Sapphires - Septembers Birthstone

Sapphire is the birthstone for the month of September, and they are associated with the 5th, 23rd, and the 45th wedding anniversaries. I know this won't mean much to you, but they are 9.0 on the Mohs scale of hardness, 1 step below diamonds, making them the second hardest natural mineral.

Once upon a time, sapphires were believed to have great healing powers that would help the wearer with rheumatism, colic and even mental illness. Sapphires have also been associated with great wealth and many Hollywood royalty have been seen sporting Sapphire jewelry.

Joan Crawford received a 70 carat star sapphire ring from her second husband. When Richard Burton proposed to Elizabeth Taylor for the second time, he too presented her with a cabochon sapphire ring.

Lady Diana Spenser's engagement ring from Prince Charles was an 18 carat, deep blue, oval sapphire surrounded by 14 round brilliant cut diamonds. This same ring, as many of already know, was presented to Kate Middleton, now known as Princess Katherine, from Prince William.

Medium to Dark Blue is the most associated color for this birthstone, but if you were lucky enough to be born in the month of September, you may pick from any color in the sapphire family for your jewelry. Your choices may include blue, yellow, pink, green, brown, purple, white, orange or colorless, and there is even a rare variety known as color-change sapphire that shows different colors under different lighting conditionsSapphires in any color are a versatile stone that may be set into most any type of jewelry for your enjoyment.

At Windy City Diamonds, we have custom manufactured many styles of jewelry that have incorporated Sapphires. Sapphires are beautiful on their own, but when accented with diamonds, the excitement intesifies with these precious stones.

Here is an example of a spectacular 5.00 carat, cushion cut sapphire diamond ring that we made for one of our clients.

Again surrounded by beautiful round brilliant cut diamonds, this made a breath taking diamond and sapphire engagement ring. This is one lucky lady!
Best of all, sapphires are easy to care for, requiring no special treatment for cleaning.

Sustainable Weddings

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending my Niece's wedding. My niece and her husband are extremely environmentally conscience, and they wanted to see how "green" friendly they could manage with their wedding, leaving as small a foot print as possible.

The first thing that they did was to use Vimeo to create an e-video for their save the date. Of course this was then disseminated to their friends and family via email, leaving no environmental footprint in their path, and they saved money as well. No paper, no printing, no postage.

Now comes the invitations. Again, turning to the internet, they produced a beautiful e-vite, along with a "response card" to maintain their goal of being completely sustainable in their approach. The invitations were beautiful, and I've found that there are a multitude of sites on the web that may be used for sending out these invitations via email, some free, some for a small fee, but this too saves on paper and postage, leaving no footprint.

I wondered how they were going to maintain this lofty goal of zero impact on the environment with their actual wedding, which did turn out to be a bit harder, but still, I was amazed at the extent to which they worked this out.

The arrived and left their wedding on bicycle, no pollution, no impact.
The wedding dress was made in a fashion that it could later be dyed and hemmed to wear in the future. This has a small impact on the environment, but no more than any other clothing that you would purchase normally.

The food that was served was all vegetarian, and delicious, but this didn't impress me as being sustainable, until I found out that all of the produce was grown locally, only organic produce, much of it by the chef him self, and used in preparation of all of the meals. No shipping, cartage, etc, no fuel used to transport, just good quality, organic (no pesticide) vegetables. They even served fruit smoothies made with locally grown organic apples. What a wonderful idea!!

The Flowers were all locally grown, in season flowers, which were beautiful, and again kept the environment footprint very small. In addition to this, the vases that were used were ball jars that will be re-used again and again as my niece loves to make canned fruits and vegetables.

Ok, so I guess you’re wondering how we can bring the jewelry into the idea of sustainability. Easy, the rings that were used were family heirlooms, re-worked to fit their taste!!

All in all, this was quite an impressive wedding and quite an impressive feat to accomplish such a small environmental footprint with 150 people at the wedding!

Our Friends from all walks of LIfe

It's truly a pleasure working with our friends and clients. We have clients from all walks of life and sometimes we are fortunate, and our friends share pictures of their special day, their wedding day with us. I would like to share one of these pictures with you today.

In some cultures, it is customary to have "Henna" parties. The bride and her bridal party will paint their hands with a temporary dye called henna, and often in very intricate patterns. I loved seeing the juxtaposition of the two hands, together with the traditional hand painting and the wedding bands that they chose to express their love and devotion to one another.

I thank them for sharing, and I hope that you too enjoy seeing how some of us have different traditions, that blend so beautifully with today's modern bride.

Wow!! What a wonderful engagment story

I recently received this wonderful email from a client of mine, months after I had worked with him, and I had to share it with everyone. One of the reasons that I love my job is that I have wonderful friends and clients, that appreciate the effort that we put into each and every piece of jewelry that we make, and everyone leaves happy!
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I'm sorry for the delay. This email is long overdue.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I was in your shop on a rainy, cold February 26th. I took care of everything engagement-related that day: asked her father (a cop) if I could marry his daughter around 8a, had a wonderful ring shopping experience at Windy City Diamonds from 10a-1p, and asked her to marry me around 7p.

Here's how it went down:

She had to take care of her grandpa till about 5:30p, planning to get home around 6p. We had a dinner party to go to that night around 7p, so I planned on asking her beforehand. I got to her place about 5:45p. From the time I left my house, I was so nervous! As I sat on her living room couch waiting for her to get home, my heart was racing so fast. I was amazed at how something like this could make my body react in such a way. I set up a camera in a hidden location, and stuck the ring in my pocket. When I heard the garage door open, I nearly jumped with excitement. I turned the camera on, and sat back down, pretending to read a magazine. She came through the door, coat on, and water bottle in hand. I was so nervous and excited that I basically ran right at her, haha (She later said that she noticed how I sprinted to her so fast).

We hugged and kissed and all that good stuff. Then, I went into "remember when?" mode:

me (trying to cover up a shaky voice): "I was thinking today how we're going to Lindsay's for dinner tonight, just like the first night we kissed years ago."
her: "yeah.."
me: "Remember when I went in for the kill, you stopped me and said, 'before we do this, you know how crazy my life is, and how crazy my family is?'"
her: "haha, yeah"
me: "Well, after all this time, all I know is that I'm crazy about you."
her: "I'm crazy about you too!"
me: "and now I wanna know (dropping to one knee, displaying the ring), do you wanna get a little more crazy?"
her: *gasp* "HOLY CRAP!"
me: "Jamie, will you marry me?"
her: *shocked* *2 seconds = eternity*
me: "(um), will you marry me?"
her: "yes! YES!!!!!"

I looked down at the ring and noticed that I had the center stone shifted off to the right, so I made a quick adjustment, haha. We embraced for a long time, called a bunch of family and friends, and finally went to our party. It was great! I'm glad I didn't wait.

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I'm fortunate that he came in, and I'm very happy that he took the time to share his story with me, which is why I felt compelled to share with you all as well. Enjoy your day!

How much should you spend on an Engagement Ring?

This summer, it’s estimated that more than 500,000 men in the United States will pop “the question”, which means that summer time is engagement ring time.

Many men will be wondering, how much should they save for an engagement ring? Traditionally, DeBeers Diamond Company suggested that a groom should plan on spending at least three months’ of his annual salary. Yet the question remains, how valid is this ideal of spending three month’s salary given the difficulties in the world economies today and closer to home, our still sluggish economy?

At a time when the unemployment rate is close to double digits and the household savings rate is in single digits, not everyone will feel comfortable spending 25 percent of their annual income on a ring.

Still, there is the ideal that 3 months salary is the target, but there are a few things to remember when making this decision. First, it’s not like an automobile that you will drive for a few years and then trade or sell for a newer model, nor is it even like a condominium or home that you may decide to sell and move for what ever personal reasons that you may have.

This is a purchase that will last a very long time, and will be enjoyed for a very long time. My wife still gets compliments on her engagement ring, and she has worn it every day since the day she put it on her finger, 34 years ago!! Remarkably, this is not an unusual response that I often hear from our friends and clients about their rings as well.

My personal opinion is that this is a purchase that is recognizing your stated love between two people and should be one of the happiest events/moments in your life. It should not be uncomfortable, or so stressful that you’re worried about how much you are spending on this ring; rather it should be purchased within your comfort zone, after setting your own personal goals as to what is important to you about this purchase. Believe me; she’s going to love what you do!!

What's old is new again!

One of the most traditional diamond cuts is again becomming popular. Take a look at the new 2 million dollar, let's repeat that, $2,000,000.00, 16.5 carat Emerald Cut diamond, that was recently given to Kim Kardashian by New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries. The 16.5 carat emerald cut diamond is flanked by 2.00 carat trapazoid cut diamonds, one on each side of the emerald cut.

The step cut design of the Emerald cut diamond is a true classic, reaching it's peak in popularity during the art deco period of time, which is why your grandmother may have sported an emerald cut diamond in ring. Kim's desire to have something that others don't have has actually enhanced a trend towards vintage and art deco styles of jewelry.

At Windy City Diamonds, we are distributors of a line of fine vintage fillagree jewelry by White House Brothers. White House Brothers has been crafting fine fillagree jewelry for over 100 years, with the finest in workmanship with the most amazing, timeless designs. http://www.whitehousebrothers.com/index_flash.php

Have Fun at the Beach, but be careful with your jewelry

While you're having fun this summer, swimming in your local pool, or playing down at the beach, please be aware of some dangerous pitfalls when taking care with your jewelry.

Most of us don't realize it, but because the water temperatures are lower than our body temperature, it cools down our body. This may cause your body to slightly shrink in size, meaning that your finger size will be smaller after a short period of time in the water. This is a perfect recipe for losing your beautiful rings in the water. Every year I hear of someone that lost their ring or other jewelry while playing in or near the ocean. This may be heart breaking so my recommendation is leave your jewelry at home.

Ok, so now you've been warned about not wearing your jewelry in by the beach, but is there anything else to be aware of?

The sand can act as an abrasive, and damage the finish on your jewelry as well as harming precious stones. So the bottom line is that it's not a good idea to bring your jewelry to the beach. Leave them behind and enjoy the day!

What about pools you may ask? Often, the chemicals that are used in pools may be harmful to precious metals and gemstones. The chlorine that is used in many pools can cause reactions that will permanently ruin your silver, gold and perhaps even your platinum jewelry. Pools are also cooler in temperature than your body temperature, so you'll have the same problem in a pool as at the beach with rings slipping off of your fingers.

Have fun in the water, and leave your jewelry worries at home!!