The Firey Hand

[rinue]

As usual, I became involved in the process of pie preparation, and as usual, I burned my hand. Why must the price of pie always be blood? Why? Why?

Fortunately, I found a thing of Silvadene under the sink, because Mom has connections at the hospital.

On the subject of fires and hands, I read today that the tradition of diamond engagement rings began in Italy, where they believed the diamond was forged in the fires of love. I don't know whether I trust this information, as it is hard to know where one stands with diamonds, especially since DeBeers has a long history of making facts up.

Relatedly, Apollo Diamond, one of the super awesome companies that figured out how to make flawless (and bloodless) diamonds in the lab, is right here in Boston. I am desperate to visit, and positive they will not let me. Maybe if I brought them pie?

Comments

[iridesce-sent.livejournal.com]

"Forged in the fires of love"? I hesitate to think of crystal formation in my, um, fiery love moments. Oof!

More appropriately, anyway, I've always been reticent to fall for the "diamonds are special because they took millions of years of geological processes"/"they'll last forever, just like your love" arguments. Honestly, what greater testament to the radness of intellect, curiosity, technology, and will to power than the production -- by science -- of a real diamond?

Moissanite is another lab-produced crystal that I am interested in.

But.

Science and human ingenuity have yet to produce a diamond that fluoresces.

[rinue.livejournal.com]

So true. Flourescence is awesome. I regret that more jewelers don't put blacklights in their stone settings. And by saying I want more jewelers to do this, I suspect I mean any jewelers at all. Oh jewelers! Why have you forsaken me?

[iridesce-sent.livejournal.com]

For purposes of graphic explication, I bought a "glow pen" which features an ultraviolet LED (similar to this one) that I carry in my purse. Now, when I tell people, "...and it GLOWS in UV light!" I can show them what I mean.

There's a lot of back-and-forth in the biz about the desirability of fluorescence in stones - sometimes they're cheaper because a) they're hard to explain by non-badasses and b) sometimes the color clouds. When I heard that 90% of them go to Japan, I knew they were for me!

I couldn't get jewelers to satisfactorily answer questions I had about a lot of the reflective and refractive indices listed with diamonds, like the difference between "fire" and "brilliance" and "brightness," etc. It was bizarre.