Of late, the "it" fashion in diamonds has been pale: silver, white gold, or even platinum. However, for those of us looking for more affordable diamond fashion rings, this hasn't been great news. Setting precious stones in precious metals, of course, means a precious price tag. Innovation moves ever forward, though, and designers are always trying out new materials, cuts, and colors. Lately, with the rise of steam punk and the like into popular culture, industrial materials are finding their way into the world of high fashion jewelry.
While it is highly unlikely that you are to find many rings that feature diamonds in, say, brass, it is no problem at all to find diamonds set in the same stuff you find in race cars or space shuttles. It's not a hard slog at all to find diamond rings set in tungsten carbide, for instance. Tungsten carbide, just so you know, melts at over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. You can find a very classy-looking carbide ring for just under a hundred dollars. High-strength ceramics are finding their way into fashion jewelry, too. These are not made out of the same stuff as your coffee mug, but are industrial materials that will stand up to thousands degrees temperature and diamond-tipped tools. This isn't going to be something you scratch by tapping on the desk when you're in a boring meeting.
The huge benefit of using these industrial materials is their availability. Tungsten carbide is manufactured in industrial quantities, so it's not hard for jewelers to get their hands on a lot. It can be cast or cut, making it incredibly variable, as well. Some of the most common patterns are simple inlays of colored ceramic into more precious materials, but there are artists out there making lace patterns into solid carbide blocks. They can cut just about any pattern they like using the same kind of fabricating machinery you might see in a custom auto shop.
Stainless steel, too, is making a large leap into the affordable diamond fashion rings market. Because of the tensile strength of steel, many diamonds are being set in pressure settings instead of more common prong sets. Basically, a small channel is cut into a steel ring and the diamond is inserted. The pressure of the ring trying to close back up is in the tons per square inch, meaning the setting looks fabulously delicate and precarious despite being many times more secure than a traditional setting.
Because of the tremendous strength and durability of these new industrial materials, there's a broad new avenue of possibilities in fashion rings. Pressure settings, for instance, don't work with gold because it's too soft. The much lower price point of manufacturing materials is reflected in the cost passed to the consumer, resulting in a wide range of spectacularly affordable diamond fashion rings. And they won't chip if you accidentally send them through the garbage disposal, either.
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