There are already a huge array of options for the potential diamond engagement ring buyer just including popular stock models. However, there is always the option of creating your own design of ring, and the advancement in technology encompassing metallurgy, metalsmithing, CAD and others have enabled a bespoke ring to be available in almost any budget.

The aforementioned advances in CAD (computer aided design) imaging has allowed rings to be made with greater detail and intricacy and also give a realistic image to the client regarding the look of the finished ring.

As with anything bespoke though, it is important to do your research in order to fully understand the range of options available to you and to ensure, as with any high value purchase, that firstly you are getting a fair price and secondly (and more importantly with diamond jewelery) that the specifications are exactly what you require and want.

Below the experts at Samara James guide you through how a bespoke engagement ring is created and also the most important factors to be aware of when considering a bespoke design.

Following the trend with prospective engagement ring buyers to move into the digital word in search of a better diamond at a better price. Many online suppliers offer the chance to see your ring before final payment is made, but because dedicated online retailers do not operate the same way a high street jeweler does, and therefore does not incur such large overheads, the specification of diamond available to you will almost invariably be greater online when attempting to adhere to a budget.

Initial skepticism of buying something so important online has, over the last few years vanished, with curiosity outweighing initial prejudice and the split between digital and physical sales continuing to narrow. It is important to ensure you are buying from a credible company and that their staff are knowledgeable and helpful.

British jewelers Samara James below discuss the process of buying online and also introduce themselves.

A filigree ring is a ring that is characterised by intricate often ornamental designs. They are usually very delicate patterns that require incredible skill to cast accurately and therefore they can cost more due to labour costs.

They are often set without gemstones, because sometimes the intricacy of the design would detract or be detracted from by the setting of a gemstone. That being said, a filigree with a gemstone can be exquisite and become truely a beautiful ring. A filigree ring will normally require a wide set ring as there needs to be more metal to work with in order to then cut some away to create the design. This is not always the case however and money can be saved on the gemstone where money is spent on the weight of metal.

The most attractive thing with a filigree is the level of personalisation avaliable, as you can have anything from lacework design to a celtic design and other things in between. This allows a level of personalisation that helps to create a unique looking ring that can be both beautiful and elegant at the same time.

Another option with filigree rings is a two or tri-tone metal shank so, for example, platinum, yellow gold and rose gold could be interweaved in a lace pattern to create a striking and interesting design.

Diamonds have been mined on a mass-production scale for many years and there are in total 35 countries in the world where sizable diamond stocks have been found. Diamond is only found in Kimberlite which is a volcanic rock.

Volcanic activity brings the Kimberlite which holds the diamonds nearer to the surface of the earth and this in turn means that diamonds are only found in areas where there is, or has been, significant volcanic activity in order to bring the diamond up. Although Africa has a reputation for being the most productive diamond producing region, it is actually Russia who leads the world in terms of diamonds mined per year. The major areas of diamond mining are: Africa, India, Russia, South America, Australia, China, United States and Canada.

The actual process of diamond formation is due to extraordinary levels of pressure and heat applied over a period of millions of years. This pressure and heat forces carbon atoms to form a covalent bond and then arrange themselves into what is known as a diamond lattice (essentially a grid of interconnected atoms). This structure is incredibly strong, as evidenced by it’s rating of 10 on the moh scale of hardness, and is what leds diamonds there usefullness in industrial applications requiring exposure to high levels of pressure and heat. The majority of industrially used diamond are mined in Australia in the Western Areas, most notably Argyle.

The advent of new technology that allows synthetic diamonds to be created relatively quickly and relatively cheaply has not only led to the prospect of further industrial uses for diamond (as CPU heathsinks or semi-conductors for example), but also to an increase in diamond simulants on the diamond market.

The most popular diamond simulant is Cubic Zirconia (Moissanite is not a diamond simulant technically due to having it’s own apperance and chemical make up), and you may wonder whether or not your diamond is real.

Firstly if you brought the diamond from a reputable retailler chances are the diamond is and similarly to conflict diamonds, it is not something you should be overly concerned about when buying diamonds. There are certain methods that can be used to asses whether a diamond is real or whether it is a simulant such as Cubic Zirconia but it cannot distinguise between a natural or synthetic diamond.

The first test to be done will be a test of thermal conductivity. It is fairly well known that diamonds are some of the best natural endothermic conductors avaliable and while diamond simulants do also conduct well they are not as effective as diamond. Recent innovations have allowed incredibly sensitive temperature probes to be developed and these can now tell the difference bettwen real or simulant diamond.

A further test is electrical conductivity and it works on a similiar principle that diamonds are slightly better electrical conductors and that accurate equipment can measure this slight difference. It is important to note however that the electricity test can only work with diamonds that have boron imperfections in them as this is what allows electricity to flow through.

Go to any online diamond company that keeps an online inventory and compare prices for diamonds of the same colour, clarity, cut and carat. There will be a difference between two stones that on paper are exactly the same, but a company would not sell identical diamonds for different prices so what makes one diamond more or less expensive?

Quite simply it is the off-certificate factors that affect the price so greatly. Off-certificate means it is to do with the inherent qualities of the rough . This includes such factors as whether the diamond has a specific tinge that is not yellow (colour only measures yellow tinge), whether the stone is cloudy or milky (this again is seperate from on certificate data such as flourescence), and the luster or reflective index of the diamond. All of these factors drastically affect the price of the diamond but, unfortunately there is no way of you knowing what the specific off-certificate factors are of your diamond.

This means you could believe that you have a great deal on a diamond but in reality you have brought a diamond with good certificate grades but poor off-certificate performance. In other words, if it seems too good be true, it most probably is.

You can try and find out the origin of your diamond as Canadian and Russian diamonds are almost always formed in more favourable conditions that African diamonds. It is also fairly common for African diamonds to have a brownish or green tinge, when they would be shown as colourless on their certificate. Furthermore, Russian and Canadian stones generally experience less cloud or milkyness, and generally have a better luster.

These factors are also important when combined with your diamond certification, as a diamond with higher natural luster will have greater brilliance and scintillation as it’s ability to refelct light will be increased by a excellent cut, and obviously the better luster combined with the better cut leads to better scintillation and brilliance.

The colour of a diamond that was sought after till a few years ago was white or colourless. Now however, coloured diamonds have also become quite fashionable and you see that there are a number of celebrities who love to flaunt that are coloured on their fingers, necks and ears. Pink, yellow, even brown diamonds have suddenly been pushed into the spotlight when before they would not have been given the time of day.

Diamonds get their colour from small impurities present in the stone. So probably that was what deterred people from wearing diamond rings with coloured diamonds. Somehow, stones with impurities were seen as being inferior to the absolutely flawless stones that were so popular – and they still are today. Depending on the impurities, diamonds can be blue, green, purple, red, orange or any of the other colours already mentioned. Suddenly, fashion conscious people are bringing coloured diamonds out into the limelight and they are getting the due they deserve. Coloured diamonds are beautiful too and worthy of being flaunted. What’s more, when you can afford them, they can be colour-matched with any outfit.

Interestingly these impurities usually make the diamond more expensive because it gives the diamond a naturally fancy colour. A naturally blue 11 carat diamond sold at Christie’s for $15 million. The exact colour of the diamonds depends on the element that bonds with the carbon within the diamond. Nitrogen is responsible for yellow, brown, pinks and oranges, while Boron is responsible for blue. The reason for the variation in colours is that different elements absorb different parts of the visible light spectrum, Boron for example, absorbs low-energy red light which through refraction appears blue, which explains the colour difference. The different elements inside the diamond also affect the diamond’s flourescence. Boron for example when exposed to large quantities of UV light emit a orangish colour, but a clear diamond made up of only carbon or nitrogen or boron of insufficent quantity to change the colour will not.

Diamonds can also be coloured synthetically, usually by heat-treating but you can also ‘paint’ an enamel coat over the diamond (most commonly this is done to create pink diamonds). These diamonds are less valuable than naturally coloured diamonds as they are not as rare. Furthermore, the colour that can be achieved through synthetic methods is not exactly the same as a natural colour, and the colour will moreover usually look less vivid and more dull. That being said, due to the price of naturally coloured diamonds, synthetic diamonds are still an excellent choice, because you can get a colour close to that of a natural without the luxury price.

If you had said wedding rings and styling in the same breath, the previous generations would have laughed. A wedding ring for them was functional and what style was there in a band of gold? And the world keeps turning round and suddenly, wedding rings enter the world of fashion and there are so many to choose from. Just metal rings mean a choice of so many metals and so many designs – so much so that it’s a hard thing to see so many and choose.

The wedding ring now sports diamonds and other stones too. Time was when diamond rings were mainly a feminine ornament but now, men are experimenting with not just one diamond embedded in the wedding band but intricately designed male rings with diamonds. Have we come a long way or are we just going back in time? A couple of centuries ago, rings on fingers were ornate affairs for both men and women. Are the wedding rings of today going back to this trend? Whatever it is, the whole wedding ring selection process has gotten more interesting and involving. Not just for women but also for men who are now competing with women when it comes to the style quotient.

It is also interesting that although the jewelry market as a whole is primarily a female-orientated market, wedding rings are leading the way for a more gender-equal market.  With new metals such as titanium and tungsten, men are more and more interesting in styling their own rings.  A common addition to a wedding ring now is the inclusion of single black diamond which, while not as intricate as some other designs is nonetheless more complex than the traditional single band.

It is not just men who are benefiting from the influx of new designs for wedding rings.  Women are choosing increasingly stunning and unique designs, with the range of new options availiable the ability for metal workers to cast a wide variety of shapes.  There is also a growing number of setting options such as channel or grain settings to enable a flush setting.