Learn What Makes A Diamond Sparkle

Learn What Makes a Diamond Sparkle With Gemmas Jewelers Diamond Education Guide.This Diamond Education defines the most essential characteristics of a diamond along with tips for its care. By understanding these characteristics, you'll be able to shop with confidence.

 

  • Education

    Cut

    A diamond's cut is the most important property to enhance its beauty because a well-cut diamond reflects light to maximize the stone's brilliance. A diamond with perfect color and clarity could have poor brilliance if it is not well cut.

    After proper cutting, the size of the stone may reduce by half, but its market value may increase more than four times for its brilliance and sparkle. Diamonds have a unique ability to manipulate light efficiently. This exceptional ability can be realized and maximized only by cutting and polishing the diamond with an extremely high level of accuracy.

    It is very essential to know diamond anatomy before understanding cut.

    Diamond Anatomy

    * Diameter: Width of a diamond measured through the Girdle.
    * Table: Largest facet of a gemstone.
    * Crown: Top portion of a diamond extending from the Girdle to the Table.
    * Girdle: Intersection of the Crown and Pavilion which defines the perimeter of the diamond.
    * Pavilion: Bottom portion of a diamond, extending from the Girdle to the Culet.
    * Culet:Facet at the tip of a gemstone. The preferred Culet is not visible with an unaided eye (graded "none" or "small").
    * Depth: Height of a gemstone measured from the Culet to the Table.

    The cut of a diamond establishes how it reflects light, which is responsible for its sparkle or brilliance. Cut has following three components:

    Diamond Cut by Shape

    A diamond cut by shape describes the outline of the stone and pattern of the facet arrangement. A stone can be cut in various shapes like Round, Princess, Heart, Oval, Pear etc. We will further explore various diamond shapes in the Shape section.

    Diamond Cut by Depth

    A diamond cut by depth is the ultimate feature for its brilliance and fire.

    Shallow Cut: a shallow cut will lose light through a diamond's bottom causing it to appear dull.
    Deep Cut: a deep cut will lose light through a diamond's sides causing it to appear dark.
    Ideal Cut: An ideal cut is considered the best cut and it will reflect most or all of the light that enters the diamond back to the eyes.

    The quality of a diamond's cut can be determined on the basis of its power to reflect light. The cuts can be broadly characterized as Ideal, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor. Ideal or Excellent cuts release the inner brilliance of the stone and project maximum amount of fire and sparkle. Very Good, Good and Fair cuts lose some light that enters the diamond. A poor cut loses most of its light from the diamond sides / bottom and it may even have some "dead" spots inside.

    Diamond Polish and Symmetry

    Polish and symmetry are two important aspects of the cutting process. The diamond polish shows the smoothness of the diamond's facets, whereas the symmetry refers to alignment of the facets. A poor diamond polish, or rough facets, can diminish a diamond's brilliance, as well as its value.