Misfit Gem Labs

What is the Misfit Gem Labs?

The world of diamonds and gems can often be confusing and difficult to navigate. We’re here to help! Misfit Gem Labs is a series with new episodes monthly(ish) where we share our gemmological knowledge in hopes to create educational resources for you to be able to help your clients better! Have a question? Get in touch!

Ep. 6: The Four C's | Part Four - Carat

Rounding out our series on The Four C’s is Carat. Unlike our favourite orange root vegetable the Carrot, and the golden measure of gold purity, the Karat, Carat is a measure of weight, equal to 1/5th of a gram (or 0.2 grams). Carat is a helpful indicator of a diamond’s size and price. If we’re speaking in terms of well-cut round brilliant diamonds (see Part 1: Cut), we can often infer a diamond’s approximate carat weight based on its diameter. For example, a round brilliant diamond with a diameter of approximately 5.1mm should have a weight of roughly 0.50ct, while a diamond with a diameter of 6.5mm weighs roughly 1.00ct. While many factors play into estimating weight on a mounted stone, a jeweller or appraiser will have to account for a deeper or shallower stone, a thick/thin girdle, etc., and adjust their estimation accordingly. Carat will also determine a gemstone’s price. Along with the other three C’s, a diamond will be placed into a specific category that will then determine its price-per-carat. White diamonds are priced according to their clarity and color by size categories (0.50-0.69ct; 0.70-0.89ct; 0.90-0.99ct; 1-1.49ct; 1.5-1.99ct, 2-2.99ct, 3-3.99ct, 4-4.99ct and 5ct+) with diamonds at the top end of each size category (ie 0.80ct; 1.30ct; 1.8ct, 2.8ct) trading at premiums above those at the bottom.

Ep. 6: The Four C's | Part Three - Clarity

The third C in the Four C's is Clarity. Like the color scale, the diamond clarity scale was developed by GIA’s Richard Liddicoat as a scale to measure the absence/presence of inclusions within a stone. Diamond clarity grades include Flawless (completely free of internal inclusions and external blemishes), Internally Flawless (completely free of internal inclusions, minor surface blemishes), VVS1 & VVS2 (very very slightly included, inclusions difficult to detect with a 10x loupe), VS1 & VS2 (very slightly included, inclusions detectable with a 10x loupe), SI1 & SI2 (slightly included, generally eye-clean), and I1-I3 (included, can range from eye-clean to inclusions visible to the naked eye).

Inclusions themselves can be a variety of things, from the presence of trace minerals, internal feathers, clouds, twinning wisps, crystals, to etching channels, natural cavities, chips and so on. While traditionally the industry has prioritized the absence of inclusions in a diamond when determining its beauty and value, inclusions are also little treasures left behind by nature. They tell the story of the geological processes at play during the formation of a stone beneath the earth, creating stunning visual effects, making each diamond a one of a kind work of art created by nature. Cloud inclusions can distort and break apart white light passing through a stone to create a prismatic opalescence within the stone. The presence of mineral inclusions can create beautiful constellations and patterns inside a diamond, or, depending on their color, give the diamond a range of hues from peachy oranges to mossy greens to jet-black. While we won’t dispute the beauty and rarity of a flawlessly clean diamond free of inclusions, we think that it’s right around the I2 clarity grade and beyond that things really start to get interesting in diamonds. As with all Color and Cut, the clarity scale is an excellent tool to help categorize diamonds, but it is by no means the only measure of a stone’s intrinsic beauty..

Ep. 6: The Four C's | Part Two - Color

Following up on Part One of the Four C's, this episode dives into the second C, Color - the sea of Color you can see in Diamonds (see what I did there?). The D-Z color scale that we use today was created by GIA’s Richard Liddicoat in the 1950’s as an approach to grading colorless to light yellow diamonds, with D-E-F being at the colorless end of the spectrum and X-Y-Z being light yellow, brown or grey. While the majority in our industry espouse colorless diamonds in the D to J range, valuing the absence of color in a stone, we think that it's a shame to stop there, because as you enter into the spectrum of color that begins at K-L-M, things begin to get interesting. From here, diamonds begin to have light tints of color, giving them subtle casts of silver or warm to golden tones which intensify further along the color scale. The presence of trace elements like nitrogen, hydrogen, and boron, as well as mineral or cloud inclusions also can manifest in the wide spectrum of colors known as Fancy Color Diamonds, which we covered previously in our series, “The Joy of Fancy Colors.” These colors range from vibrant pinks, blues and greens to rich browns and yellows, as well as a handful of misfits like Fancy Blacks, Fancy Whites and Fancy Greys. What color are the diamonds you wear, and what are your favourite colors in the Diamond world?

Ep. 6: The Four C's | Part One - Cut

You may have noticed, diamonds are a cut above other gemstones. Diamonds make the cut – no if or cuts about it. No cuts, no glory. Okay, I’ll cut it out.

The most commonly used system of classification used to categorize and grade diamonds in the industry is known as the “Four C’s.” The Four C’s are: Cut, Clarity, Color and Carat. Episode Six looks at the first C - Cut. A diamond is cut when it is faceted and polished into one of many possible shapes, and from there can be classified into different styles of cut – brilliant cut, step cut, rose cut, etc. So why does cut matter? Because of diamonds’ unique relationship to light, a diamond can be cut to optimize these effects. When light hits a diamond, reflects or refracts, bounces around inside, and when it leaves we get dispersion, a.k.a. “fire” (white light splitting into the rainbow when travelling through a diamond – think Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon) and brilliance (white light that is reflected from within a diamond). In 1919, when round brilliant cuts were on the rise, a science man named Marcel Tolkowsky did some science sh*t to figure out the precise angles and percentages that will lend to the most fire and brilliance.

When grading cut, GIA looks at how closely a diamond follow’s Tolkowsky’s criteria. If the diamond is too deep or too shallow, light leaks out through the bottom. If there are extra facets or the diamond is not symmetrical or well-polished, the diamond will receive a lower cut grade. GIA looks at cut this way specifically in round brilliants – other diamond shapes and cuts are graded primarily on symmetry and polish.

In the world of Misfit, these rules are relevant for certain stones, but a diamond may be cut to prioritize different features that make the diamond most attractive. A diamond may be cut as a rosecut or portrait cut to showcase a picturesque pattern, like a natural ‘trapiche’ pattern, or other unique arrangement of inclusions. Colored diamonds are often cut deeper to preserve more of the diamond’s natural color. Antique diamonds are often more asymmetrical or askew, resulting in a more playful nature, since they were hand-faceted and often cut to maintain the original crystal octahedral shape.

Browse our latest diamonds here.

Ep. 5: The Joy of Fancy Color Diamonds

Not unlike your favorite superhero, Fancy Color Diamonds attribute their unique qualities to a wide range of influences. These strange and mysterious colors are often the result of imperfections in genetic makeup, exposure to radiation or the presence of unexpected chemicals. These diamonds are some of the rarest and most special kinds of Misfits. Episode Five of the Misfit Gem Labs takes a look at some of the origin stories of these superb diamonds.

Coming to you straight from your 27-inch 200-lb color TV, join famous painter, Bob – er, Rob Boss – on a happy little journey into the world of Fancy Color Diamonds. Using different “paints,” Boss creates the colors that naturally form in diamonds, mirroring how Mama Earth paints fancy color diamonds in nature. Starting with salt and pepper diamonds, Boss paints using a medley of inclusions: clouds, feathers, and other minerals and crystals. With enough black “pepper” inclusions – usually minerals from the amphibole or pyroxene groups – we get fancy black diamonds; while an abundance of microscopic clouds makes fancy white diamonds.

Just like the mysterious elements that forge superpowers, the presence of different chemicals is what creates different colors: boron makes some diamonds blue; hydrogen and boron together can cause purple ; while either hydrogen or boron can also produce fancy grey. Yellow is the most common diamond color, caused by the presence of nitrogen, which also makes browns and champagnes. The saturation of a specific color often depends on how much of a certain chemical has interacted with the diamond during its formation. An abundance of nitrogen can make orange. The other “paint” we find that influences a diamond’s color is the presence of impurities during its growth. Exposure to natural radiation deep within the earth, together with immense pressure, can create fancy green diamonds, while imperfections in the crystal lattice of a diamond will make pink or red. While you can’t exactly “paint” your own fancy color diamond, you can shop our stunning collection here.

Ep. 4 Pt. 2: Meet Josh

You will recognize Josh as the token gemologist from previous Misfit Gem Labs episodes. Josh is in fact a real life gemologist, and he's here to elaborate on Part 1 of our last episode on heat treatment in sapphires - the reasons behind heat treatment, some of the history of these treatment methods and the different techniques used to heat sapphires.

Read the full transcript here.

Ep. 4 Pt. 1: Sapphires - Heat Treatment and the Color Spectrum

In this episode, our newest cast of characters isn’t too happy with how they’re being treated. Heat-treated, that is. This time around, a heated green sapphire takes the role as the gemmologist, educating a friendly unheated silky pink sapphire on the ins-and-outs of heat treatment. Heating can serve to enhance or remove particular colors, eliminate or minimize inclusions, or create a more uniform coloring. Heat treatment has been used for centuries, with some open flame techniques still being used to this day. Sapphire miners blow air on an open flame to manipulate the amount of oxygen that the sapphires inside the crucible are exposed to. Similarly, modern techniques use large furnaces in controlled environments. Heating can also happen naturally, occurring beneath the earth’s crust, and some of these naturally heated sapphires still get identified as heat-treated by gem labs. Heating is neither good nor bad, and is so accepted in the industry that the majority of sapphires are heat-treated. However, we have a large selection of unheated sapphires, as well as heated ones.

This episode’s main characters, Heated Green and Silky Pink, go on to explain how different elements cause different colors – from titanium and iron in blues, iron in yellows and greens, to vanadium in violets. The element chromium, which happens to make emeralds and some other gemstones green, is actually what makes rubies (another variety of corundum, a.k.a. sapphires) red, and it’s a mixture of chromium, iron and titanium that causes some sapphires to change color under warm or cool light.

Ep. 3: Montana Sapphires

Geographic origin plays a big part in the appearance of gemstones, and sapphires are no exception! First discovered in the 1800s, the majority of Montana Sapphires were deemed too imperfect to be used in fine jewelry and were used primarily by the American watch industry. Did someone say “imperfections”? Imperfection is our middle name! (Literally, everyone on staff ... it's in our contracts.) It wasn’t until recently that people began to embrace the natural, wild beauty of these stones. Sapphires from Montana are known for two things: their color—ranging from striking and bold, to soft, unheated pastels; and their inclusions—often displaying hexagonal color-zoning, parti coloring, or silky sheen caused by rutile, a mineral that gets trapped inside sapphires during the growth process. Sapphires are often heated to enhance their color and dissolve rutile, but unheated stones preserve their natural appearance and, when rutile appears in high concentration, a silky sheen. Although the majority of sapphires mined in Montana end up heated and under one carat, Misfit Diamonds has one of the largest collections of unheated Montana sapphires over 1.00ct. Browse our Montana sapphires!

Ep. 2: Misfit Sapphires

Much like our weird and wonderful selection of diamonds, our sapphires will have you doing a double-take. “I’ve heard of blue sapphires,” you say. “Heck, I’ve even heard of pink and green, but what in Earth’s Holy Spectrum of Light are all these colors about?! Some stones are even two colors! Please explain, Mr. Gem Lab.” Well, not only can sapphires come in any color, depending on the minerals and gasses that are contained within the stone, sapphires can also display a range of phenomena related to light and color. When light travels into a sapphire, it splits into two rays, resulting in something called dichroism, meaning the stone will display two different colors when viewed at different angles (while all sapphires are dichroic, diamonds are not - more on that another time!). Dichroism isn’t the only time we’re seeing double in sapphires.

Color-zoning is when saturation varies during crystal growth, causing areas of light and dark color within a single crystal, usually showing up as stripes and sometimes in a hexagonal pattern (fun fact: sapphire crystals are hexagonal!). Sapphires with two or more distinct colors are known as parti-colored. Inclusions inside sapphires can result in opalescence or a silky sheen, sometimes even resulting in a reflective star, called asterism, in star sapphires. Color change in sapphires is due to trace chemicals (i.e. vanadium), resulting in different outputs from different wavelengths of light. Now you’re smarter! Go, impress your friends.

Ep. 1: What Makes a Misfit?

What exactly is a Misfit Diamond? It won’t take you long browsing our online catalog to notice that we carry a lot of unusual looking diamonds, unfamiliar colors and shapes, often with whole worlds trapped inside. These oddballs tell stories that are unlike any other, and stand out from crowd, allowing for some remarkable jewelry creations. A diamond’s misfit-ness is highlighted by its inclusions. You know them as "those little wispy things" or "those peppery bits," but more formally, some examples of diamond inclusions are: feathers, internal fractures that have a feathery appearance; clouds, groups of microscopic minerals; or other minerals and crystals - at times even diamond crystals. Commonly, the black spots in diamonds have been thought to be carbon; however, we're setting the record straight! The black spots are rarely carbon, but are usually other black minerals usually pertaining to the amphibole or pyroxene groups (which are really just fancy words for other rocks). Find your unique Misfit.

A Circadian Chronicle of Corundum

(with Carlo Constantino)

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like here at Misfit Diamonds when you order a diamond or a sapphire, A Circadian Chronicle of Corundum (with Carlo Constantino) is a glimpse into the journey from order to delivery. Okay sure, it might not always be via vintage-typewriter-transcribed-paper-airplane letter, but when a jeweler orders a stone through our online store or by email, that stone is automatically removed from our online inventory and pulled manually by our staff. If they are looking for something that isn’t on our webstore, they can reach out and make a request based on their specific needs, after which our team will select any available options and correspond accordingly. Once the client has selected their stone(s), we ship it out and wait to see their creation on social media!

Stones in this short: Montana Sapphires, Australian Sapphires, Sri Lankan Sapphires