Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Bruted vs Faceted

I haven't updated this blog for a while... at least not with this kind of info.

If you pay close attention to your stone's certificate, you will see 2 pieces of information that relates to the Girdle. They are the thickness and the 'type' of girdle. In this post, I'm going to explain the 'type'.

Girdle
Girdle is the thin line between the top half of your diamond and the bottom half when viewed from the side. If you refer back to this simple diamond diagram, you can see where it is:



It is the widest part of the diamond and divides the top from the bottom. (It doesn't divide equally of course with the bottom being longer than the top) After being set, the girdle is usually visible unless it is purposely covered by the setting or band like the famous Tiffany Bezet line =P





There are primarily 2 types of girdles:

1. Faceted
2. Bruted

Faceted
Nowadays, this is probably the most common girdle type. Faceted means that the girdle is finished with a faceted feel. Even without a microscope, if you look carefully, you'll see numerous facets along the girdle as you turn the ring. It gives the ring a more 'clean' look. Faceting is done after bruting a diamond. These are the last and final steps in diamond cutting.



Bruted
Bruted was more common many years ago and 1 of the reasons why it was common was to prove that the stone was a real diamond. Bruted girdle is achieved by grinding 2 stones together. The appeareance is like a sugarly/frosted look.



Pros & Cons & Facts
-Faceted girdles take an extra step and are considered to be "better" than bruted girdles
-Although there are some out there who argue otherwise
-Faceted girdles cost a bit more as an extra step is involved in the cutting process
-Most diamonds today are faceted

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Keep Waiting...

After getting the ring, sometimes I find it pretty hard to keep hiding it and not proposing it... There are different occassions where I want to present the ring. Sometimes those occassions are not so pleasant, others are better.

The not-so-good occassions are when I keep hearing complaints about how we've been together for so long and I have no plans, no progress, nothing. It's just so hard to put all this effort behind the scenes and keep holding off just to have the perfect proposal. Complaints turn into agruments and there has been several times where I just want to get the ring and present it and tell her all the time and effort I have put into this. There was once or twice when I was really that close to doing it. But I was able to control my emotions and hold back. Sometimes I think to myself, if I had presented it, it wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe that's memorable and the spontaneous nature of it would've made it special. Still I wanted to go with my plan of doing it in a somewhat public and beautiful place =)

Then there are those pleasant occassions where I just feel it's about time and don't want to wait any longer. Trust me, if I could, I would've already done it. It's just I put so much time and effort that I don't want it to happen somewhere and sometime that I didn't plan on having it. But sometimes I think, good things are not meant to be waited for and put on hold for. That's why I really can't wait sometimes and just want to give her the ring....

Well, we'll just wait and see how it goes...