GIA Diamonds Essential Class

[Daisyma02]

I would like to learn alot more about Diamonds and thinking about taking a course through Gia called Diamond Essentials. But am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for begining course for me. I want to learn the 4 c''s plus more. Has anyone taken the Essentails course or any other course that they can recomend for a begining course. Any suggestiond are appreciated. Thanks

 

[DiamondOptics]

GIA provides excellent courses, and much of you can
learn at pricescope can also further educate you.


Kirk Konst

 

[Mara]

Daisy, I am currently taking the GIA Diamond Essentials course, it is their beginning diamond course. I have just started, but the course materials are very comprehensive. View my post 'Pictures of my ring..finally' to see the table of contents that I posted for Tim/Optimized.

The price is not prohibitive ($350), and you work at your own pace. Again, I have just started the course, but it's great so far. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about diamonds from GIA. It's also interesting to see GIA's take on certain things vs some of the opinions in forum discussions we have here.

Good luck!

 

[Daisyma02]

Mara, First of let me say your ring is STUNNING! I read your post on the Essentails class and have Decided to sign up for it. From your Messages it sounds very interesting with alot of info. It looks like we'll be taking the Course together. $350 is not bad. Do you get somekind of Certificate of completion when you finish it? Thanks for the info.

 

[Mara]

Thanks Daisy!

I think you get a certificate of completion for the course. If you want you can continue to take the other diamond courses, and then move onto the colored and fancy gems and then get your Graduate Gemologist degree!

But I figure I will tackle this first class and then see how I feel. So far so good!

We sent our check in the mail and I got the course materials about less than a week later, they were fedex 2 day. Heavy box! Enjoy!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

One thing I have to say about the GIA courses I took was that I really ENJOYED them. They were fascinating.

A lot of info, eh Mara? Were you surprised?

 

[optimized]

Man, you guys are making me itch to take the course too! I've been very tempted, but at this point in my life (right after spending $$$ on a ring and just getting ready to get married and start that whole new adventure) I'm not sure the $350 is well-spent on my new "hobby." It's getting tougher and tougher to resist though.

Anyway, keep talking about it, folks. I'm willing to be talked into it!

-Tim

 

[Richard Sherwood]

They'll even break that $350 up into payments for you, Tim...

 

[Mara]

Rich, yes its very interesting and has alot more information than I had expected. I personally very much appreciate the pictures that accompany much of what they discuss, so it's easy to see a fish-eye or nailhead as you read about it, or the color scale of colored diamonds, etc. Much of that info you'd need to surf around the web for a little while to find what you really were interested in reading.

I was reading the 'cut' section today and found it really interesting when they detailed out how the stones fall into the categories that make up the grades of 'symmetry' and 'polish' (e.g. a few small extra facets and a slight mispoint of an angle may give you a VG rating of symmetry vs EX which may have 1 extra facet and a slight mispoint of an angle), then got out my loupe and tried to determine how they had put my stone into the VG VG category with the info I know now. Of course I couldn't see anything as my eyes are not that practiced, but it was fun to have a practice diamond..hee hee.

This course encapsulates much of what we seek to learn on this forum into basic elements of learning. It's great that I have already learned much from the forum, so that the course ends up clarifying certain things for me, or driving certain points home.

The funny thing is that I am not one for 'structured' learning...so I like the distance education aspect.. I have read most of the course material already, but taken no tests yet. I figure I will read through the entire course and then go back and read the details more carefully, then take the courses in the correct order. But just even reading the material is fascinating.

Yes, they also have the payment plan which is nice as well!! I figure the 2nd diamond class will definitely go into payments for me as it gets more pricey, I think it's around $900? You should really sign up for the first class, Tim...the $350 split into 3 payments is not too hard to stomach!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
Of course I couldn't see anything as my eyes are not that practiced,
-----------

It will come. You'll notice yourself beginning to pick out fine detail which would have been impossible for you before.

One tip I'd like to give you. When using a loupe, you can usually see better with one eye rather than the other. This is referred to as your master eye.

To avoid straining your eye (or eye(s) when using a visor or microscope) try to consciously "relax" your eye(s) while viewing items under magnification. It's a subtle thing, but you'll know it when you achieve it.

It's similar to allowing certain parts of your body to relax under biofeedback, or yoga.

I'm convinced that people who learn to do this will not have the eyestrain that some experience when doing a lot of "close work".

Also, the eye is a muscle like any other. You'll notice it getting stronger as you go along, with the result that you get less fatigued and can do "close work" much longer than you were able to previously.

 

[Mara]

Thanks for the hints Rich..they will really help out. I do get eye strain after looking through the loupe for a while, our independent appraiser suggested I don't close my other eye, but that does not work AT ALL. Instead when I do that, then I can't focus with the other eye so it's completely useless.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Being able to look through a loupe with both eyes open is an important ingredient in eliminating eye strain. You can't "relax" your eyes if you keep one shut.

Just keep trying. After a while it will become second nature.

 

[trichrome]

Rich,

The eye is not a muscle.. However there are some structures inside
the eye which are responsible for accomodation, a process which takes
place when you're looking at something close to you.........


Trichrome.

 

[JayTee]

After all the extensive research that went into my diamond search, I am also considering this class. How many classes does one need to take/pass in order to get that Graduate Gemmologist degree?

 

[aljdewey]

----------------
On 2/10/2003 10:48:47 AM trichrome wrote:
Rich,

The eye is not a muscle.. However there are some structures inside
the eye which are responsible for accomodation, a process which takes
place when you're looking at something close to you.........


Trichrome.----------------

That's correct....the eye itself is not a muscle. But those "structures" inside....they are muscles.

From the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center website: "The eye is shaped like a large marble and the muscles look like elastic bands attached to the outside of the eye. When the muscle contracts, the eye changes position. Eye muscle surgery involves detaching and reattaching the muscles to another place on the eye. The primary goal of the surgery is to restore straight eye alignment."

I'd imagine that Rich in his assertion in that Mara can build up her eye muscles to allow her to view through the scope without closing the other eye.

Regards,
Al (the info geek)

 

[Mara]

On the GIA website it lists 3 diamond courses to complete, and then 5 which have to do with colored stones. If you complete just the 3 diamond courses you get the Graduate Diamonds Diploma, but if you do all 8 and pass the exam then you get the GG degree. They offer both distance education and extension courses to complete if you do not do on-site at their campus. They also offer payment plans.

I am pretty sure I am doing at least the 3 diamond classes...after that we'll see how I feel!!

At that point I will probably be intrigued to check out the other stones. Check out their website, its www.gia.org.

 

[Mara]

AL are you sure that you aren't related to Tim?

hee hee

 

[trichrome]

Those muscles you're talking about have nothing to do with the problem Mara is presenting.
Those muscles (6) are responsible for eye movements only. It's the iris sphincter,
ciliary muscle that are involved in Mara' problem.....

Trichrome...

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Hey Tri, it sounds like you are an eye guy. Opthomologist? Optometrist? Girl watcher?

Now THERE'S something that will cause eye strain...

 

[trichrome]

Richard,

I love to look at everything from a beautiful diamond to a beautiful woman.....
But the most beautiful thing in any woman is ....... there eyesssssssss.....

but Diamonds are still a side for me....

Trichrome.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Yeah, I love a woman with a great pair of eyes...

 

[Daisyma02]

Back to the Class guys... Do you get anything with the course materials other that papers like a loupe, Scopes,gauges, maybe a few loose Diamonds?

 

[Mara]

For $350? No. It's a distance education class and its paper materials only. If you take the other 2 diamond classes, you will need to do some traveling to their extension areas in order to take some of the more difficult tests and also do hands-on labs with stones and the tools you mention. But for the first class it is just the basics with alot of pictures. The other 2 diamond classes get more in-depth and that is where you need to be present to do the labs etc which is a little more time-consuming than just learning the diamond essentials.