding Basic Jewelry Terms, Processes, and Techniques
Posted by: | CommentsFrom princess cut engagement rings. It is easy to feel intimidated and out-of-place when you’re visiting a high-class Jewellery shop for the first time. To avoid making unwanted and uniformed purchases, improve your knowledge about Jewelry starting with the tips below. If you speak the same language people in the Jewellery industry speak then you’ll surely go home with the Jewellery piece you want, need, and definitely can afford.
The Meaning of Gemstone
A Diamond may be a rock, mineral, or even a petrified material that’s cut and polished to be used for making Jewellery pieces. It may be even harvested like pearls or organic like amber, just as long as it has aesthetic appeal. In the old days, precious Gems only referred to the Big Three: emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. Everything else was labeled as semi-precious Gemstones.
Categories today, however, have been thankfully changed and widened to avoid further confusion.
The Ins and Outs of Lapidary
Lapidary refers to the process of cutting and polishing Gemstones. Rough materials are left uncut and unpolished. Cobbed materials are referred to as fractured. Materials like silicon carbide and Gem, due to their hardness, are used for cutting Diamonds in a progressive abrasion process. Compounds like aluminum and chromium oxide are, on the other hand, used for polishing Gems.
Common cutting techniques include tumbling, drilling, polishing, lapping, sanding, grinding, and sawing. Cut Gemstones are then polished into several forms such as sculptures, intaglios, cameos, mosaics, intarsias, inlays, spheres, beads, cabochons, and faceted stones.
Sawing The main tool used in sawing is a copper or steel blade with Gem grit on the edges. Water or oil is used to eliminate cutting debris and prevent the blade and stone from overheating.
Grinding Gem-impregnated grinding wheels made of silicon carbide are used to grind Gemstones and shape them into a pre-form. Liquid substance is also used to prevent both the stone and tool from overheating.
Sanding This process is similar to grinding but utilizes finer abrasives instead. It is often performed as a follow-up after grinding for removing scratches caused by the previous cutting technique. For round Diamonds, a belt sander may be used in accompaniment to ensure smoother and rounder curves.
Lapping A lap, which is a flat disk that’s either vibrating or rotating, is used to create flat surfaces rather than round ones. The process however is similar to sanding and grinding.
Drilling This technique is used if the lapidarist wishes to create a hole through or in a Diamond. Drilling tools may be rotating or ultrasonic.
Tumbling A Diamond that’s placed in a rotating barrel filled with water and abrasives is tumbled for polishing. These Gems are usually roughly shaped and the polishing process is gradual and performed with interval washings. Sometimes, vibratory machines are used in lieu of rotating barrels. This time, the barrels vibrate rather than rotate. Tumbling techniques are also used to polish metal Jewelry pieces.
Cabochons Cabbing or cabochon cutting is achieved by gluing or dopping the Gemstone into a metal or wooden dopstick or simply holding it in place. The cabbing machine then twirls and creates a round smooth surface top and a flat or slightly rounded bottom for the Diamond. This is usually an alternative to faceting for Diamonds that possess too many inclusions.
Faceted Stones Gems that have faceted forms reflect brilliant color and clarity from all sides and at all light levels. This technique is most suitable for transparent stones. Today, new techniques like grooves and concave facets are used to create new looks for faceted Gemstones.
The Importance of Cut and Polish in Diamonds
Cut is one of the all-important 4C’s and which is used not only to appraise Diamonds but Diamonds in general as well. Gemstones are often cut with regard to their size alone. But beautifully cut Gems take their color into consideration as well.
If you are shopping for faceted Gemstones, one way of determining the excellence of its cut is to check if its able to reflect light on a consistent level throughout its surface. Look for symmetrical rather than asymmetrical cuts as well. Lastly, be reminded that cut is different from shape.
Polish is simply like adding the final touches to a Gemstone. A well-polished Diamond is one with evenly smooth gloss and with no visible scratches on its surface.
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Basic Information Related to Diamonds
Posted by: | CommentsDiamonds have an allure about them that make them probably the most sought right after gemstones within the world. They say that “diamonds are a girl’s greatest friend”, and more than most likely that sentiment is due to their brilliance, their sparkle, and also the way they make a person really feel when wearing one. But, what we know as these completely clear and beautiful gemstones start their lives as basically rocks. They’ve to become mined and honed and crafted into what we know as diamonds.
A diamond is really a form of carbon, and its extreme hardness and light diffusion qualities make it a highly helpful stone for industrial reasons, in addition to its pleasing aesthetic qualities. Diamonds make excellent abrasives simply because they are able to only be scratched by other diamonds. Consequently, they’re very durable and retain their brilliant gleam wonderfully.
The earliest recognized reference to the diamond comes from a Sanskrit text dating back to around 296 BCE (before the Christian Era), which described the diamond’s qualities. It’s usually accepted that diamonds were very first mined in India, where they quickly became symbols of spirituality and holiness, decorating religious idols. Early on in their history, diamonds have been traded in all direction of India for their various industrial uses, such as engraving and drilling, as well as for their aesthetic purposes this kind of as for ceremony, decoration, and adornment.
There was a strict prohibition against cutting diamonds. This taboo was started out using the early traditional utilizes in India, and ended within the Middle Ages. By 1375, a guild of diamond cutters and polishers was established, as the technologies of reshaping diamonds began to develop. The different shapes that were developed through the years only worked to exemplify the diamond’s beauty and brilliance, increasing their allure. Today, diamonds are most familiarly utilized for the reasons of adornments, such as for bracelets.
There are four characteristics that are used as basic description devices of diamonds, and that are used so that you can determine the ultimate value of a particular diamond. These are recognized since the “4 C’s”, or carat, clarity, colour, and cut. The carat may be the pounds that steps the mass of the diamond. 1 carat equals approximately .007 ounce. The worth of a diamond increases greatly relative to its carat pounds, because large diamonds are exceptional and in high demand for bracelets.
The clarity of the diamond measures the amount of inclusions of a diamond, or its internal flaws. Foreign matter within the diamond or cracks causing a cloudy appearance are regarded inclusions, and tend to decrease the value of the diamond. There grading systems utilized to assess clarity, depending on certain elements including number, size, color, and visibility from the inclusions (diamonds are generally graded from flawless to imperfect). The greater the clarity rating is, the a lot more rare the diamond (and the a lot more useful) is.
The colour of the structurally perfect diamond, and one that’s free of charge of chemicals is nearly completely clear, and color-free towards the naked eye. This doesn’t necessarily affect the value of the diamond, nevertheless. Some pink or blue diamonds (like the Hope Diamond, for example) are considered spectacular, and therefore highly valuable. A rating program of D to Z (D=colorless and Z=bright yellow) is in use to aid in colour assessment of diamonds.
The minimize of the diamond describes how the diamond has been shaped and polished from its original mined state. The “cut” describes the level of workmanship that has gone into the diamond, as nicely as the angles to which the diamond is cut. This isn’t the exact same as the shape of the diamond, which describes just that, its shape. Shapes this kind of as pear, round, marquis, princess are all familiar terms for diamond jewelry.
When purchasing for diamond bracelets, fine jewelry shops will be conscious of the four C’s of the diamond they carry, and is going to be capable to provide info about which gems you’re interested in. Diamonds are special, and they’re the ultimate souvenirs from the Earth, which adds even more allure to owning one.