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 cuts today, some of them patented by their 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 almost 50% of the stone is cut away in the process, often two stones can be carved from an octahedron. Most unusually-shaped stones are used for fancy 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 to be whose fiancé gives her one of these highly coveted stones!

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

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 a dazzling 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.Good cutting is a precise art that catches the light just so, 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 not polished, 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.

Jewelery Thailand is one of the most popular in the world as Thailand is famous for good quality 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 - Jewellery Chiang Mai

If you’ve ever flipped through a magazine and wished you could buy the same jewellery as the stars then here’s news for you, you can, and without breaking the bank. Most of us don’t have more than 20 dollars to spend on jewellery, let alone 50 or 70. Forget about anything beyond that. the sparkly accessories of the stars are far out of reach for most of us.

Now with a variety of discount jewelry supply stores there is now a way for you to enjoy the beautiful pieces feature din the pages of glossy magazines for much less than the retail prices. Look around and there are a variety of a discount jewelry supply stores that stock fantastic designer pieces. You can find very high quality jewellery for affordable prices that will allow you to buy more for less.

Wholesale Prices

Wholesale suppliers have been a godsend to fashionistas everywhere for a while now. If you already buy designer handbags, shoes, and clothes from wholesalers then you can start doing the same with jewellery. Even better is the fact that some discount jewelry supply stores will sell you jewellery at prices that beat even wholesale prices.

When you are looking for cheap discount jewelry you should look for stores that sell products for less than wholesale prices. A good way to check if these stores are the real deal is to do a quick search of a few fashion forums. Google the company name and see if there is any bad press.

Most of the time you can rely on discount jewelry supply stores to provide you with good bargains. If you would like to be cautious then order only one piece to verify that the company is genuine and then if you’re right, go nuts.

You will soon be able to fill your jewellery box with pieces from a discount jewelry supply store while never paying retail prices. Saving on jewellery will let you furnish the rest of your wardrobe with other great things that you couldn’t before.

Buying from discount jewelry supply stores is also a great way to buy presents for people. If you would like to buy a special present for more than one friend to mark an occasion then this is an affordable way to do it. You can present a group of friends with the same piece of designer jewellery and it will always be a reminder of a special day you all shared together.