subject: The Right Cut Of The Diamond Ring How Do We Choose It? [print this page] There is probably no other gemstones to be desired as much as diamonds are. Not only have they come to be called 'a girl's best friends', but they are also regarded as a symbol of strong, never-ending love and thus offered as engagement gifts.
Despite the high symbolism behind these beautiful stones, their beauty is far from being complete if certain elements are not exactly what they should be. That could be the case for a diamond ring's cut, for instance, since one of the most common mistakes people make is to believe that the cut and the shape of the diamond are one and the same thing. In fact, they could not be further from the truth.
When we speak about the shape of a diamond we are actually referring to its form of a diamond: pear, oval or heart etc. But when it comes to the cut of a crystal what we have in mind is the way in which the respective stone reflects light and how well polished, proportioned or symmetrically arranged it is. Taken together, these are all important elements for diamond cutters as they can highly influence on the brilliance of a diamond.
The term 'diamond cut' is used for designating the symmetrical arrangement of a diamond's facets. These facets can change the shape and the appearance of the gemstone, thus diamond cutters must consider carefully the type of cut they choose. Their choice should take into account aspects such as the shape and the size of the diamond crystal. And, once again, polish and symmetry also play a decisive role in a cut as they can have a great impact on the smoothness and the alignment of the diamond's facets. If the polish job is done poorly, the sparkle of a diamond can look blurred, whereas a poor symmetry can misdirect the light coming in and out the diamond.
In order to fully exploit the wonderful properties diamonds have, several different types of diamond cuts have been developed. When having to choose between one of these, cutters are influenced by factors such as the rough stone's original shape, the existence and localization of any potential internal flaws, the concern for preserving the carat weight and the degree in which certain shapes are more or less popular amongst buyers.
The style and the arrangement of a diamond's facets are the criteria by which diamond cut styles are separated into three distinct categories: brilliant, step and mixed. Each of these cuts can be easily distinguished from the others due to their special features.
For instance, facets in shapes of triangles and kites with the light radiating outwards are characteristic to brilliant cut diamonds. And, among these, the star is definitely the round brilliant cut due to the fact that round diamonds have as many as fifty-eight awesome facets reflecting the in and out light. If we come across a diamond with sloping four-sided facets, we can be sure we are dealing with a sample of what is called step cut diamonds. The best examples of step cuts are emerald ones with their usual rectangular shape or the old Asscher cut. And, when both brilliant and step cuts techniques are melt together, the result is the mixed diamond cuts frequently used for colored gemstones.
As we can see, when choosing a diamond ring it is not all about its color and size. The beauty of such a rock resides primarily in its brilliance, thus it seems like a good idea to pay some attention to the way in which it was cut. To the untrained eye it may look like an impossible mission, but we should keep in mind that buying jewelry is not something we would do by ourselves. The best thing we could do is to go to a jewelry shop, not only for the valuable opinions we might get there, but also because it is much more practical to go to a place where we can find all the accessories that we need under one roof.
