Olivia Greg Fashion Tips

Posts Tagged ‘diamonds’

I think that one of my favorite crafts is jewelry making. Beads should be part of any well-equipped jewelry making kit. I love the choice of styles that jewelry making allows you to try. The range of materials that you can use for jewelry making also means that their possible uses are limited only by my imagination. Even though I was not a particularly experienced craftsperson I soon found that I enjoyed jewelry making and created wonderfully original jewelry. Of course, I now wish that I was capable of far more intricate jewelry making but at least I am always improving on the ones I made before!

I enjoy jewelry making using a variety of different materials. It is fun to look at what I have handy that I can convert into pretty jewelry. One of my favorites is using strips of colored paper for paper mache jewelry. My kids love tearing pictures out of glossy magazines and we try jewelry making together, well, almost! They prefer to move straight to the decorating stage and I have found that dried macaroni makes an ideal bead. The tubes of pasta have a ready made hole for threading and can be painted easily. We also use clay quite a lot when jewelry making, probably because kids enjoy molding the shapes. I have to take over the baking part but once
that is done they can decorate and varnish their creations and continue with their jewelry making.
Read the rest of this entry »

Amsterdam is a major historical location for the diamond industry. Walking down the streets you will see a lot of jewelry stores as well as many diamond businesses with prominent security systems and signs reading “guided diamond tours”.

If you go on these tours you’ll see some breathtaking diamonds, as well a chance to see these stones being cut and polished. And if you have some cash to spare, purchase one for $4000 to $400,000.

Amsterdam has an extended history relating to diamonds, and has been a major diamond center since Sephardic Jews introduced the diamond cutting industry to Amsterdam in the later 16th century. Nowadays there are about a dozen diamond cutting facilities in the city, 5 of which offer guided tours. The tours are free and are usually conducted 9am to 5pm each day.

Amsterdam has an extended heritage in the diamond business, and has been a major European diamond center since Sephardic Jews introduced the diamond cutting industry in the later 16th century. Ultra-Orthodox Jews are still prominent in worldwide diamond marketing and distribution, and urban legend has it they hide diamonds in their beards to move them through customs without being detected. Diamonds are not necessarily cheaper in Amsterdam; however prices are fairly competitive. At least you will have seen the stones being worked, and when you purchase from a factory you get an extensive description of the diamond you acquire so you know exactly what you are buying.
Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to diamonds, there are numerous scams to avoid. Most scams are minor, but there are some major ones that come up from time to time concerning the buying and selling of diamonds. Scams occur simply because most people who buy diamonds – for whatever reasons – don’t know that much about diamonds. Therefore, they are easily fooled.

Jewelry stores like to show their diamonds in bright lights. Lights make diamonds shine. Ask to see the diamond in a different, darker type of lighting as well. Jewelry also stores often run ‘fluorescence’ scams to varying degrees. Referring to a diamond as a blue-white diamond is such a scam. A blue-white diamond sounds very unique and special, but in fact, this type of diamond is of lesser quality – even though the jeweler will try to make you think you are getting something special.

A common scam that most jewelry stores participate in is the Carat Total Weight scam. The tag on the piece of jewelry, usually a ring, only states the total carat weight of all diamonds in the piece, instead of listing the total weights separately for each diamond. This leads consumers to believe that the main diamond in the piece is actually bigger than it is. Ask what the total carat weight of the center stone is. Also beware of fractions. Jewelry stores are allowed to round off diamond weights. This means that if the jeweler tells you that it is a ¾ carat diamond, it is probably between ½ and ¾ carat – but closer to ¾.

Some truly unscrupulous jewelers target those who want appraisals on diamonds that were given to them as gifts or that were purchased elsewhere. They will try to tell you that the diamond is worthless, or worth less than it actually is worth – and offer to take it off your hands or trade it for a much better diamond, along with the cash to make up the difference. This is called low balling. Get a second, third, and even a forth opinion before taking any action.
Read the rest of this entry »