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Diamond Solitaire Rings on you mind? Does your lover cherish diamond solitaire rings? Here are tips on choosing a beautiful diamond solitaire ring for your lover. Like most other purchases, start your search by browsing the net for diamond solitaire rings. Here are some useful tips on comparing and buying diamond solitaire rings.

Diamond Engagement Rings

What are the most exciting diamond engagement rings on the market? Perhaps, the most elegant diamond engagement are diamond solitaire rings in popular styles including basket diamond engagement rings, trellis diamond engagement rings, cathedral diamond engagement rings, bezel set diamond engagement rings and of course the Tiffany classic diamond solitaire rings

Unique Engagement rings

For unique diamond engagement rings, browse online antique style engagement rings and antique looking diamond rings. Many couples design their own unique engagement rings. There are also unique engagement rings based on reproductions of engagement rings through the centuries. These unique diamond engagement rings include antique diamond solitaire rings, antique platinum engagement rings, plain antique ring settings and antique wedding diamond bands.

Certified Diamonds - Diamond Solitaire Rings

Certified diamonds are a wise choice when buying diamond solitaire rings. The major organizations that issue certified diamond certificates are the GIA and EGL. Buying certified diamonds gives you a sense of security as to your diamonds quality. Equally important, certified diamonds are readily accepted by insurance companies. Also, if you ever want to sell or trade, certified diamonds will bring more money and sell much quicker then other stones that are not certified diamonds.

The Diamonds Company is a leading diamond and jewelry store offering diamond solitaire rings, unique engagement diamond rings. Find the best selection of certified diamonds at the best prices. Visit The Diamonds Company.

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In many ways the “ultimate” noble metal that one might consider for jewelry isn’t gold or platinum but their slightly tan colored cousin iridium. With the possible exception of osmium (which is smelly and toxic) it’s the rarest non-radioactive element in the earth’s crust — several times more so than either gold or platinum. It’s even more chemically incorruptible than the other two, it’s heavier (17% denser than gold and 6% denser than platinum), and it’s much more scratch-resistant. There’s also the additional mystique that most if not all of the iridium we mine comes from meteorite impacts and is therefore extraterrestrial. Unfortunately no one has come up with a way to work with it economically, mainly due to its absurdly high melting point and its glassy brittleness. The first artisan to tame iridium will surely take the world by the tail.

But in the meantime there’s a metalworking specialty that’s just as interesting if not more so called mokume gane (mo-KOO-may GAH-nay) which involves bonding as many as thirty alternating layers of differently colored metals; twisting, stretching, or otherwise heavily deforming the resulting mass; and then carving it into rings and such that display a riotously swirling agate- or woodgrain-like surface. Japanese metalworker Denbei Shoami (1651-1728) invented mokume gane to make ornamental handles for samurai swords. Metals used include silver; gold and differing hues of it such as rose, white, and green; shakudo (an alloy of 96% copper and 4% gold that develops a blue-black patina); kuromi-do (copper with a smidgen of arsenic); shibuichi (a pink copper/silver alloy); and various alloys of titanium and tungsten that can involve iron, nickel and molybdenum. They sandwich these layers and heat them to a temperature, which chemists call a eutectic, that’s hot enough to cause the atoms to jostle and intermingle at the layer boundaries yet not so great as to melt the stack into an undifferentiated blob.

It’s unquestionably a high art and something not everyone can pull off. Currently the best known mokume gane master appears to be Norio Tamagawa, whose family has worked the field for nine generations. You can Google the term yourself to find some good sources, but one of the most visible and accomplished is clearly James Binnion at http://www.mokume-gane.com

The preceding article comes from the “Curious Thing of the Week” section of my website. http://www.curiousnotions.com

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When a diamond cutter has a piece of stone to cut he naturally thinks of getting the most money from the cut. So he thinks of a round brilliant cut first as that is the most common, profitable and popular cut. But what about if he has a piece that is long then he must make a decision: cut a marquise shape or cut it down into perhaps more than one smaller stones. Smaller diamonds are not worth as much as larger ones. A one carat round brilliant cut diamond is worth say $600 but you might only get $450 for a full carat weight of very small stones!

But a marquise cut, sometimes called the navette cut, is not worth as much as the same weight in a round so the decision is a considerable one. They generally do not have as much brilliance as a round cut stone.

The marquise is the elongated or stretched looking shape. It was supposedly designed for Louis XIV. Because of the shape of a marquise cut stone an effect known as the bow tie effect occurs. This is a dark area in the centre which resembles a black bow tie. It will almost always be there and is a negative quality which is worse sometimes than other times. You might not have noticed before but you will now. It happens in pear and tear drop shapes as well.

The Marquise cut is most often in a proportion of 1:2 or the width is half as long as the length. Although it is not the cut that the diamond cutter wants to make, and it is harder to cut and even worse the pointed ends are more easily broken, it nevertheless may end up being the most profitable for him.

It lends itself to wonderful settings and suits some long fingers admirably. It is different and we all don’t want to wear what our neighbour is wearing. If you like it, and I just love it, then you are going to be exceptionally happy to get a higher quality diamond for 10-20% less than you are likely to pay for a round cut.

It is one of those diamond shapes which are ideal for running up and down the finger. Just today I was handed a lovely marquise to design and make into a ring. The husband who gave me the ring wants it made so that it goes across the finger. I first asked him how big his wife was. As he didn’t know her ring size I wanted to form a picture of her in order to make up my mind what might suit her. Tall lady with long fingers then there is no decision to be made up and down the finger will look lovely.

It turns out that she is tiny with small fingers and he subtly indicates that she was thinner once a long time ago. I make up my mind that it should be set almost diagonally across the finger. That’s a kind of compromise just in case she turns out to be wider than she is high!

Don’t dismiss the lovely, elegant marquise cut because of the bow tie, or the fact that it is easily broken. If set well and looked after as it should be it will amke a stunning piece of jewellery!

Author: Gary Hocking, is a manufacturing jeweller who makes custom pieces of jewellery for people all over the world. He operates his own website: http://www.jewelleryexpress.com.au

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