Jewelry Appraisals From A GIA DIamonds Graduate March 3, 2016 13:15

We ALWAYS recommend that people insure their engagement, wedding, or partnership rings. There are two reasons we do this - first, generally these rings are worn 24/7/365 and weird things can happen. Secondly, having all risk coverage on your jewelry is not very expensive. It Michigan most insurance companies charge somewhere between $10 to $15 per thousand dollars of value to insure it against loss, theft and even damage. So it would cost $40 to $60 per year to have a $4,000 ring insured.

Speaking of costs - many area jewelry stores charge $150 to $250 to appraise ONE piece of jewelry. We just had a lady in and she told Cliff that the chain store where her husband bought her wedding set wanted to charge $300 for an appraisal on the two pieces.

Here at Chimera we charge $75 for the first piece and $45 for each piece after that. 

Cliff earned his Diamonds Graduate certification from the Gemological Institute of America in 1998 and he is celebrating his 20th year in the jewelry business this year.

If your appraisal needs to be updated, most insurance companies want them to be less than 5-7 years old - stop in and Cliff was get you all squared away for a lot less money than the mall stores. 

Valentine's Day Specials At Chimera Design February 6, 2016 14:25

We just loaded our cases back up. We put over 30 new pieces in our display from the Oliver Weber Collection. This line of fashion jewelry is made in Italy using Swarovski crystals - great look at an affordable price. 20% off all Oliver Weber for Valentine's Day.

We have been representing the Strellman's line of jewelry for a decade now. We have a nice display of their Lighthouse Lens rings in sterling silver with every birthstone - plus we have another dozen pieces in stock. If we don't have it - they are made just across Lake Michigan in Minnesota! We can call them up and have a piece made to your specifications. 20% off all Strellman's jewelry.

Another great American artist is Michael Michaud. His designs are all inspired by the timeless beauty of nature. The picture below shows his hydrangea along with some real hydrangea brought in by one of our friends. We have a nice selection - all of which is 20% off for Valentine's Day.

Bring Your Ring in For a Day at The Spa - $15 January 30, 2016 11:52

Your rings work hard to glamorize your hand - give them a Spa Day at Chimera Design.

We will start with an inspection of the ring. We will make sure the tips, prongs, channels, and bezels are in good shape for keeping your diamonds and gemstones secure in the mounting.

The it is off to the back room for an invigorating 2850 rpm session with our Handler Buffer. This will remove surface scratches and return your precious metal to a nice shine. Our jewelers rouge is especially formulated to clean and polish.

From there your ring will be transferred to our Branson 2510 heated ultrasonic where any dirt and debris will be gently shaken by the soothing 40kz sonic waves.

Then it is a short hop over to our 1300 watt Steam Dragon steamer for a purifying blast of vaporized distilled water at 90-125 psi. This will remove any residual jewelers rouge and gra-do!

Ideal Cut Diamonds Without the Huge Price Tag At Chimera Design December 9, 2015 15:00

Did you ever notice how some diamonds sparkle a whole lot more than others? Well, it could be because of the way they were cut. A round diamond cut deeply causes the light to go out of the bottom - we call extreme cases of this Nail Heads. If the cutter shapes it too shallow - then the diamond can appear lifeless - we call them Fish Eyes.

A diamond cut to ideal proportions will return light like nothing else. No other gem can take light in and shoot it back at you like a diamond.

A couple of years ago we met Michael. He is a diamond cutter from New Jersey and is a master of his craft. When he stopped in the shop to show us what he could do, we bought one of his diamonds on the spot (Cliff never does that!). Since then we have introduced couples to his sparkle-fest diamonds. Laurie was so impressed, she wanted two of them for earrings!

 There is one company that has been marketing ideal cut diamonds by showing customers the hearts and arrows visible in their diamonds using a viewing device. Te result is the heart shape patterns (above left) seen from the bottom of the diamond and the arrow patters (above right) seen from the top down.

The diamonds Michael cuts are done so well, you do not even need a special viewing device to see the arrow patterns! The ring above is set with a .50 ct VS2 I diamond Michael cut and the one below features an .81 ct from Michael.

Colored diamonds without the million dollar price tag! October 27, 2015 14:49

A big pink diamond is coming up for auction - it is expected to sell for 15 million or more. That is great - if your bank account can handle it.

If you WANT the coolness of colored diamonds without a movie star budget, we have some beautiful examples from Lotus Color in NYC. You can learn about how Lotus uses heat and radiation to turn natural diamonds a host of colors here: Learn About Colored Diamonds.

Lotus has the process down to an art form. Look at the bright, lovely colors in these pictures. These are all colored diamonds from Lotus. The colors will not fade and because they are natural diamonds, they return light and sparkle like no other gem on earth. (They only ones you have to be really careful with are the pink ones.)

If you like stud earrings and you already own some white diamond studs, how about your color up your life with some colored diamond studs? We have three colors in stock at a fantastic price - they are 1/2 carat total (.48ctw, .49 ctw, and .50 ctw) your choice of yellow, blue, or green color enhanced natural diamonds for only $685.00.

New Solitaire Mounting for .50 ct, .75 ct. and 1.00 ct Round Diamonds October 21, 2015 14:33

We just received a catalog with some new jewelry from one of our favorite vendors - Stuller in Louisiana. (They are the same ones we work with in providing our Online Jewelry Design App. Try it - it is a blast.)

This one caught our eye. Simple and elegant - the prongs holding the round brilliant cut diamond flow out of the shank of the ring. This setting is available for .50 ct, .75 ct, and 1.00 ct round diamonds in your choice of 14kt white or yellow gold, as well as platinum. 

As you can see from the pictures, there is a nice matching band available as well.

Tungsten Bands - Made in the USA $69 with a Lifetime Warranty October 2, 2015 13:44

We are really excited about our line of tungsten bands. 

• Made in the United States.
• $69.00
• Lifetime Warranty
• If it cracks, breaks or chips (or even if you gain/lose weight and you need a different size), you get a new ring for $15!
• Did we mention they are $69.00?
• We even have Tungsten Camo rings.

Engagement Rings V4 - Jewelry Fabrication September 24, 2015 11:55

We have a variety of ways to provide you with a unique engagement ring or other piece of jewelry. So far, we have shown you our Chimera Showcase online jewelry design app, which allows you the freedom to design your own on your phone, lap top or PC. We have also provided examples of CAD/CAM design with lost wax casting. Over the years we have established relationships with some high quality vendors for engagement rings, too.

Now we want to shine the spotlight on the way Julie makes engagement rings and other fine jewelry. It is called "fabrication"  - instead of cutting a wax and casting the piece, Julie takes metal (gold, sterling and Mokume Gane) and she cuts, shapes, hammers, and solders it into jewelry. It allows you to do some things that cannot be done via lost wax and it gives a more organic or hand-crafted look to the jewelry.

The most popular example of engagement, partnership, or commitment rings that Julie makes are from when she creates two rings from one sheet of metal. Below are images of ring sets she has made for couples over the years - she has made them in sterling, mokume (a combination of sterling and copper that gives a wood grain look), as well as white and yellow gold. They have been just plain bands or set with gems and/or diamonds.

You can see the contours that make it evident that the rings were from one sheet of metal, even when they have a large size difference. Two rings from one piece of metal is her romantic riff on the "two shall become one" .

 

 

Engagement Rings V5 - Examples From All Sources September 23, 2015 19:00

We have posted the various ways we can provide YOU with the engagement ring of your dreams. Please allow me to recap the methods.

1. You can use our online Chimera Showcase App.
2. We can use CAD/CAM technology and lost wax casting.
3. We have a variety of great vendors.
4. Julie can fabricate engagement rings.

In this post, we just want to share some of the engagement rings we have done to give you ideas.

Engagement Rings V3 - Some of our great vendors September 23, 2015 12:50

We have a variety of ways we can provide you with an engagement ring or other piece of jewelry. We have shared examples of our online design at The Chimera Design Showcase, we have discussed our CAD/CAM and lost wax casting process in our blog.

We also have a great relationship with some vendors that we have gotten to know and trust over the years. We would like to show you some examples of the kind of rings they can provide.

Jose and Janine are VERY active people. Jose found a lovely diamond in our Estate section and he wanted a vintage look for Janine. He loved this setting because of the classic styling combined with the protective element of the cathedral setting (the ring comes up to the side of the diamond). We made the diamond even more secure by setting it in a half-bezel.

Justin inherited a diamond from his father's aunt. He wanted a simple, elegant setting. He and Cliff looked for something until he settled on this one - he decided to step out and have the ring cast in rose gold to make it stand out. We set the diamond in a 6 prong head.

Lori wanted to celebrate her marriage to David by setting her diamond into a new ring with that had some delicate accent diamonds. She also enhanced her marquise diamond by having us remount it into a halo head.

Jessica celebrated her 2nd decade with Scott by setting her diamond into a much more contemporary setting than he had previously. Their new ring is two tone and incorporates a half-bezel setting for their diamond.

Quinn picked out one of our Ideal Cut round half carats (VS2 I-J color for $1,400 to $1,700) cut by our friend Michael in New Jersey. The he had us set it in a halo-head.

Engagement Rings V2 - CAD/CAM and Lost Wax Casting September 23, 2015 12:15

We love technology at Chimera Design. Cliff and Jere have been working together using CAD/CAM and the art of lost wax casting to create custom engagement rings and other pieces of jewelry for almost ten years now. Here is a quick overview of the process:

• Cliff & Jere take your vision and create a CAD/CAM image.
• Once you approve the image a wax model is cut.
• You can inspect the wax before we cast it.
• We cast the model in your choice of precious metal.
• The stone(s) are set and BINGO - you have your jewelry creation.

Sometimes people come in with a design they have sketched out, sometimes they come in with pictures they have found on the net - sometimes they just come in with one or more diamonds looking for ideas. YES WE CAN - we can make a piece of jewelry as unique as you are.

Victoria had a yellow gold band with she loved. She wanted to celebrate 20 years with Todd by getting a new solitaire diamond set in a ring that would match the shape of the ring she had. This collage of photos shows the band, the CAD/CAM image, the wax model and the finished ring.

Juli saw some ring designs online. There were certain elements she loved, but others that she did not like. We incorporated the parts she loved AND used most of the diamonds from two rings she already had - added a new, larger center diamond and Juli had the ring of her dreams. Here are two CAD images, one of the ring and one of the top. Below that is the finished ring.

Susan had an idea for a new ring for her diamond. She loves nature and wanted something that resembled a tree branch for her diamond and she wanted it accented by some blue sapphires.

One of the most popular ring designs we have ever done was for Sandy. She had an idea based on two or three ring styles - she took the halo element from one, the bezel set diamonds front and rear from another, and diamonds combined with rubies from yet another. We have made several rings that were inspired by Sandy's but PLEASE don't let her know!!!

Sam saw a ring on the website of a very famous jewelry designer, but a) he did not want to pay the premium price and b) he wanted to use different sized diamonds. Yes, we can do that.

This last example is a ring we made for Peter and Sarah. Sarah wanted her ring to be made with an uncut, unpolished diamond. She also wanted to incorporate some small, cognac colored diamonds from a ring Peter had given her. Sarah sent us some images of rings she found on the web for a starting point. Here is the end result:

Engagement Rings V1 - Design Online September 23, 2015 10:20

This is the first of FOUR ways we offer engagement rings (and other jewelry) to YOU. We have a Showcase App that will let you try hundreds of configurations from your phone, laptop, or PC. Not only will you get instant images to see the changes you make, you also get real time estimates for what it will cost.

Above are 5 completely different designs Cliff did on the Chimera Showcase.

Simply click on the link here, then choose "Flexible Designs" and give it a try. It is FREE and you can try out all kinds of combinations with no risk or obligation. If you settle on a design you love, click "Add To Quote" and Cliff will contact you with a solid estimate on the price for your creation.

Click Here: Chimera Showcase.

Here are some examples of rings design by our customers using this app. The image on the left is taken from the Chimera Showcase and on the right is the actual finished ring.

First, is a 14kt white gold ring we made with Deb. She had inherited two diamonds from her mom and wanted to have a ring to remember her with. She wanted her birthstone (May - emerald) in the center of the ring. She considered several different shapes for the center, before settling on a round slightly larger than the two diamonds. 

Next is a ring for Will and Allyson. Allyson is concerned about the environment and wanted to use only lab created gems. So we used Moissanite for the accent stones - Moissanite is a lab grown substitute for diamonds - combined with a lab created sapphire in the center. We started with a round center, but ended up with the oval shape lab sapphire you see on the right.

Just so you know the Chimera Showcase is NOT just for the ladies, here is a ring designed for Frank using the app. He wanted a modern, updated version of yellow gold and black onyx - a classic combination for men. 

As you can see - there are almost limitless possibilities for YOU to create your dream engagement ring with the Chimera Showcase app.

Click and design!