Colored Diamonds From The Laboratory
We have a line of colored diamond jewelry at Chimera.
The colored diamonds we sell (usually) are natural, white diamonds that have been changed into colored diamonds. There are three methods that can be used singly or in combination with each other depending on the color desired.
Electron Irradiation - a pulsed beam of electrons that will induce color into the diamonds is fired at them. The light absorbing pattern is changed and so is the color. Used alone, this process gives diamonds a blue or greenish blue color.
Annealment - To expand the range of colors, super heating them in an oxygen-free environment in temperatures 900 degrees and higher allows us to get other shades of color. The atomic structure of the diamonds rearrange, and a new palate of colors is possible.
High Pressure High Temperature (Hpht) - The HPHT process recreates the heat and pressure that creates diamonds initially in the Earth. Sophisticated machinery is programmed to accent conditions to get yellows, oranges, and greens.
There is a fourth method consisting of coating the diamond, which is used to create a truly pink color. The coating is done at the pavilion - the lower part of the diamond. This allows the color to shine through the entire diamond.
The first three treatments are more stable than the fourth. Diamonds that have been irradiated and/or annealed will not fade over time and they will wear like a normal diamond. The only caveat is that when being worked on by a jeweler, they need to be careful NOT to expose the diamond to heat in excess of 900 degrees which could occur when sizing a ring.
The HPHT method requires no caution of any kind.
The technology creating colored diamonds has moved forward tremendously in the last decade. When we first opened in 2002, treating diamonds was reserved for those very low on the clarity scale (I1 to I3) because the science was very in-exact as to the results. Sometimes they came out looking terrible. Blue ones could be all over the color spectrum and it was hard to create diamonds that were a good color match even when they were treated together.
Fast forward to the present day, and companies like Lotus Color can provide colored diamonds with better clarity (SI1-2) and with wonderful consistency. This makes it much easier to design and build colored diamond jewelry that is affordable and beautiful.
NATURAL COLORED DIAMONDS
They exist and they are extremely rare and costly. A 9.75 ct natural blue diamond (above) was auctioned in 2014 for 32.6 million dollars. Pink diamonds are found in Australia in very limited quantities and typically command prices in excess of what most of us can handle.
Typically a yellowish tint causes the price/value of a diamond to go down. That is true until the saturation of the yellow color reaches what GIA terms "Fancy" and then the price jumps up like a ROCKET!
Conclusion - creating colored diamonds in the lab is a wonderful way to make the long lasting beauty of colored diamond jewelry something that regular people can afford and appreciate. We are excited to offer colored diamond jewelry in our store and to you online.
We are very excited about our new online Chimera Showcase - you can design jewelry, insert various size, color, and shape gemstones and diamonds into YOUR choice of metals. Not only will you get instant visualization of your creation, but you will also have an estimated price that will change when you make changes in the piece, (e.g. from 10kt to 14kt gold or by substituting one gem for another).
This is some of the most fun you can have with jewelry online - we guarantee it.
Deb came in with a couple of diamonds and the desire to make a ring with them that would also incorporate her birthstone - Emerald. We went to the Chimera Showcase and looked around. She loved the contemporary look of the half bezel settings in this ring. We tried several shapes for the center lab-created emerald (Princess cut above), and she settled on a round one that would be slightly larger than her two diamonds - the diamonds are 5mm and the emerald is 6mm.
Once Deb settled on a design, we secured a price and placed the order. Her custom-designed ring was delivered about 10 days later for her to inspect before we set the gems. One great aspect - the jewelry from our Showcase is ALL made in the US - by our friends at Stuller in Louisiana.
To give you an idea of how accurate the computer images are, here is a picture of the finished ring with the 6mm center and Deb's diamonds. We LOVE technology!
One more thing about our Showcase - Don't worry, we are not trying to lure you into designing a $10,000 piece and then buying it! You CANNOT purchase your design directly from the website.
What you can do is save the final design(s) you like and then Cliff will be notified and contact you with an accurate price quote - how cool is that?
Please follow this link to our Online Chimera Showcase and have some fun designing rings, pendants, or earrings with the easy-to-use software. If you end up with a design you really love, save it and Cliff will contact you with a quote. Easy peasy!
Information about the care, cleaning, and manufacture of fine jewelry.
Swimming pools, hot tubs and your jewelry.
The short answer to the question above is: NO to the pool and NO-NO-DEFINITELY NOT to the hot tub.
A few words of caution about SWIMMING POOLS and HOT TUBS. We do not recommend that any fine jewelry be worn in public swimming pools or hot tubs. Chlorine is a corrosive chemical - it won't do any harm to diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and some other gemstones, but it is not good for your white or yellow gold to say nothing of sterling silver.
Chlorine can also discolor and/or prematurely wear out your watch - even watches rated to be underwater. (See our blog post on that subject: Watch Ratings)
Hot tubs are waaay worse than pools because in addition to harsh chemicals, you have the addition of high temperatures AND the pressure of the water coming out of the jets. We do not recommend that any jewelry or watches be worn in hot tubs. Even watches that are rated to go under water to some degree can be infiltrated by the water coming out of the jets.
Hot tubs are great for humans - they are a TERRIBLE environment for your jewelry and watches. Take the little bit of extra time to remove your jewelry and watches BEFORE you get in.
Kevin asked if it is safe to wear his titanium ring in a hot tub on a daily basis. My answer to that would be.....maybe. If the titanium has any kind of enameling or stone of any kind in it, then NO. If it is a plain band, there will probably NOT be a problem - but if it has any type of a finish on it, you might find that a daily dunking in the chemicals would change the appearance of even a titanium ring. Best bet - take it off - take it ALL off!!
I would make the same recommendation for those folks with tungsten or tungsten carbide rings. We sell them and I wear them and I would take mine off before spending time in a hot tub. Heat and chemicals wreck havoc!
