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Birthstone for April -- Diamond

Diamond Jewelry Making Gemstone and Birthstone for AprilThe diamond is the birthstone for April and is also the symbol of a sixty year anniversary such as a Diamond Jubilee.  Diamonds are the hardest occurring natural material and there are only two man-made materials that are harder than a diamond.  (The two man-made materials are ultrahard fullerite and the even harder aggregated diamond nanorods which are made from ultrahard fullerite, both forms of carbon.  Don't ask us about them.  We haven't a clue.)  While a diamond is by definition a 10 on the Mohs hardness scale in a relative hardness scale a diamond is 15 times harder than quartz or glass and is about 4 times harder than the next hardest naturally occurring material, rubies or sapphires.  This hardness makes the diamond ideal for many industrial applications.  The diamonds hardness also helps it to retain its value in its use in making jewelry.  Because the diamond is so Diamond Earrings Jewelry Making Projecthard, it will retain it polish and can be worn everyday without dulling the shine of the stone.  Softer gemstones can lose their polish over time as the surface of the stone it abraded by dust and sand.  While this makes it seem like all diamonds have the same hardness, actually diamonds from a specific area in Australia are know to be harder than other diamonds.  These Australian diamonds were formed as the result of a single crystallization event where as most other diamonds were formed as a result of multiple stages of heating and pressurization resulting in multiple layers of crystallization.  These ultra-hard Australian diamonds are frequently use in making tools to polish other diamonds. 

Diamond jewelry making gemstoneThe value of any gemstone diamond is derived based upon the four "C"s.  The four "C"s are carat, cut, clarity and color.  Carat is the weight on the diamond and since diamonds have about the same density carat also refers to the volume of the diamond and is therefore an indicator of size.  Cut is how the diamond is faceted and polished.  The stones shown above-right are a round, brilliant cut.  The overall cut is round and the faceting is such that the maximum amount of light is reflected from the diamond.  The brilliant cut stone relies on a optical property called total internal reflection where almost all inbound light to the "Table" of the gemstone is reflected back out of the gemstone.  Diamonds can come in many colors based on the impurities in the diamond, but the most commonly available diamond for jewelry is the white or clear diamond.  Diamonds like the blue Hope Diamond can have a significantly higher value because of their color.  The final "C" in diamond grading is the clarity.  Almost all naturally occurring diamonds have some internal flaws called inclusions.  For higher quality gemstone diamonds, these flaws will be very minor and essentially too small to be viewed with the naked eye. 

About 130 million carats of diamonds (57,000 pounds) are mined annually.  About 80% of the mined diamonds are used for industrial applications and the remainder are used for jewelry making.  Roughly 49% of the mined diamonds originate from southern Africa and the majority of these are controlled by the De Beers Corporation. 

The use of diamonds in engagement rings dates back to the mid-1930s.  At that time the De Beers Corporation began one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history.  There advertising, based upon the phrase "A diamond is forever" was an essential element in the change in fashion trends toward using diamonds in engagement rings.  Prior to that point, many different gemstones were used in the rings.  This advertising campaign continues today and is one of the reasons that the price of diamonds remains high.  Another reason for the high price of diamonds is the control over the supply of diamonds that is exercised by the De Beers Corporation. 

The largest diamonds discovered are named and become a party of history.  The Cullinan Diamond, found in 1905, is the largest gem quality rough diamond ever found and has been incorporated into the British Crown Jewels.  One of the diamonds cut from the Cullinan Diamond, the Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, was the largest gem quality cut diamond at 503.2 carats.  As part of the Crown Jewels, this diamond is owned by Queen Elizabeth.  The yellow-brown Golden Jubilee Diamond, found in 1985, is now the largest at 545.67 carats.  The Golden Jubilee Diamond is now part of the Royal Thai Palace crown jewels.  The largest flawless, colorless (Grade D) diamond is the Centenary Diamond (unveiled as a cut stone in 1991) which weighs 273.85 carats.  The Centenary Diamond is valued at about $100 million.  The pear shaped Millennium Star is the second largest at 203.4 carats and is owned by the De Beers Corporation.

You can find more information on diamonds in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia here.

Please select the picture above-right, or select here to view our selection of cubic zirconia diamond simulants.  Simulants are chemically different from diamonds but have an appearance that simulates a diamond.  You can read information on cubic zirconia as a diamond simulant here.

Read an article on "Is a Diamond Really Forever"  here.

  Birthstones                    View our Diamond Jewelry Making Kits

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Diamond"
Last updated 4/09/2007

This WigJig web page is provided as part of WigJig University - College of Jewelry Making Techniques.  We try to provide interesting jewelry making techniques using beads, jewelry wire and other jewelry supplies.  We hope that the jewelry making skills taught on these web pages will provide you enough information for you to incorporate these techniques in your own jewelry making projects.  For beginners, we suggest that you start with a visit to our Beginners Jewelry Making pages. These pages discuss the skills necessary for making jewelry in the detail that beginners need. We also suggest that beginners to jewelry making might need to visit the WigJig University College of Jewelry Making Designs for jewelry making projects using the skills and techniques shown here. 

 Most, but not all of the jewelry supplies shown here can be purchased in our WigJig store.  We try to have a complete selection of jewelry supplies in our store including chain, wire, glass beads, findings, watches, tools, etc. 

The jewelry making projects shown here do not use Sterling Silver.  The reason for this is simple, it is harder to get good pictures of Sterling Silver wire components than with colored wire including gold-filled, copper, or brass wire.  Any project shown in colored wire can be made in Sterling Silver wire.