WHAT ARE LAB GROWN GEMS
Gemstones are a miracle of nature: a miracle that has now been recreated by man.
LAB GROWN GEMS
These gemstones have the same physical, chemical, and optical properties as mined gems do. We don’t “make” gems. We control the environment so that crystals can grow naturally: recreating the conditions in which gems grow in the earth.
The process of growing gem crystals in a laboratory rather than mining them is a bit like making ice in your freezer instead of finding it in a lake. You place the starter material, water, in a container, and put the container into a controlled environment: your freezer. Create the right conditions of temperature and time and ice crystals will form. The freezer ice will usually be cleaner and more perfect than lake ice because you can carefully control the environment. But it’s still ice, just like the ice that forms in nature. In a way, what we do is a sophisticated high-tech version of freezing water to form ice. One of the benefits of lab-grown gemstones is that they have less of an impact on the environment than mined gems.
Growing Colored Gemstone Crystals
Lab grown gemstone gets its start with an earth-mined crystal slice placed inside a crucible chamber. We fill the chamber with a liquid containing the ingredients needed to feed crystal growth. This “liquid” is only possible at 1100 degrees Celsius! Looking into the chamber is like looking into a volcano.
We then seal the chamber and wait. A long time. In fact, for most of the gem varieties we grow we wait from six months to a year!
The chamber’s temperature and chemistry are carefully controlled to duplicate the conditions inside the part of the earth where that gem variety forms. Slowly the crystal begins to grow on the seed in its natural crystal shape. Once this process ends, you have a crystal rough identical to one found in nature. Our gemstones contain the same physical, chemical, and optical properties as their naturally mined counterparts.
It is still a “WOW” event every time we open up a crucible that has been untouched for 10 months. Sometimes it’s a big disappointment too. We are always experimenting by changing little things to see if we can improve the quality of our crystals. Experimentation is the key to continuing to innovate.
From Crystal to Gem
After studying each crystal’s shape and internal inclusions, we decide which shape to cut. We cut traditional shapes and some innovative new ones like the onion cut and the flame cut that we’ve designed exclusively .No matter which shape we cut, we have strict standards for proportions, faceting and polish that ensure that all our gemstones have maximum brilliance, high clarity, and vivid color. To meet these standards, about 80% of the rough crystal is lost. Saving extra weight is never a consideration.We select one crystal in 200 that meets the strict standards for color and clarity.
Example
Lab Emerald VS Natural Emerald
Color Gems Sample
Cutting Gems Sample
All shapes of ruby, emerald, sapphire.