Jewellery News and Reviews

Our love of diamonds and admiration of their fire and brilliance has given rise to many different cuts of diamonds. While we still see some of the earliest styles of diamond cuts – such as the round and emerald-cut, there are many more types of diamond cuts today, some of them patented by their original designers and costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The most popular cut for a diamond ring today is still the round, brilliant cut. It was developed in the 17th century in Venice. It is still preferred when the raw crystal is in an octahedron formation. Even though nearly 50% of the stone is cut away in the process, often two stones can be carved from an octahedron. More unusually-shaped stones are used for unique cuts, such as a marquise, pear or heart-shaped diamond. The earliest brilliants had 17 facets on the top of the stone and were called double-cut. This was soon improved with stones cut with 33 facets and were called triple-cut brilliants.

In the 19th century, with the development of better gem-cutting tools, more innovations in diamond cutting styles were developed. In 1919, Marcel Tolkowsky combined the art of cutting with the science of light and refraction and published his book, Diamond Design. These relatively recent geometric calculations were the forerunner of much of diamond cutting work today and led to other, more precise mathematical models engineered to enhance the fire and brilliance of diamonds.

There are now cuts such as the princess cut, trillions, ovals, pear and heart-shaped. Some innovative cutters have even fashioned star or butterfly-shaped diamonds! One patented cut, the Ashoka diamond, is an oblong cut with rounded, brilliant ends, and requires a stone 3 carats or larger. It’s an exceptionally beautiful (and pricey!) diamond shape. Tiffany & Co. has also patented a cut of diamond called the Lucida cut. It’s the lucky bride whose fiancé gives her one of these highly coveted stones!

IFC Jewelry, Wholesale Jewelry Thailand offers one of the world’s finest jewelry in the world. Located in ChiangMai, a popular tourist destination in northern part of Thailand, IFC Jewelry produces, wholesale and retails diamonds and jewelries for customers from all over the world including many celebrities which are featured on its website www.IFCjewelry.com – Jewelry in Chiang Mai

Gem cutting – How it has changed over the years (50% of the original rough diamond is lost during the cutting of a round brilliant gem)

How does a mass of mineral or crystal become an attractive diamond, ruby or sapphire? It’s an amazing process called gem cutting or lapidary and makes all the difference in the final value of the stone. It was developed first in Venice in the early 1300’s and was seen in Paris and Bruges in the mid-1400s.Great cutting is a precise art that catches the light just and captures the beauty of the gem. Poor cutting destroys it.

Most gems start out actually being sawed with a special lapidary saw into a rough shape, such as square, round, pear or marquise. It’s then ground with a diamond-infused wheel to further refine the shape. The gem cutter uses a series of finer and finer abrasives to get closer to the clear heart of the gem. Cabochon gems are polished to a smooth overall surface, sometimes held by hand, but more often fixed or “dopped” with wax or adhesive to a dowel to hold it while the lapidarist polishes the stone.

Transparent stones are most often faceted, a process where flat planes of the stone are cut and polished over the surface in a precise, symmetrical pattern. It’s critical that the planes match up perfectly, or the beauty of how the light is captured by the facets will be lost.
If a stone is cut to flat, the brilliance of the gem will also be lost. When a stone is properly faceted, it captures the light so it bounces around inside the stone, giving it the sparkle we love and that helps determine the value of the gem. If the stone is cut too flat, or the facets don’t meet precisely, the light doesn’t bounce off the angles in the facets to maximum effect.

Jewellery Thailand is one of the most popular in the world as Thailand is famous for Fine Jewelry and precious gem stones. IFC Jewelry in Chiang Mai Thailand produces one of the finest jewelry in the world, its customers includes many celebrities which can be viewed from their website at www.ifcjewelry.com – Jewelry ChiangMai