Sunday, May 12:  Happy Mother's Day! We completed our first Takara Asscher-cut diamond on Friday, and were able to take some photos. As usual with loose Takara, photos don't really do it justice, but certainly let you get an idea of how they appear. We have found the Asscher and the Rounds to be the best and most striking cuts for the Takara so far (have tried Pear and Flanders as well).

5 Our "Golden Diamond":  Takara lab-diamond in Asscher cut.  These photos do the best so far of capturing its true color.

This diamond in the photos completed at 1.01 cts, and appears to be VS quality. It was also sold about 1 minute and 45 seconds after we opened the envelope from the cutters in front of a local customer.  We will be doing more Asscher cuts, as these are a fantastic cut for showing off the color depth of the Takara. More details on our Takara lab-diamonds are on our Takara page here.

Thursday, May 9:  Introducing our first pair of SuperbCert Stud Earrings! We're happy to announce another new jewelry offering, matched pair SuperbCert H&A Stud earrings.  Our first pair is a perfectly matched pair of .40ct diamonds, H color and Internally Flawless and VVS2.  Our SuperbCert earring page is here.  

*Turning your Asha� earrings into natural diamond SuperbCert earrings!  We are also happy to announce that we are working on a new conversion policy, whereby if you purchased Asha� earrings, you may apply the purchase price of those Asha� stones towards the purchase of a pair of SuperbCert earrings.  

After talking to a lot of customers, many said they were purchasing simulants now and planning to buy natural diamond earrings down the line.  This new policy will thus allow you to enjoy the best of both worlds by effectively making your Asha� studs down payments on a future pair of SuperbCert Stud earrings.  

This conversion offer is applicable on our first pair of SuperbCert earrings.  We are still working out the details of this offer, but feel free to email us directly to discuss applying your Asha� purchase towards a SuperbCert pair of earrings now or in the future.

Tuesday, May 7:  More Takara Yellow Lab diamonds completed! We've
just completed cutting on a .79ct Intense Yellow Flanders, and a .63ct.
Intense Yellow Pear.  Based on customer feedback, the rounds are the prize
cuts for the Takara, as the combination of brilliance and color intensity is
rarely ever seen in a natural yellow.  We are recutting the rounds to H&A
specs, and will have updated pricing shortly.  For now, here are a few more
photos as we  continue to try and capture their 'in-person' beauty in photos
(still a ways to go, but getting closer...).  Also, our best description of the
color of these diamonds would be 'golden yellow'.  Our Takara lab diamond
page is here.

Thursday, May 2:  Photos of our newest earrings!  We had a brief moment in-between the winter weather in Seattle to try and get some photos of our new Tiffany, 6-prong H&A round earrings with La Pousette backs.  Once we get some sunshine, we'll reshoot these, but for now, they offer a much better idea of how these earrings look.  Online shopping and more photos are on our earring page. 

*Advance Clarity-Improved diamonds are here:  Of interest, you will see that we now are offering Advance Clarity-Improved Natural diamonds for sale.  These are natural diamonds whose clarity was originally I1 or worse, but because of a new proprietary High-Pressure, High Temperature treatment, these diamonds inclusions can be modified (cooked) so they turn colorless.  Thus, after treatment, a previous I1 diamond may then become a VS1 diamond.  This new treatment is not laser-drilling or fracture filling, two treatments we do not believe in or support.  

This HPHT treatment is the only clarity improving treatment that EGL and other major labs have approved as being non-intrusive enough to allow them to grade the new clarity of the diamond.  All Advance Diamonds come with an EGL diamond grading report that has been issued after the treatment process.  More details coming (especially our Hearts and Arrows rounds, and Flanders Advance CI diamonds!), but pricing and info is on our Advance CI diamonds page here.

Wednesday, PM, May 1:  Sold out of ultrasonic cleaners:  We have sold out all of the ultrasonic cleaners for now.  We have ordered a new supply but they will not arrive until May 20th or so.  Of note:  We ended up having to test each ultrasonic cleaner here before shipping to customers because we found several defective units within our order crate.  Thus, we have located a new manufacturer that has promised more stringent quality control so that we don't have to do our own in-house quality control.  These new units will be priced about $10 higher than the previous units.  More details as they get closer to arriving here.

*Shipping is now changed to 2nd day FedEx:  As part of our internal profitability efforts, we have shifted to offering free 2nd day FedEx shipping rather than our previous overnight offering.  There may be some incorrect references to 'overnight shipping' on the website, we are working to correct these today.

Wednesday, May 1:  BBB honor roll recipient:  We received a nice little honor roll notification from the Better Business Bureau the other day. Since the idea is it is to be placed in your store window, we'll put it in the effective equivalent of our store window which is our website. Shown below:

*Website redesign:  It's clear that as we continue to roll out new products and offerings, our website is getting trickier and trickier to navigate.  We have started, and hope to soon release, a new layout to the website.  We will be breaking out settings apart from stones...this will allow customers to more easily determine pricing for combinations of setting A with stone B and prong style C.

In a similar vein, we will be offering our  settings for sale independently under our newly created Aldora(tm) Settings line. We have had a number of requests from both customers and other jewelers who have seen the quality of our settings to be able to purchase these for setting their own diamonds.  Finally, the top level menu will be broken down by "Aldora Settings/Jewelry, Asha� Diamond Simulant, Takara lab-grown diamonds, SuperbCert Natural H&A's, etc." to more logically group things such as FAQ's, tutorials, etc.

Monday, April 29th:  Free shipping will revert to 2nd day FedEx Shipping on May 1:  We'll continue with our free shipping policy, but it will revert to 2nd day FedEx instead of overnight in order to bring our profit margin into a bit better position.  This will apply to all orders shipping out on May 1st and thereafter for the foreseeable future.  We will offer overnight FedEx shipping for an additional $10 charge.  

*Intro pricing on Takara lab diamonds:  As we have continued to produce more lab-diamonds, we are finding very quickly that most of our diamonds are ending up below 1ct. total weight after cutting to AGS-0 standards.  As a result, we are going to temporarily implement a lower per carat price for diamonds that are less than 1ct. of $2450/ct.  Diamonds over 1ct total weight, since they are currently few and far between, will remain at their current pricing.  Thus, for the two newest rounds, prices will be (.925ct * $2450 = $2266.25) and (.916 * $2450 = $2244.20).  

We have continued to show our two latest round Takara's to employees and local jewelers, and the results are the same:  everyone is amazed at how brilliant they are, followed by comments that the website photos don't look anywhere near as good as they do in person.  We agree, and that is part of the reason that we are offering the intro prices - in order to seed the market.  We are confident that once people begin to hear from others who have bought one, or see them in person, they will agree these are some of the most beautiful fancy yellow diamonds you can buy anywhere, at any price.  The lower pricing is temporary albeit we do not have a fixed end point currently - if you have ever wanted to own a beautiful fancy yellow diamond, now is the time to consider a Takara.   

Online shopping and additional details are available here.    

*Very nice Asha� feedback:  We received permission to share an email from a recent Asha� customer - thank you to that customer for both writing to us with their kind feedback, as well as allowing us to anonymously share it here:

"I received my ring this afternoon, and all I can say is WOW!! My ring has never been more beautiful! The Asha� is just radiant! This is my 3rd simulant stone in this ring and I was never happy with any of them---until now. The Asha� is in a class all of its own. The fire is beyond all expectations. I was so pleased when I opened the box. There's just no comparison between the Asha� and any other simulant."

Friday, April 26th:  New name for our lab-grown diamonds:  We have selected a new name for our line of lab-grown diamonds - Takara (pronounced 'Ta-cara').  It is Japanese for 'precious object' or 'treasure', a suitable description of these diamonds.

We also had the chance to show off some of our first completed stones today, and the reception to those who have seen these diamonds in person has been phenomenal.  Both Takara's completed yesterday are rounds, and cut to AGS-0 specifications.  To the best of our knowledge, it's a rare day to ever see a fancy yellow round cut to AGS-0 specs, precisely because natural fancy color diamond rough is so incredibly valuable, and cutting to AGS-0 specs is very wasteful.  However, the result in terms of beauty is worth the loss in weight - we are confident these are some of the most brilliant fancy yellow diamonds to be found anywhere, and are very much looking forward for an opportunity to both set these into our Aldora settings (side baguettes) and get some photos before sending them to EGL for certification.  AGS-0 cut is the top of the AGL's cut grading system (AGS 0 - 10, with 10 being the worst, 0 the best) , and only about 3% of all diamonds are cut to this level.  One step above is the pinnacle, or true H&A, which is under 1% of all diamonds.   

We'll have additional information, very shortly.  We are very excited about these Takara lab-grown diamonds based on their incredible brilliance and color intensity for fancy yellow diamond.
    
*Nice article on fancy colored diamonds:  A very nice article from "Naples Illustrated:  The magazine of gracious living" discussing colored natural diamonds...

Excerpted teaser:

"The first Mogul emperor had one. The Medicis � one of the most powerful families in European history � did too. Napoleon Bonaparte wore one in the hilt of his coronation sword. New York�s Tiffany & Co. still owns the incomparable specimen the famed jewelers obtained in 1879.

For thousands of years, diamonds have held sway as symbols of beauty, wealth and power. But the overriding trait these historical diamonds had in common may come as a bit of surprise: They were all identified by, and celebrated for, their color. (Pink, citron, blue and canary yellow, respectively.)

Then, as now, naturally colored, or �fancy� diamonds, have been coveted for their rarity and individuality, and as a result, are valued much higher than top-grade, flawless white or colorless diamonds."

Continued at the articles site here.

Thursday, April 25th:  Flanders now available, pre-orders have shipped:  We are getting better with our time estimates, and as noted, Asha� Flanders are now in stock and all pre-orders that were placed this month have shipped out today.  Pricing on the Flanders will stay at the intro levels until April 28th, and will revert to normal after that.

Man-made diamonds completed today:  We have finished cutting two AGS-0 spec fancy intense yellow lab diamonds today.   We are hoping to get some photos of those to put on the site shortly before they head to EGL for certification.

Tuesday, April 23rd:  Flanders will be ready on Thursday:  Our lab has confirmed that the Flanders Asha� will complete their time in the diamond coating chamber tomorrow, and thus be available for shipping on Thursday.  We have a number of backlogged orders for the Flanders, we will ship out all of these orders Thursday and Friday and notify customers of their FedEx Tracking number via email.  

With the Flanders being back in stock, we will also finally unveil our Flanders Omega pendant this weekend as well as earrings and the Flanders Trellis and Flanders Valentia over the next week. 

Saturday, April 20th:  Now offering "La Pousette" earring system:  Our continuous research into how to improve our jewelry has paid off again.  Based on our in-house testing and feedback from some trial customers, we are now changing our top selling Asha� Princess earrings to use the French designed "La Pousette" earring system by default.  Of interest, "Pousette" means "push cart" in French.

Here is the complete breakdown on the advantages of the La Pousette earring system:

3 The dual-clutch mechanical La Pousette system

1. Offers the ease of use of a friction back, but even more security than threaded backs - this system is recognized as the most secure earring system available.

2. None of the potential irritation that the threads of screw-backs can sometimes cause.

3. Because the back nut is heavier, it balances the earring while in your ear - preventing the dreaded "forward droop" many earrings encounter while being worn.

4. This system can be found at your local jeweler for $40 - $60.  Because we can buy in volume for our Asha� earrings, we are offering them on our top selling princess earrings for no change in price vs. standard friction back.

*New earring style now offered:  We've also added a new earring style for our rounds. This is the Tiffany, six-prong, low-set earring with La Pousette backs.  Ideal for showing off your H&A rounds, these earrings are the most balanced of the round stud earrings and thus are even better at preventing the dreaded "earring droop".

*Our top selling jewelry items this month: 

Our latest stud
earring

People often ask us what our top selling jewelry items are when shopping for a gift for their loved ones, and with Mother's Day approaching, we are happy to present our top sellers this month based on number of orders (note: this list is for finished jewelry items, not loose stones, and is tallied by number of orders, not by total dollar sales value - the Renaissance ring would win based on total dollar sales value)

• 14k White gold Princess Scroll earrings, 1.5ctw

• Trellis Princess Solitaire ring, 14k White gold

• 14k White H&A round stud earrings, 1.5ctw

• 3mm Platinum wedding band  

Thursday, April 18th:  Potential trademark conflict on Aurora...: Our lawyers informed us today they had uncovered a potential conflict with another jewelry trademark for using "Aurora" as the trade name for our lab grown diamonds....so we are back to the drawing board for a new name.  Feel free to post any suggestions on the message boards!

*Aphrodite Solitaire finally available!  We finally had some sunshine, and thus could get some pictures to announce our latest Solitaire, the Aphrodite.   6 Aphrodite solitaire, with 3ct. Flanders center Asha�

Designed expressly for 2-3ct. center stones, it features a 4mm wide band, euro-shank, and
elegant aesthetics to grace the center stone.
Like the rest of our in-house produced rings,
this is one of the heaviest rings you'll find at any jewelers - it will be in your family for generations.
Our Aphrodite page is here.

*Very nice feedback from a customer who remounted an Asha� Flanders into their ring:  Thank you to this customer both for taking the time to share this story, as well as for allowing us to share it on our website!

"I have been reviewing your website since last August, believe it or not!  I had a ring setting, which is a thick cathedral band that I was wanting to put a new stone in... After pondering this for months, ... I decided I needed to do something nice for myself; and I ordered the 2ct. Flanders and mailed you my ring. The service was great, and I received the ring back within a week! 
I've had this ring for a week, and every day it gets more and more beautiful. I have a wedding band with 7 diamonds that doesn't even come close to matching anymore! I went into a very high-end jeweler on the [edited for privacy] yesterday to try on other diamond wedding bands. None of them could come close to matching the brilliance of my Flanders. The saleslady finally said "Why mess with perfection? Wear this ring alone!" 
She even got out her little scope and looked at it. She'd never seen a Flanders cut before and decided they needed to get some. Thank you so much for my jewelry, I just wish I had a good picture that I could show off to others on the internet!"

Wednesday, April 17th:  Nice customer feedback on the Asha� princess:  Thank you to this customer for permission to anonymously post their email!  

".. I must say I was a skeptic. I put the Asha� next to my 1 ct. princess cut diamond and both my husband and I couldn't tell the difference. I was indeed IMpressed. Although, my husband was DEpressed! Considering my diamond was $4000 compared to $325!"

Wednesday, April 16th:  Asha� Colorless Radiant cuts coming:  We have been getting a lot of positive feedback on the few radiant cuts (clear) that we did for some custom rings a while back, along with requests from customers to carry radiants.  Thus we are happy to announce the availability of 3 remaining Asha� ADT clear, 2.75ct radiants for immediate sale, and that we will be producing a number of 1.05ct, 1.5ct, and 2.10ct. Asha� ADT radiants for sale end of next month.  Our new Asha� Radiant page is here.  

*Aurora lab grown diamonds - additional cuts:  The feedback for our Aurora lab grown diamonds has been for fancy intense yellow.  Thus, we are currently cutting the following shapes this week, for sale in the next few weeks:

• Flanders

• Pear

• Radiant

• Champagne (Asscher)

We envision putting these into some elegant rings flanked by side white Asha� trillions for a $50,000 look for a less than $5,000 price (with true diamond sitting in the middle).

Sunday, April 14th:  First Tennis Bracelets now available:  The number three most requested item from our current poll has consistently been Tennis Bracelets, and we are happy to start offering some for sale.  Currently, we are only doing natural diamond tennis bracelets instead of Asha�.  With the cost of the amorphous diamond treatment, combined with the fact that we can't cut Asha� rounds below .25ct to our H&A standards, it didn't make sense to try and use Asha� where the price for natural diamond is not much different.

Of note, we are only using VS clarity diamonds, G/H color in all our tennis bracelets. Most tennis bracelets currently available at jewelers are SI, H/I type diamonds. This is in keeping with our philosophy of only carrying the ultimate in diamond beauty. We'll be adding additional styles as we can come up with them, if you have other requests feel free to email us!  Our Tennis Bracelet page is here.

Saturday, April 13th:  'Growing a Better Diamond' article published:  We have posted an article discussing some of the differences between lab-grown and natural to try and answer some customer questions.  You may be suprised to learn that lab-grown has been shown to be slightly harder and less brittle than natural diamonds - learn why here.

*Flanders page updated:  We are producing 10,  9mm (4ct) Asha� Flanders with this current run.  Several customers have stated that they wanted the larger Asha� Flanders but were not able to purchase under the intro pricing, so we have added the 9mm as a pre-order stone (and thus applicable for intro pricing) on the Flanders page now.  Flanders page is here.  

Friday, April 12:  We have been getting lots of enquiries about our Aurora lab-grown fancy color diamonds.  Based on many of these questions, it's very clear that a tutorial on the world of natural colored diamonds would be of immense help, since our best customer is an educated customer.

Thus, we present the start of our Colored Diamond tutorial, affectionately known as "Why the 4C's are all wrong in the world of natural colored diamonds".

Thursday, April 11:We are about half-way through another run of Asha� Flanders and Trillions (trillions are needed for our Athena ring), and hope to have these available for sale (or shipping for pre-ordered Flanders) on April 29th.

*Returning to FedEx 2nd day air for our Free Shipping on May 1st:  One important note, we have found that the costs of supporting free overnight shipping have become our single largest non-production expense, so we will be reverting to 2nd Day FedEx for our Free Shipping as of May 1st.  We are pleased to be able to continue to offer free shipping, but the 2nd day air option, after discussions with some customers, seemed to be the best way to balance our profitability with the ability to continue to ship you your orders for free.  We have been profitable every month this year thanks to our continued growth in overall sales volume which has allowed our economy of scale to finally kick in (vs. last year where the majority of months we took a loss) and would like to ensure our continued profitability as a company.

*Very nice customer feedback on our Asha� Emerald cut:  Thank you very much to this customer for taking the time to give us their feedback, as well as permission to post!

"I just wanted everyone to know that after several months of deciding if a simulant was the way my fianc� and I wanted to go (it's all about SIZE with women !!!) we decided on a 2.10 ct emerald cut [Asha�] from Better than Diamond. I simply CAN NOT believe how beautiful it looks. My fianc� and I went into a VERY top notch jewelry store and the sales lady asked if I had gotten my ring from them--we were searching for wedding bands. She then went on to inquire how much we paid, considering that their 2 ct emerald cut was 22,000 (thats thousand). My fianc�, simply winked as said "A pretty penny". Pretty penny, because we don't have to go seriously in debt for a better looking stone. We both walked away with the best feeling, giving high fives to each other in the parking lot.

Thanks so much for finally making a simulant that no one needs to "know" about.  Hey, if it sounds and looks like a duck, then it's a duck right???
I will recommend everyone to you all. Thanks again..."

*Top web-scams announced by the FBI:  The FBI recently announced that the top web-based scam was non-delivery of auction items via Internet auctions, accounting for a whopping 43% of all internet based fraud.  We often have customers that are nervous the first time in doing business with us, because we are an internet based company rather than traditional brick and mortar.  Your best assurance when doing business with anyone over the web is checking whether they have received the Better Business Bureau Online Seal, as shown above on our website.  You can click on that seal to verify they are in good standing, or for our firm, just click here for verification:  http://www.bbbonline.org/cks.asp?id=101061211352917501

The article discussing the state of affairs with online scams is here:  http://www.msnbc.com/news/736783.asp

*EGL (European Gemological Laboratories) will be certifying all of our Aurora Lab-grown diamonds:  We are happy to announce that the EGL has agreed to provide independent certification on our Aurora �  lab-grown diamonds.  This will allow an independent confirmation of the color grade as well as the other 4C's such as carat, cut, etc.  Fancy colored diamonds valuation is dramatically impacted based on the intensity of color, and so it is helpful to have the coloration especially independently assessed.  We have also noticed that many sites advertise their simulants as "cultivated diamonds", which is basically false advertising according to the FTC since their goods are simulants, not diamonds.  Our Aurora lab-grown diamonds are the real deal, pure diamond only grown in the lab rather than grown in nature.  We will start posting all EGL certs with all of our Aurora diamonds as soon as they come back from EGL.  

Wednesday, April 10:  Announcing our Aurora We are extremely proud to be able to announce the availability of our Aurora � man-made diamonds, some of the first ever man-made diamonds for sale to the public.  These are true diamond, grown in a lab instead of grown by nature. Currently, these are only available in fancy yellow and fancy orange colors, all are around the 1ct. size range. We can cut them to any diamond cut you desire, though our stock stones will be radiants, rounds and perhaps emerald.  Pricing is $3750/ct.

We invite you to learn more about the rare world of colored diamonds (only 1 in 10,000 mined diamonds will be a fancy color, and thus why the naturals have commanded large premiums over white diamonds) at our Aurora � Diamond Online Shopping page here.

4 Our first Aurora � man-made diamond: Intense Orange, VS, 1.13ct radiant

*Additional feedback from another customer:  We are pleased to reprint another email from a customer, and thank them for allowing us to post their comments!

"What can I say, WOW!!! I have just received my 2ct Asha� Princess set in Platinum - it's amazing, I'm stunned. It is so beautiful and the quality of the workmanship is superb. Thank you so much for an absolute stunning piece of jewelry"

Wednesday, March 27: Additional feedback on the Athena ring:  Nice feedback from a customer, who graciously allowed us to post!

"I received my ring today, it is the most stunning piece of work I think I have ever seen! :) I am so impressed with its appearance, I was really very scared that it would look to large and not real....but it actually looks very dainty and well shaped for my hand! :) The color and sparkle of the stones is unbelievable, I can not stop looking at it! I have looked at it in every angle in the sun I could think of and it just put a smile on my face....I normally would NEVER make this kind of purchase over the internet, but after reading your site for oh about a month.....I finally took the plunge. I must say I am very glad I did. Everything you promised I believe is true...it's simply gorgeous! :) I hope to do more business with you in the future....Thank You for all your help"

March 21: Lots of updates:  We are happy to announce that we have completed testing on the most requested new cut, the Asha� Flanders. We
have 9 stones in 3 different sizes available, and will have a new Flanders Trellis ring available to match the 1.5ct Flanders shortly. 

Of interest, the Flanders cut is the first Asha� cut to nearly peg the white light meter on the Bscope. The Flanders page is here.

4The Asha� Flanders under the Brilliancescope.

March 18:  Additional customer feedback:  We are happy to be allowed to share a recent email we received from a new customer, who kindly gave us permission to post:

By the way, it IS true that this is the most beautiful diamond simulant I have ever seen - I compared it to one I had that I paid a lot of money for and the other one looked so cloudy and yellow compared to yours!

*Additional feedback on our Asha� Diamond Simulant!:  We are pleased to be allow to share a portion of an email from a recent Asha� customer, and want to say Thank you to them for allowing us to post!

"I got my other "real" diamonds out today (a pair of 1ct round earrings and a 1/2 ct. marquis) and compared them to my Asha� -- the Asha� blows them both away in both sparkle & clarity. I also intentionally got it dirty (you may laugh, but I wanted to see whether it went that steel-gray color diamonds do when they're dirty, vs. the milky-ice-white most CZ's turn.) It went steel-gray, to my delight. While I always want to keep my rings clean, sometimes it goes a few days before I have a chance clean them, and I wanted to see if it appeared diamond-like in all circumstances, dirty or clean. And it does."

March 11: Very kind customer feedback email:  We received a nice customer email that was focused on another area we are continuing to work very diligently on, namely our customer service.  We were pleased to receive permission to post, and certainly want to say "Thank You" to the customer who took the time to provide us their feedback:

"I wanted to let your other customers know that no matter how large your company becomes, I believe you will always have the time for the loyal customer base you have established. I realize that most, if not all of your e mails talk about how beautiful and genuine your Asha� stones appear to be, as well as the oohs and aahs from adoring fans, but the quality of your stones are only surpassed by the quality of you and your staff. Keep up the EXCELLENT work!"

March 08: Additional rings coming:  We've updated the design page with several new rings, two of which feature some of our remaining fancy yellow Asha� inventory.  You can see these new designs at our Updates page.  Also, of note, several of our princess pendants featured on this page proved to be unmountable after casting, so they have been dropped.  We don't have final pricing for many of the rings on the design page, as we don't know until after they have been cast how much metal they will consume, as well as how much time they will take to set.  The updates page with photos is here.  

*Additional customer feedback:  One of our customers recently wrote regarding their experience with their new ring from us, and was kind enough to give us permission to share their thoughts:

"I wanted to let you know that my ring arrived safely.  My heart skipped a beat when I saw it. It is way above and beyond my expectations. I have spent the last two days observing peoples reactions when they see it. Everyone says they are the most beautiful diamonds they have ever seen and they love the sturdy setting and design. Today I was shopping for a watch at [edited, but large jewelry chain] and the sales woman noticed my ring. She called the other sales people over to look at it, they just kept exclaiming what a beautiful custom ring it was.  I never told them it was a simulant. One woman who claims to know a lot about diamonds said " I know you spent at least twenty-five thousand dollars on that ring."  Once again thank you for making my wedding ring, I love it."

March 07: Time to start our upgrade offer:  We were hoping to get our backlog lower before doing this, but it seems this is never going to happen, so following the phrase of "no time like the present", we are happy to open up the Asha� upgrade program for those who purchased an Asha� prior to version 4 (Amorphous Diamond Treatment).  The upgrade program, details and instructions are on our Upgrade page here.

    *Very nice feedback from a customer:  Received permission to share this email we received from a recent customer (thank you to them for allowing us to reprint!) 

I received the ring on [edited for privacy] as promised. When I opened the ring box I was stunned by the appearance of the Asha� stone. It was beautiful to say the least. I had been on your web site almost daily looking at the stones and the rings and was really hoping that the stones were as photographed. They are better!!!!! The brilliance is breath taking. The liquid mercury effect matches the accent stones in both the band the Asha� was set in and my wedding band. At first I was afraid to put my ring on, now I don't want to take it off. I have gone to several different stores with different lighting including sunlight just to see the sparkle and fire the stone puts out. It is amazing and hard not to notice. I have gotten numerous compliments from store clerks and office co-workers. Thank you for an amazing product.

*Jewelers guide to setting/working with Asha�:  Our percentage of loose stone orders has been steadily increasing, and so we have prepared a brief overview for customers to provide to their jeweler who will be doing the setting work for their loose Asha� gem.  You can simply print out the page and hand it to your jeweler, we are also available to answer any other questions they may have.  The setting guide is here.  

*Another nice customer email:  We were extremely pleased to receive (and obtain permission to share) this wonderful email from a customer who purchased our Asha� 3-stone princess ring:

I received my 3 stone princess ring this week and when I opened the box, I was STUNNED!!! It is sooooo beautiful!!!!!! I really believe that " Better than Diamond" is an understatement.

..(parts removed for privacy)...

I was looking at Moissanite before I found Asha� and now I understand why Moissanite is the color it is, Asha� makes it green with envy!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for restoring my faith in online purchasing and for showing that there are businesses and people out there with class and integrity.

February 24th: A few new photos:  We are shipping out a large number of orders tomorrow, as everyone at the workshop worked all weekend, and thus with our order backlog back down to the lowest levels in 2002, we finally had some time to take a few photos.

February 20th: Very nice customer feedback & received permission to share part of their email:  We are always happy to receive your feedback, positive or negative (we learn from both), and wanted to share part of this email we recently received from a customer (who, like many of you, waited a rather long time before finally receiving their order):

"I do not know where to start. I received my ring today. AWESOME, ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. ...You guys did an amazing job. It is exactly what I was hoping for, and you set the stone just how I wanted. You have restored my faith in internet jewelry shopping. I have some shopping channel cz stones, that claim they are the worlds best. WRONG!! Your product is the best. As far as I can see, this is the perfect stone."