diamond ideals – DiamondIdeals.com

Custom Designing your Diamond Ring

Laurent — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 23:04:37 +0000

Over the past few years, we have turned more and more toward customizing the majority of the rings we create. At first our customers feel a little daunted by the task but when they learn about the process and start thinking about the benefits, they become eager and excited about the project. Most of the time we start with a nebulous concept, a quick sketch or a picture from a magazine. Using sample rings on our site and in our showroom we start talking about the different possibilities, proportions and options. We take copious notes and come up with an cost. After the initial meeting, we discuss our customer’s wishes with our design team and everything gets put into a CAD image. We review the initial CAD and make necessary adjustments until we are very close to what our customer envisioned. The wedding band, in its’ original incarnation had a huge swerve which made it impossible to wear on its’ own. In the design process, we softened that cure to the point that it is barely noticeable.

We then present the CAD to our customer and upon approval move forward with the manufacturing process. In the case of the attached pictures, we used stones from our customer’s original wedding band along with sapphires from an heirloom ring. We were fortunate that they were nearly the same diameter. In the design process we were able to adjust the heights of both rings such that they would look good next to each other despite the difference in the size of the stones in the shanks.

Once the design is approved, creating the ring takes about a week to 10 days. The end result is personal, unique and worthy of being yours.

Diamond Indulgence Valentine’s Day Promotion

Laurent — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 15:32:06 +0000

Treat your sweetheart or yourself to a pair of 2 carat total weight Ideal Cut Swarovski CZ stud earrings and some delicious chocolate truffles and get a 1 in 100 chance to win a pair of 1ctw diamond cluster earrings (pictured). Your Diamond Ideals indulgence could be inside this 4 piece chocolate truffle collection from Vosges Haut Chocolat. Each box costs $75 (value $95) and will contain 4 delicious chocolate truffles, the Swarovski CZ earrings and a card announcing if you are the lucky winner. We are including one winning ticket in every 100 boxes. The 1ctw diamond cluster earrings retail for $1595. Official Rules can be found in our “Terms and Conditions” section of our site.

This promotion runs from January 29 until February 13, 2015. Shipping will be done via Priority Mail and can take up to 5 business days to arrive. Please consider this when ordering. There are also overnight and Saturday delivery options. Please look at the pull-down menu when ordering.

Customizing a Cushion Cut Diamond Engagement Ring

Laurent — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 20:25:18 +0000

Customizing a ring can be a daunting endeavor but one of our recent customers knew exactly what he wanted. We had made a couple of rings with pear-shaped side stones but he wanted something a little extra. After picking his center stone, a 1.5ct slightly off square cushion cut, he explained that her want pear shapes and an additional round stone at the end. “Kind of like an exclamation point!” The resulting ring is absolutely spectacular.

What to expect when trying to sell your jewelry.

Laurent — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:37:02 +0000

We often work with our customers who are looking to sell some heirloom jewelry. As you can expect this comes with many pitfalls and much to consider. This is a brief overview of the different options you should consider if you are thinking about doing this yourself.

If your goal is to maximize the value of your jewelry, you are best off trying to sell directly to a private consumer. This can be done through your local paper, ebay, or some other virtual outlet. Unfortunately this can be the most time consuming and frustrating method and very few people pursue this avenue after the first couple of failed attempts.

If you have time on your hands, you may want to try working out a consignment deal with a jeweler. This method can take years, but on some rare occasions, if a customer walks into a store looking for exactly what you are trying to sell, it has been known to be fairly quick as well.

The vast majority of people opt for a fast sale to a jeweler. We do this every day. The upside is that you essentially walk away with cash in your hand. The downside is that the cash is nowhere near what your perceived value for the piece was. What you have to remember is that the jeweler may sit with your piece in his store for years, so it should not be surprising if he is not willing to pay top dollar. We purchased the ring pictured below as part of an estate with the thought that it would be one of the first pieces we would sell. Tiffany’s sells virtually identical rings every day for nearly double the price. As you can see, we still own it. And some day somebody will fall in love with it and purchase it, probably buying the deal of a lifetime.

There is one other option which is a service we provide our customers: let us broker the piece for you. This option allows us as professionals to work on your behalf and try to get a higher offer on the market than what you would be offered walking in cold off the street. We know the New York City diamond market inside and out and can usually find the best buyer for your jewelry.

I hope this short article has been helpful. Please contact us if you have any questions.

This platinum pavé eternity band contains 4.05 caratsof exceptionally cut diamonds. The workmanship on the ring is astonishing, reminiscent of when quality was truly appreciated.

New Budget-Minded Solitaire Engagement Ring Settings

Laurent — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:08:40 +0000

The second half of 2012 as well as the beginning of 2013 has shown us a very definite trend toward budget-mindedness. Taking this message to heart we have introduced three new solitaire settings priced from $495 to $575 in 14K gold (prices based on March 2013 gold prices). For lack of a better name (feel free to suggest some) we are calling these our Scroll Collection as there is intricate scroll work hidden under the cathedral part of the ring. From the top these engagement rings appear simple but a whole new world can be discovered from the side. One of them has four little diamonds tucked into the scroll work. The beauty of these new solitaire settings, apart from the price, is that they can be paired with virtually any wedding band you can think of. From the simple to an intricately woven pavé pattern, these engagement rings hold their own.

Custom East West Oval Engagement Ring

Laurent — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 21:12:13 +0000

A little while ago, I sat down with a client who knew she wanted an oval as an engagement ring stone and wanted it set East-West instead of the more traditional North-South direction. Over a period of a few weeks we went back and forth with potential designs, always keeping in mind that her finger was a size 4.5. We finally hit the proverbial nail on the head and she decided to flank the oval with two trapezoids. The result was stunning. The center stone weighs 1.5 carats and the traps weigh a total of approximately 0.4 carats.

Three Stone Trellis Engagement Ring in Yellow Gold

Laurent — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:38:12 +0000

The classics never go out of style. Here is a stunning three stone trellis engagement ring we recently completed for a customer overseas. The center stone weighs 1.2 carats and the side stones weigh about 0.4 carats each giving the ring a total weight of 2 carats. We made this ring in 18K yellow gold and our customer could not be happier with the results.

Pavé Halo and Shank Engagement Ring

Laurent — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:48:26 +0000

A couple of months back, a customer requested a ring “with diamonds everywhere”. This was a pretty broad request and after a couple of meetings and countless quick sketches, we finally had what we all hoped was what she wanted. The center stone weighs 1.75 carats and there is a total of approximately 0.85 carats of diamonds set in the halo and around the shank. We delivered the ring about 3 weeks after the whole process started. When we opened the box and showed him the ring, his jawed dropped. They were both speechless and we got worried for a second. Then her face lit up and she said it was beautiful beyond her imagination.

Maintaining the Prongs on your engagement ring.

Laurent — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:36:23 +0000

Whether your ring is made of platinum or gold, you have to remember that metal can get worn down over the years. With regular wear, it is normal for prongs to become worn and eventually they can bend or break. We recommend you bring your jewelry to be inspected by a professional at least once every year. You should also periodically take a close look at your rings and make sure everything looks normal. Although it is hard to tell in the picture below, the prongs on this particular ring were worn down to barely a tenth of a millimeter. The ring had been worn daily for 22 years and the owner had been keeping an eye on it. When we finally worked on the ring we were able to replace all of the prongs, essentially rebuilding a new ring. The money spent maintaining a ring is only a fraction of what it would cost had one of the stones been lost.

Creating a Custom Ring

Laurent — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:24:48 +0000

Our clients often come to us with little to no idea of what they want. Others have very definite opinions and will bring pictures from magazines they have gathered over time. And some of our clients come to us with a sketch. In this case, they had drawn something on a napkin and brought it along. Her idea was that she wanted to set a round stone and two smaller princess cut stones in a fairly ornate ring with diamonds running down 3 sides of the shank. Her sketch was basically exactly what she wanted. After our initial discussion, we created a CAD image of our understanding of her sketch (Version 1 in the image below). She loved it but she really wanted some scroll work on the side to break up the mass of the ring and she felt the princess cuts were not big enough. Version accomplished that but unfortunately brought the price over her budget. After talking it over, she decided to stick with the larger side stones but could save some money by reducing the number of diamonds going down the shank by half. We originally planned on 36 small stones and Version 3 brought that down to 18. This turned out to look to “stubby”. The final version added a 4th stone (on three sides on both sides of the ring) and was the winner. This whole design process took about 3 weeks and our customer got exactly what she wished for.