​Clyde and M’Liss had been married a long time and after all these years she was now looking to make it look a little fancier. M’Liss had a 1 ct diamond engagement ring set in a simple solitaire. They brought in a picture and picked out the size of the diamonds that they thought looked best. Using that information renderings were made and with its acceptance the wax model was made to confirm the exact proportions. She thought the wax looked good and it was now off to finishing. When it done M’Liss thought it was perfect much better than she expected and loved the way it made her engagement ring shine.
 
The following pictures are the initial picture, rendering and finished video.

​John and Rachel wanted maximum brilliance from a diamond so they purchased a round super ideal cut diamond. Rachel loved an oval shape and a halo vintage style ring. The solution was to make an oval halo around the round center diamond by using tapering sizes of diamonds in the halo. She also wanted to use rose gold to make the ring. We were able to satisfy their wishes. I do not know if Rachel loved it as John pick it up to surprise her, but it has not been returned for adjustment so I would assume it worked out well.
 
The following is the sequence of the process, sketch, rendering and finished ring. The diamonds from the picture were adjusted in the rendering to make it look more oval.
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​When Elliot asked me to make this setting for him I was excited to help him. In my opinion this is the most beautiful three stone setting created. A three stone setting was really popular a few decades ago, touted to represent the past, present and future. Regardless whether you would prescribe to this meaning it is still a classically beautiful mounting.
 
Elliot asked for pear shaped diamonds to enhance his center diamond which happens to be almost a 2 ct oval diamond. I feel the pear shaped diamonds lends a delicate elegance to the whole ring than most three stone combinations.
 
Elliot liked it and I hope his significant other did too. I was pleased in how it turned out.
 
All of our customers going through a custom setting guides us through the process. They get to design whatever they want, a sketch is made, which is then modeled as a rendering on computer, upon acceptance of the rendering a wax model is made and the ring is cast and finished. Each stage is worked to customer satisfaction before moving on to the next stage making the end product exactly what they wanted.
 
The following shows the sketch, rendering and finished ring.

​Naida had presented us with a challenging request. She wanted to redo her old ring that was made with 33 princess cut diamonds totaling over 2 carats. Naida is unique in that she does not have a typical design taste as most others that we have worked with before.   Princess cut diamonds in itself presents limitations in that they are squarish diamonds and they have to be set in a straight line and does not look well if curved. Designing the ring given her personality and taste took time but eventually, after exploring a couple of designs she settled on the one that you see pictured.
 
The design, I feel, fits Naida’s personality perfectly given the difficulty and she loved it!
 
The transition from sketch to rendering to finished product is documented below.

Our company offers a free ring inspection and cleaning and while doing it for a friend of a customer I noticed that four out of six prongs were missing the tips. Normally on a six prong head breaking 3 prong tips on the same side would result in a loss of the diamond and here she had broken four! Luckily the last remailing ones were opposite of each other and her diamond was still in the ring! Super lucky! One more broken prong and she would have been crying.

People lose their diamonds because the prongs are pulled off the diamond, it breaks or simply wears out. It is entirely preventable with periodic inspection at home. We would recommend that anytime you happen to hit your ring hard against something that you look and check to see the condition of the prongs. You would look to see that the prongs completely covers the diamond, and that it is not too thin and it is evenly spaced. If you have a 4 prong head, breaking one prong will cause the diamond to fall out. You may not know when it happened as you may have had a lot on your mind and when you hit it, it did not hurt so you did not think about it. We generally recommend a 6 prong head as you will have to break 3 prongs on the same side before the diamond is lost. Essentially you have a couple of second chances.

​It is good to clean your ring with ammonia once a week as it will only take about 15 seconds to, squirt on the ammonia, scrub it with a toothbrush, rinse and wipe the ring with a soft cloth. At the same time you could make it a habit to look at the condition of the prongs. Look to see that each prong is covering the diamond, they are evenly spaced apart, and that they are not too thin. Also check to see if it spins. Sometimes the prongs are covering the diamond but the diamond is a little loose. It more than likely it is still safe but you may want it tightened. If you are not sure you can bring it in to have it checked professionally. It is good to have it check professionally at least one a year or anytime you might have hit it hard and think something might have come loose.

Take a little time to inspect your ring and save yourself emotionally and financially!

​This is  Jai’s request complete with his rabbit sketches. What follows is the computer rendering that he accepted and then video of the finished ring. The ring holds a 1 ¾ ct diamond in its ears and it was cast in platinum. Subtle but entirely personal. Jai thought it was perfect when he saw it!

​You have just bought a diamond that is uncertified because you were told that it would be cheaper than getting one with a certificate. You have just taken a huge risk!
 
RISK #1: You may have actually bought a lab grown diamond and not a natural one as you had assumed and you may have paid way too much. Lab grown diamonds are real diamonds grown in the laboratory and because they can keep growing them unlimitedly the value of the diamond is less than half the value of natural one even if it is accurately graded. It is impossible to discern a lab grown diamond from a natural one and you need very expensive testing equipment to verify it, which most jewelers would not have. Ethically, Lab Grown diamonds have to be disclosed at point of sale but unscrupulous seller will not do that. It is illegal to not disclose lab grown diamonds. Lab grown diamonds are readily  available, making it a huge risk buying uncerted diamonds. If you are dealing with a highly reputable jeweler they will work within a framework and a chain of legal responsibility to assure you that a diamond is natural in origin. However, buying from Craigslist or Ebay certainly creates a much greater risk.

​RISK #2: The diamond is natural but mis-graded, it is a much lower grade than you were told it was which makes it a much lower value. We have seen diamonds sold without certificates at the wholesale trade show at the Blaisedell that were 8 grades off of what they were sold as.
 
The actual grade of a diamond will determine its value and to feel confident with what you bought it is best to buy one that is certified. We would recommend GIA and AGS for natural diamonds and IGI for lab grown diamonds. Unfortunately all others should be viewed with a bit of suspicion as to its accuracy. The following story is an example of the problem.
 
Melissa walked into our store a while back and asked if we could grade her diamond. We did and it turned out to be 3 grades lower than what it was sold as. She told us that we were the third place that gave her a grading that was lower. She began to explain her situation. She had done enough research to know that GIA is an accurate grading company and had specifically asked for GIA graded stones to purchase. She was assured several times that the diamonds that she viewed were GIA graded. She bought one and when she went to pick up the mounted ring asked for the GIA certificate only to be told that there was none. She said that she had specifically asked for GIA graded diamonds and since this was not one can she have her money back. She was told no, that all sales were final.
 
She sent her diamond to GIA to get it graded and it came back three grades lower than what she bought it for. She then went to Consumer Affairs to find out if she could do anything about her circumstances. She was told that she does have a case but will have to take him to court. He wedding was just two months away and she did not have extra money to hire a lawyer or the time in case of not getting it resolved before her wedding and she did not want to be without a ring so she kept it. Suffice to say she was not happy. Not a way to spend one of the happiest days of your life!
 
As a knowledgeable professional I would NEVER ever buy and uncerted diamond from unknown sources. There is just too much risk in doing that.  We would not recommend purchasing any diamond that does not have a certificate. In other words if you do not want to be ripped off then rely only on GIA or AGS graded diamonds and IGI for lab grown diamonds. Also make sure that the diamond also matches the certificate, and find someone that can help you assess the cut of the diamond. Do this and you can enjoy and have peace of mind for your purchase.
 
These are the GIA, AGS and IGI certificates.

​​In 1988, my bench jeweler at that time, broke his left side ring finger on his wedding day. He was carrying lots of gifts up their stairs and missed a step.  Down he and the gifts went and somewhere in there, he bent is finger and broke it.  That finger swelled up so fast that his wedding ring started choking his finger and prevented the blood from flowing.  He had a finger that looked like a purple sausage.
 
Sadly, stories like this are very common. Within two weeks this month I had to cut off two rings.
 
The first was a call and I was asked if we cut off rings that were stuck on the finger. There was an urgency in their voice. I told them that we do and they asked if they can come in ASAP. Apparently it had become tighter and really started to hurt. When Amy came in her finger looked like it was turning a bit blue. It turned out that her condition was a partial result of arthritis that had become worse and started to swell. It does not take long to cut off a ring and in 10 minutes it was off. The look of relief on her face makes helping them so satisfying. Fortunately their ring was a simple solitaire and it did not need special considerations to preserve the setting. They will wait until her condition stabilizes and we can then repair and resize her ring if necessary.
 
A week and a half later I fielded another call to cut off a 10 mm Hawaiian band. They told me they had already gone to see EMS and were told that the ring was too wide for them to remove so they called me. When John arrived it looked like he had just injured his wrist and there seemed to be some swelling to his hand. It looked really tight and I was surprised that he was not experiencing any pain because of it. He may have had pain but it could have been more a result of the broken wrist. He was to have an operation to place a metal piece on the broken bone the following day, which may have resulted in even more swelling so it had to come off before going to the hospital. The wider band took a bit longer than 10 minutes but the mission was accomplished! We wished him a speedy recovery from the upcoming surgery as he left our office.
 
People have gone to hospitals emergency rooms and had their rings cut off. Unfortunately the staff in the hospital are not jewelers and they will sometimes chip the small diamonds on the ring in the removal which makes it much more difficult to repair and more costly. The hospital staff’s only concern is to get it off not to preserve the ring. I assume that the removal is not free being in an emergency room. We do not charge for the service and we will more than likely be able to repair the ring so it can worn again.
 
Need help? Do not hesitate call us, you may alleviate all unnecessary pain and suffering.

​Ada came in one morning somewhat distraught, asking me to price out a new setting for her diamond. I asked her what she had in mind and she asked to see samples. I told her we do not necessarily carry lots of inventory but we can order or make a ring according to her specifications. Ada said she did not know but had to remount her diamond because it fell out of her ring that morning and that this was the 2nd time so she wanted to change the ring to make sure it did not happen again.

​ I asked to look at her ring and told her that the prongs tips had broken off which is why her diamond fell out. The prongs should have been checked periodically so this situation would not have happened. She was extremely fortunate that she found her diamond on the carpet in her house. I also told her that we can just change the head (prongs) and then remount her diamond. I also told her that if we remounted it in platinum it would be more secure that white gold in the long run and that changing just the head will cost a lot less than buying a new setting. She was very glad to hear that her concerns will be taken care of and it also saves her money.
 
When it was finished and she picked it up she was really pleased that we had mounted it higher which made it look more elegant. It was a 1 ¾ ct so it really stood out. She was really happy the way that it turned out especially now that it looked band new. Ada was so relieved and appreciative that she brought us a delicious okazuya lunch. Score!