Natural Colored Diamonds Are the Rarest of the Rare November 5, 2024 17:17

Thank goodness for the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Once the popularity of diamond rings and jewelry took off after World War II, this group was formed to help jewelers and the public understand a grading system for diamonds. GIA is the most respected gem laboratory in the world.

Here is a fun fact about NATURAL diamonds with color: They represent a very small fraction of the diamonds dug from the earth. Just one in every TEN THOUSAND of diamonds is colored. Red and blue diamonds are so rare they go for an insane amount of money. Of the rarest diamonds, yellow ones are the most common. They represent 60% of the natural colored diamonds we find.

We have some beautiful, natural yellow diamond rings at our store. They all come with paperwork from GIA attesting to their natural origin. You can take a look at our natural yellow diamond rings here: Natural Yellow Diamonds

Wearing Jewelry - Especially Rings and Chains - 24/7 is NOT a good idea. April 17, 2023 13:12

Wearing your diamond ring 24/7 is really not a good idea.

We now offer fine jewelry from Allison-Kaufman October 27, 2022 14:24

The Chimera Advantage - What it Means For YOU March 9, 2022 17:54

Diamonds Grown in Laboratories - We Like Them and Sell Them - January 19, 2021 10:05

Public Service Announcement - Don't Wear Rings To The Gym January 9, 2018 15:53

Yellow Diamonds - Engagement Rings That Stand Out - $2,500 and up. January 5, 2018 12:17

Blue Zircon Is A Rocking Gemstone - We Love It October 6, 2017 15:37

Blue Zircon is a natural gemstone - most folks immediately think of the man made cubic zirconia or "CZ" when you mention blue zircon. NO NO NO!

Blue Zircon is the traditional birthstone for December. 

One of the main reasons we LOVE it is the way it sparkles because of the high refractive index and strong dispersion characteristics. What all the mumbo jumbo means is that blue zircon sparkles and winks like crazy! 

It is our belief that blue zircon is waaaay underappreciated as an accent gem or even as the Main Event! Here is an engagement ring we just did for a couple. She stopped in the other day to tell me she had been getting a ton of compliments:

Another recent ring we did involved using blue zircon to accent the center stone:

One last example for you - we made this rose gold bracelet for a couple - blue zircon is her birthstone and we alternated them with diamonds. Suh-weet!

One closing statement - NONE of these pictures capture the sparkle and fire of blue zircon. You really need to see it in person to fully appreciate the POW! this gem will bring to your jewelry.

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.

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.