She likes rainbows

[badger.packer.fan]

I''m thinking of various proposal ideas, and rainbows flashed across my mind because my soon to be fiance really likes them. I figured I really couldn''t plan a rainbow with any certainty, and if I could, that would involve rain, which doesn''t bode well for a sunset at the beach propasal

Anyhow, I was thinking that I could present her a rainbow in the form of a diamond. Are there different cuts that would have a more pronounced ''rainbow effect''? Thanks!!!!!

 

[valeria101]

That''s called "fire" and a stone with a high crown and small table will show more of it... in any shape.

In general, if any diamond has good light return, it will look fiery in certain light conditions (incandescent light, or spot lights like most restaurants have).

What shape do you have in mind ? Some are better in the fire department than others - at least on average. IMO, princesses and radiants are better showing bright white brilliance (these shapes are also very likely to be cut with a relatively large table anyway)... There''s always some exception (say... those Superbcert princess cuts with high crown and tables around 60% or less), and given the right light, any diamond would show fire.

Old cuts are more fiery because those happen to come with higher crown and smaller tables than the modern cuts. However, many old stones are not very brilliance overall, so the tradeoff may just not be worth it.

I have no idea what is the technical explanation behind all this. Just a bunch of guesswork

 

[badger.packer.fan]

We''re looking at round brilliants. I probably should''ve stated that in the original post, ooops. Anyways, I''ve come across different brands of ideal cut rounds and read that some of them are cut a little differently which gives each brand a certain personality. I was wondering if any of these particular brands exhibited a more pronounced effect than another

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/15/2005 11:24:16 AM
Author: badger.packer.fan
I was wondering if any of these particular brands exhibited a more pronounced effect than another

The fiery look among ideal rounds seems to depend on such slight cut variations that no brand has enough consistency to get those all the time... All ideals shuld be firy rocks given that high light return.

Somehow, I suspect that the kind with small tables (53-55%, like this) is more "fiery", but among H&A.. the point in kind of moot. Those are all super standardized stones and the round brilliant is a rater fiery cut.

Garry ("Cut Nut") has a special name and a theory about what makes some ideald more fiery than others. You might want to look up "FIC" (= "fiery ideal cut") among his posts and perhaps look at this thread about FIC and BIC

Heres' a picture (by Garry) of a fiery round (top) next to a not-so-fiery variety. These are not H&A, obviously... but the pattern should exist among H&A ideals as well.

On another line of thought, H&A cut with short upper girdle facets (= "fat" arrows) look more firy... they say.

Jonathan of GoodOldGold has his own theory about this and data to show it in his tutorial about minor facets (HERE)

Jonathan's recipe for fiery H&A...the GemAdviser model and a IdealScope picture
H&A with thin arrows are supposed to be less fiery than this.

As far as I can imagine, both the "major" proportions discussed by Garry above and the notes on minor facet differences yield useful hints about what makes round diamonds fiery. It doesn't have to be just one thing

 

[badger.packer.fan]

Wow Ana, thanks for the info. That tutorial was quite educational. So is it safe to say that sticking with any ideal cut round will result in a fiery stone?

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/15/2005 12:26:30 PM
Author: badger.packer.fan
Wow Ana, thanks for the info. That tutorial was quite educational. So is it safe to say that sticking with any ideal cut round will result in a fiery stone?

I would think so. Perhaps some are slightly more prone to look fiery than others... but "slightly" is key word there - for me at least.

The more you look into those cut details, the more slight notes tend to stand out (as with anything else).

 

[Rank Amateur]

It's not suitable for an engagement set, but you could do a rainbow of different sapphire colors in a bracelet or necklace and present it as your wedding gift to her.

 

[asblackrock]

Hi Badger
I am a novice, but after a lot of research I recently purchased a diamond with a small table (54%) and 34.7 deg crown.

The fire is amazing, particularly with sunlight and halogens. With sunlight behind me if I angle the diamond I get a huge streak of colour (about 8 inches) which completely obliterates the stone. If I move my head slightly from side to side the colour of the streak changes from red to orange to green to blue. If I am wearing a light coloured top at the same time I have dozens of small rainbows over my entire front and apparently even all over my face. It is just mesmerizing! I had never known that diamonds could do this. I have read that smallish tables combined with steepish crowns will give lots of dispersion and my diamond certainly exhibits this.

I just love ideal cut round brilliants.
Have fun looking.

 

[MissAva]

put it in a thing of rainbow sprinkles...just kidding. Though really if you want to get crafty there are a ton of websites, google craft and rainbow...WOW. Or if you wanted taingble cheesy you could get her a charm braclet (I love James Avery)Rainbow Charm Heart Links Charm Bracelt with a little rainbow charm and say something really chessy about how no matter the storm with her by your side you know a rainbow will always follow (other ladies may be able to think of more romantic syntax). When she is all teary eyed over that and her lovely new charm braclet you could pop the question. Then every tiem you all have a magic moment you could buy her another charm. Heart/Ring Charm I dont know if this is at all what you meant, I hope it helps!

 

[badger.packer.fan]

Date: 4/16/2005 12:31:52 AM
Author: asblackrock
Hi Badger

I am a novice, but after a lot of research I recently purchased a diamond with a small table (54%) and 34.7 deg crown.


The fire is amazing, particularly with sunlight and halogens. With sunlight behind me if I angle the diamond I get a huge streak of colour (about 8 inches) which completely obliterates the stone. If I move my head slightly from side to side the colour of the streak changes from red to orange to green to blue. If I am wearing a light coloured top at the same time I have dozens of small rainbows over my entire front and apparently even all over my face. It is just mesmerizing! I had never known that diamonds could do this. I have read that smallish tables combined with steepish crowns will give lots of dispersion and my diamond certainly exhibits this.


I just love ideal cut round brilliants.

Have fun looking.

Is this a reliable indication or is it hit and miss? I see these two diamonds:

Diamond 1, 56% table, 35 crown


Diamond 2, 54% table, 34.7 crown

Would there be much of a difference between the two? the second one has a smaller table...

 

[asblackrock]

I don''t think it is as simple as this.

I know that for my diamond the majority of fire seen comes from the crown facets other than the table (ie the bezel, star and upper girdle facets). For a particular diameter, a small table and steep crown would give a larger surface area of these facets, so it would make sense that this would produce more dispersion.

BUT, the amount of fire must also depend on the percentage of light return and this depends on all the other cut characteristics and how they combine. ie a poorely cut diamond leaking a lot of light would not exhibit much fire even if it had a small table and steepish crown.

The pavilion facets might also determine how much light is exiting via the table as opposed to the other crown facets and if so this would also affect the dispersion.

I am only guessing though - perhaps one of the experts can chime in.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/16/2005 3:20:39 AM
Author: badger.packer.fan

Is this a reliable indication or is it hit and miss ?

Both come from WF... You could always ask them to pick the more fiery piece for you or indicate one. Either stone has something going for it and it is far harder to tell from the wrong side of the computer monitor which would be the winner in such a close contest. Perhaps the first would be the winner... but I''d definitely ask someone at WF (Brian ?) to clarify the matter. With the diamonds infront choosing is allot more reliable. Besides, they know allot more about diamonds to begin with.

Perhaps it sounds odd to ask the seller to choose among their own merchandise, but... it seems to work in Pricescope wonderland

 

[bstraszheim]

I think that the reason it works with WF to have them tell you which is the better diamond is that they will choose the better diamond honestly. I was choosing between an H&A and an Expert Selection stone in the .30 size range and asked Bob which the better stone was, I was looking for fire and not brilliance and he steered me to the Expert Selection which was $100 cheaper. I think that speaks volumes that he was selling me the better diamond and not trying to make a deal.

Sorry I don''t have technical knowledge to offer about fiery diamonds.

I wish you well,

Bridget