Happy Stories From our customers

I stumbled across this and found it pretty amazing. The video shows the industrial use of diamonds as a way to shape and create beautiful pieces of artwork. In most of these cases, moissanite is used, since it possesses almost exactly the same quality as diamonds for a fraction of the price.

To see some of our artwork with moissanite, check out our dedicated moissanite page.

Here’s some of our moissanite artwork (not intended to cut glass unless absolutely necessary)!

Round Pave’ Moissanite Ring

Beautiful hand engraved pave’ diamond or moissanite ring with a round center stone and four rows of pave diamonds weighing approximately .55ct in total. Can accommodate a center stone size of 2ct+ and is shown with a 4ct.

Center Stone Type: Natural Diamond, Clarity Enhanced Diamond, Gemesis Cultured Diamond, Moissanite, Radiance Diamond Simulant

Thanks again for all your help. Some of my friends have been asking why I
went with a jeweler from across the country; it’s because when i started
calling and emailing around about the tension-set rings, you were by far the
most helpful, friendly, and responsive. In the end, it didn’t matter that I
wanted to go with something completely different; I was already sold.

M

Being in the engagement ring business, we get to hear about a lot of marriage proposals. This one is tops in our book! As one of the couple’s friends put it, “Dear god, I’m speechless. What a great story!” We couldn’t agree more.

Of course, along with a fabulous description of the magical trip is a nice little blurb about the custom engagement that we were lucky enough to help with, along with some really great photos. So, we have to boast a little bit here and showcase not only a fab proposal but some of our handy work. Thanks for the pics of the finished piece, Steve and Gina, they turned out way better than anything we could ever have come up with in our little studio! Have a look at this magical experience for yourself here.

An excerpt from the post:
<<A few details about the ring since I know some of you are curious… Gina really wanted a split shank so that was a must. We looked at many rings over the past year and ended up with a few specific settings that were her favorites. In the end, I decided to take those designs and have her ring custom made to incorporate all the elements she liked best. She absolutely loves how it turned out and I do too, so hats off to the jeweler!>>

Ok, so we have to throw in a few pics of the custom process, just to help anyone out there thinking of doing this themselves. As Steve put it, they combined features of several pieces to make something truly unique and special to them.

Thanks again for the opportunity to help you with your ring, Steve and Gina, it was a lot of fun for us as well! And congratulations to you both!

Update from Joe: Here’s one of the best wedding videos we’ve seen. You two keep outdoing yourselves!
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/33067815[/vimeo]

Interestingly, some trends just don’t seem to be going away. Statement necklaces and cocktail rings have been “all the rage” for a few years now, for instance. As the summer fast approaches, the jewelry tends to lighten in weight and brighten in color.

Here’s what fashion expert Diamond Girl has to say:

The winning trends for 2010:

¨ Big and bold
¨ Dramatic, unique, unusual necklaces
¨ Huge cuff bracelets with big stones
¨ Natural stones, eclectic natural look
¨ Swarovski crystals
¨ Black
¨ Multi-strand necklaces
¨ Pearls
¨ Cocktail rings with huge stones
¨ Big hoop earrings

Believe it or not, popular jewelry colors in 2010 are yellow and Coral! This means that your simulated canary diamond jewelry will look perfect when paired with your cold weather wardrobe. In addition, citrine, yellow topaz or their cubic zirconia substitutes will bring some welcome sunshine (and some love! ) into your life as you remain on top of the seasonal jewelry trends.

For bead and handmade jewelry, Coral is going to be HOT. Looking ahead I see that Black is going to be big player…did someone say attitude?

On a final note to the upcoming seasonal  Jewelry Color Trends remember that some of the traditional favorites will be returning.

Among them, shades of green, gray and chocolate brown will once again be a wise choice for fashion conscious consumers. What does this mean for jewelry lovers? Quite simply, it means that smoky quartz, simulated chocolate and/or champagne diamonds will be in style and on trend! And you won’t believe how great Chocolate Gold looks!

(Chocolate gold earrings below.)

Spiral brown gold and diamond earrings, $37,050, from de Grisogono.

Looks like moissanite is fast becoming something other a spectacular diamond alternative for jewelry. This piece explains how moissanite is allowing from strides in science and technology because of its affordability and strength in characteristics:

A synthetic diamond, pictured above, may be produced with certain flaws in order to act as quantum bits for experiments in computing.

UCSB quantum specialists recently published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science with the results of their latest studies in diamond quantum mechanics. According to their findings, the defects found in diamond crystals may lead to the production of a quantum computer.Chris G. Van de Walle, professor of materials at UCSB, said carbon atoms in a diamond crystal are arranged in what is known as a “regular array.” Defects in this array — like missing atoms or impurities — give the diamonds their certain qualities, such as coloration. Van de Walle noted, for example, the famous blue hue of the Hope Diamond, and said such qualifying defects have been known by scientists for years.

“Such defects in diamond have been studied for many decades,” Van de Walle said. “It is only within the past few years, however, that the applications for quantum information processing have been realized, and the group of professor [David] Awschalom has been at the forefront of this research.”

UCSB professor David Awschalom heads the group of researchers involved in the diamond study and corroborated with Van de Walle to take steps in rendering the defective studs useful.

“I myself had been doing research on defects in semiconductors, mostly aimed at suppressing or eliminating ‘bad defects’, because they lead to the failure of devices,” Van de Walle said.  “Professor Awschalom knew of this expertise, and suggested we would collaborate and apply our knowledge about defects for the creative purpose of designing ‘good’ defects, that are useful for quantum information processing.”

Van de Walle said scientists can use the quantum-mechanical properties of an electron that can be bound to the defective diamond to act as quantum bits or as he called them “qubits.” This, he said, far exceeds the zeros and ones which form the language, or “binary logic”, of current computers.

“Quantum computing uses qubits that are continuously variable between zero and one, and hence offer infinitely more possibilities to be manipulated and combined with other qubits to produce a desired computational result,” Van de Walle said.

Van de Walle said the quantum computers, which would store and manipulate information in the form of quibits, enable completely new algorithms and applications in computing. According to Van de Walle, cryptography would evolve in more secure ways, greatly benefiting military and banking systems. Van de Walle said quantum algorithms can also offer tremendous speed improvements for searching through large amounts of data, or solving problems in physics or chemistry.

However, as any groom-to-be knows, a diamond costs a pretty penny.

“The centers in diamond perform very well as qubits, but diamond is an expensive and difficult material to work with,” Van de Walle said. “For instance, it is the hardest material known, which makes it very hard to cut or process.”

As revealed in their recent PNAS publication, the group primarily focuses on identifying defects in materials which have properties similar to diamonds, but far less expensive.

“Our systematic, exploratory research in this area is what we refer to as a ‘road map,’” Van de Walle said.

The team, Van de Walle said, has taken interest in materials such as silicon carbide, known more commonly by jewelers as “moissanite.” Aluminum nitride is another material, Van de Walle said, with a lot of potential, since it is already used to fabricate light-emitting diodes and transistors.

Van de Walle said he and his team hold high hopes for their project, and hope the “road map” will lead them to a fruitful destination.

“To come up with a new type of ‘defect’ that will be as good as, or even better than, the defects in diamond,” Van de Walle said. “That would be an important step to the practical realization of a quantum computer.”

Source: Daily Nexus

Whether you go with moissanite or naturally minded diamonds, or black and silver tungsten or rose gold; whether you want a more traditional look or something more distinctive and now, we can make a piece tailormade to fit your dreams.

Here is a sampling of some of our latest arrivals at Joseph Schubach. Some of these pieces are totally sharp and cutting and edge in design while others maintain a classic allure.

Black and Silver Tungsten Carbide Ring

We are very excited to display this new arrival. It’s sleek, futuristic and a definite eye-catcher.

Black comfort fit tungsten carbide wedding ring with silver tungsten center, 8mm wide

Style 10471

Titanium and Diamond Wedding Ring

Similar in its “now” appeal, the diamonds in this ring add another level of complexity in look.

Titanium comfort fit wedding ring with 3 diamonds (.09ct total weight) and 4 black inserts, 7mm wide

Style 10469

Hand Made Pave Diamond Engagement Ring

This delicate but bold ring features three rows of perfectly set and perfectly matched pave diamonds. Each row of diamonds gradually and elegantly tapers from the top of the ring to the base of the ring. The ring also has pave set diamonds between the prongs and beneath the prong assembly highlighting your center stone even more.

This is one of our Specialty Items which means each piece is made specifically to your specifications of ring size, metal preference, center stone size and preference and incorporating any other changes or ideas you might have.