Urban Code Magazine

Archive for October, 2010

Diamond certificates from independent organizations such as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) provide a diamond grading report, that gives you valuable information about the 4 C’s that were taken into consideration when the diamond was priced. It’s important that you use an outside source for diamond certificates, instead of the jeweler who is selling the diamond you are interested in, because the jeweler wants to make money on the sale of the diamonds, the certificates may be slightly biased and you could be paying more than the market value of the diamond.

Reasons to have Diamond Certificates

When you go to a jewelry store, or consider making a purchase from an online retailer, the jewelry that has diamond certificates tends to sell for several hundred dollars more than diamonds that are graded the same that are without certificates. This is because the jeweler recognizes that they typically grade their diamonds one level better than an independent grading organization, like the Gemological Institute of America. The GIA is more conservative when grading diamonds because they do not gain anything from diamond sales.

Pay the Right Price for your Diamond

Diamonds are valued according to their quality based on a grading system that makes use of the 4 C’s. You should receive diamond certificates (also called grading reports) from independent companies rather than a jeweler, to insure that your getting an unbiased reporting of the value of the diamond. Otherwise, you could be paying much more for your diamond than what the diamond is actually worth.

Protecting Your Investment

Diamonds are not the same kind of investment as buying stocks and bonds, but having diamond certificates gives you a better investment than just having the diamond. Diamond certificates make it easier to sell a diamond in the future, because you have documentation of how much the diamond is worth and why it was valued that amount. In fact, if you attempt to sell diamonds without having diamond certificates, most dealers will not buy from you and you would end up having a certificate drawn up anyway, so you may as well have a certificate grading report created at the time of purchase, for your current protection as well as future possibilities for selling.

Increased Security during Cleanings and Repairs

Many people hesitate to bring their jewelry into the jeweler’s when they’re in need of repair services or cleaning. It makes people wonder how they’ll know for sure that they’ve received the same diamond back that they brought in. It is an extremely rare occurrence for a jeweler to purposely switch diamonds, however it could happen unintentionally. Diamond certificates act as an additional security measure in this case. They are like fingerprints stored in police databases; they contain all the data needed to match the person to the fingerprints, and diamond certificates have enough information on the diamond to match the diamond with the certificate and the owner.

It is your wedding time and you are trudging all around endless shops on the weekends and not getting what you want. You shall easily find the perfect tie for your outfit if you consider some simple things.

Always consider that tie or cravats what is going to suit however ties are cheaper but cravats shall look great. Think about bow ties and cummerbunds, match of the wedding color scheme, buy or hire and how you are going to take care and clean.

1. Ties or cravats
Although cravats are more popular for formal wedding, they are more expensive than the ties and are not worn in daily routine. A good quality silk neck tie will also be a nice choice if it matches with your outfit.

2. Cummerbunds or bow tie
Some of you may prefer bow ties instead of neck ties that also come in various colors and styles. Bow ties can be self tied or pre tied but the range of pre tied ones is far more than the self tied. Many bow ties come with matching cummerbunds and could be ideal match for your wedding dress.

3. Matching color scheme
If your wedding color scheme is “standard” color, you can choose a close match ties or cravats that are widely available.

4. To hire or buy
In formal weddings, suits and other items can be hired or purchased whereby if you hire the item, you can save a considerable amount of money especially in the case of suits. In neck ties, it could be more difficult because the shop could have a limited number of ties or cravats. The most popular wedding neck ties come in plain polyester satin or silk fabric that you can hire at $10 -$15 for a fair good value.

5. Clean and take care of your ties
Once you have bought your ties, make sure that they are not creased or crumpled. For this, lay them flat or hang on a tie rack. While you try them, you should completely undo nay knots and hang up the tie for couple of days so that the lines from the knot clear. If on the day of wedding something spills on the tie just dab it with a dry cloth so that it soaks up as much as possible. If it is something like fruit juice or gravy let it dry and then gently dab it with the narrow end of the tie. Silk and polyester fabric reacts differently so this method will help a little. Don’t iron the tie for any reason and never iron it directly instead cover it with a cotton cloth and then iron on a cool setting.

For further details, visit our recommended website tying-neck-tie.info

Sunglasses are trendy fashion accessories that make you look and feel cool, but have you ever wondered how those cool shades are made? Sunglasses come in many styles, shapes, colors and brands. There are polarized, prescription, clip-on, flexible, men’s, women’s, unisex, children’s, designer, and custom-made sunglasses. There are police, pilot and rescue sunglasses, biker, skier and other sports sunglasses. There are even sunglasses with built-in audio digital players. How are all these different sunglasses made?

Sunglasses have various types of lenses. Glass lenses have better visual quality and are more scratch-resistant than plastic ones. Photo chromic lenses darken in reaction to light. Glass photo chromic lenses are more efficient in the reduction of Ultra Violet light rays. Gradient Lenses are darker on top and gradually become lighter toward the bottom.
Materials used for tinting polarized lenses are generally brown or gray. Any color tint can be used for high index, Trivex, and polycarbonate.

Different color lenses give different levels of protection from the UV rays of the sun. For example, amber and brown do a better job of absorbing the UV light. Treatment of clear lenses with anti-reflective coatings will protect the eyes from UV radiation. The best level of protection from UV rays is 100 per cent. The anti-reflective coating has an additional benefit of helping to protect the lenses from some surface scratches.

Before tinting, lenses need to properly fit in the selected previously manufactured frame; therefore, the lens needs to be ground to fit the frame’s size and shape. Also, the lens has to be ground according to the prescription in order to solve refractive errors in the customer’s vision. Myopic vision is one example of an eye problem that would require a prescription for sunglasses. Other sunglasses prescriptions could be for bifocals, progressive bifocals and trifocals which would require a larger size lens to accommodate the lens progression.

The grinder that is used to grind the lenses to the specifications of the prescription is called an edger. There is a constant source of water running over the lens while it is being ground in order to reduce the heat caused by friction on the glass. The friction heat can cause glass to crack or break. Water also makes the grinding easier and smoother on the edge and prevents scratching of the surface from dry glass grit.

When the grinding is completed and the lenses are cleaned, tint is added to the lens by dipping the lens in a tint solution which is absorbed into the lens. The longer it is dipped, the darker the tint. The lenses are thoroughly rinsed and dried then are fit into the sunglasses frame and the frame is secured tightly around the lens by tightening the screws on the frame. Sunglasses frames are mass-produced from products like plastic, nylon, carbon fiber and metal.

The process of making sunglasses has come a long way from when Roman Emperor Nero held polished light emerald glass gems up to his eyes and Chinese attached ceramic weights to the ends of ribbons draped over the ears in order to keep on their cool sunglasses.