Diamonds

Diamonds are available in a range of qualities, as defined by their cut, colour, carat and clarity. I use affordable quality diamonds in my jewellery.

When undertaking commissions it is of course you who will decide the quality of the stones in your jewellery and below are the criteria diamonds are graded.

The four C's

Find out more about choosing the quality of a stone...

Cut

Cut is very important as to how the stone will perform. A good cut gives the diamond its brilliance. When a diamond is well-cut, light enters through the table and travels to the pavilion where it reflects from one side to the other before reflecting back out of the diamond through the table and to the observer's eye. Poorly cut diamonds loose a lot of the light through the bottom or sides, so less light makes it back to the eye meaning less brilliance or sparkle.

Colour

Colour is perhaps the most important factor for the apperance of a diamond, with colourless being the most sort after in the D-F range. Stones in the G-I range will show virtually no colour to the untrained eye.

Carat

Carat refers to the weight measurement of the diamond. One Carat is divided into 100 points, so that a diamond of 25 points weighs .25 carats (1/4 of a carat).

One thing to watch out for is that because of the relationship between volume and diameter, a stone that weighs twice as much as another will not look twice as big.

Clarity

Clarity refers to the presence of air bubbles, cracks, and non-diamond minerals found in the diamond. These are called inclusions. The amount of, and position, of these inclusions dictates the value but not always the look of the stone. Without the use of 10x magnification, flaws in stones of a VS2- SI1 clarity will not be seen by the naked eye but will be cheaper than a stone with a higher clarity, making these a better choice for people on a lower budget.