All About Celtic Design Tattoos

Nowadays, Celtic symbols are extremely popular as tattoo designs, and it is no wonder why. Celtic design tattoos are some of the most beautiful and ornamental decorations you can get on your body. They involve elaborate in knots and curves, interlocking rings, and other appealing and attractive patterns. Many of these Celtic symbols have much deeper meaning, but you can appreciate the tattoos whether or not you are aware of that. They are valuable for their aesthetic beauty even without the added depth of symbolic meaning.

My first exposure to Celtic design tattoos was actually through a friend of mine who was enrolled in a mythology class at the time. She became obsessed with Celtic knots, and began to sketch them in her notebooks in her spare time. When I came across one of her sketches, I was surprised by how beautiful it was. I had never really seen anything like it before. I asked her about it, and she told me that it was actually an ancient Celtic pattern that was discovered in Britain some time ago. When she told me that she was going to have one made into a Celtic designs tattoo, I was naturally intrigued, and I asked if I could go with her into the tattoo parlor.

When I went into the studio, I was in for a further surprise. Apparently, Celtic design tattoos were quite popular. I look at the tattoo book, and saw hundreds of tattoos that had a similar look to the one she had. It seemed to comprise almost half of the work that the tattoo artist did. Nowadays, I know that that was just his personal interest. Different tattoo artists tend to have different specialties, and that was what he was into. Nonetheless, it did provide me with an idea of how popular Celtic patterns have become.

One of the best things about Celtic design tattoos is that they always look good. When you first get them and they have a black or dark green look to them, they are quite attractive, but as they fade they retain their beauty. That greenish color that is so characteristic of old tattoos looks excellent with Celtic knots. Even better, they are easy to touch up. Almost every tattoo artist in the world knows how to make Celtic tattoo designs, So you can find an artist who will do touch up work on one in practically any studio.

New York Handbags

My husband and I like to travel together. For the first several years we were married our traveling included camping because we could not afford to stay in hotels or motels. Due to our limited budget we tended to travel to areas that had natural wonders to see. These areas usually had good campgrounds and natural wonders are usually free or inexpensive to see. As we have progressed with our jobs and have paid off our expenses we are able to spend a bit more money in our travels. Now we are going to places that we both have always wanted to see. We each made a list of ten places we wanted to visit. We then compared lists and agreed that we would start with the places that both of us included on the list. There were several places that matched. The first we decided to visit was New York City.

A friend of my husband’s moved to New York right out of high school. Each time my husband sees him when he is home visiting his parents, he says that we have to come out and visit him. My husband called him to let him know when we were coming out. He asked us to stay with him and his wife. He said they had plenty of room and that they were close to the subway system so getting around would be easy. I told my sister about the trip. She has gone to New York twice. She told me to make sure to check out the New York handbags. She bought two purses from street vendors. She said that they are on the street corners with garbage bags filled with new purses. Some of the purses are knock offs of famous brands and others are originals. She said regardless if you get an original or not it is fun to have New York handbags so you can tell the story of buying it.

When we arrived at our friend’s home we talked about our itinerary. I asked our friend’s wife about the New York handbags. I was nervous about buying stolen property. She assured me that the greatest majority of the vendors are legitimate business people with vendor numbers. She told me the best corner to go to buy my New York handbags. She said that if the vendor or his merchandise looked questionable I could just walk away or ask to see his vendor number. We went to the corner that she suggested. My husband was leery about the process, but I was determined to have New York handbags that were purchased from a vendor.  I came home with two of the purses. I think I made great deals on both of them.

Diamond Shapes

Available Diamond Shapes

If you thought all diamond shapes were the same, you may be surprised at the abundant number of diamond shapes that are available. Most jewelers offer at least nine of the most common gemstone shapes, including:

· Round diamonds

· Emerald diamonds

· Heart diamonds

· Princess diamonds

· Pear diamonds

· Radiant diamonds

· Asscher diamonds

· Marquis diamonds

· Oval diamonds

Two diamonds that are the same shape will appear to look slightly different depending on the size and weight of the diamond, as well as the type of setting that the stone is placed in. The same ring worn on two different hands can also look quite different, based on the size of the hands.

Difference Between Diamond Shapes and Diamond Cut

Many people mistakenly use the terms “diamond shapes” and “diamond cuts” interchangeably, but there is a difference between them. The cut of a diamond refers to how the artisan maximizes the features of the gemstone by creating angles and details, making the light go into the diamond and bounce back in the most brilliant way possible. The quality of a diamond's cut contributes greatly to the overall value of the gemstone, where as the shape of a diamond does not increase or decrease a diamond's value. When discussing diamond shapes, you are referring to the actual geometric shape of the diamond, whether it is round or oval, emerald or heart shaped, for example.

Choosing Diamond Shapes

With all the possibilities of diamond shapes, how do you go about choosing one? If you are buying yourself a diamond, it's just a matter of looking at all the different varieties and finding one that is most pleasing to your eyes, and the ones that look best when you put them on your finger, or wear in your necklace.

When choosing a diamond shape for someone else, it becomes a bit more difficult. For an engagement ring, many women prefer the traditional round shaped diamond, while others may enjoy having something more unique. A young woman or one who is considered a hopeless romantic may prefer to have a heart shaped diamond.

Other considerations for selecting diamond shapes for rings should be based on the size of a woman's hand. If she has long, slender fingers, can elegantly wear a pear shaped diamond, marquis, or oval shape. Place the same shaped diamond rings on a woman with shorter, wider fingers, and it will cover up too much of the finger and look bulky, and perhaps even awkward. Small hands typically look best with round shaped or princess shaped diamonds.

Most Popular Diamond Shape for Engagement Rings

Even though there is a wide variety of diamond shapes available, the most commonly purchased diamond shape for engagement rings is the round diamond. Round diamonds are considered the “classic engagement ring”, and the stones are often set in yellow gold or platinum. In fact, any diamond shape other than round is considered to be a “fancy” shape, since the round diamond is so popular.

Establishing Online Dating Relationships: Safety First

Online dating can be fun. But don’t neglect safety and common sense when you try to hook up with a mate. At minimum, take caution in the following areas.

Protect Your Computer

Take care of your equipment and systems before you head out into the Internet realm. You need to have a firewall and anti-virus protection for your email and for when you search websites and interact online. At the bare minimum, you may want these two solutions that are offered at no charge to home computer users (i.e. not for commercial use):

Free Firewall Download: ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com
Free Anti-Virus Download: AVG Anti-Virus www.grisoft.com

Protect Yourself

Take care of yourself, too, by choosing appropriate dating sites. Seek and choose a reputable online dating service.  How? Begin by asking around with friends, neighbors, co-workers and others you may know who have tried online dating, and see which places they recommend. In addition, search “online dating services” and keep a notebook of their URLs or website links, the fees, rules and regulations, complete contact information of each and any other useful information that spikes your interest. Then compare each place.  Try only those places where you feel safe. Avoid the others.

So take care. Arm your computer – and yourself- with the correct tools and knowledge!

Diamond Flaws and Inclusions

Internal Diamond Flaws

When a diamond is considered to have a flaw, it is an imperfect gem stone. Something about the diamond did not form correctly, or there are tiny imperfections within the stone. Diamond flaws and inclusions are often not noticeable to the average person, and you need not worry about the small inclusions that occur in most diamonds. There are actually only very few diamonds which can be labeled “perfect”, and if they are placed in the category of no diamond flaws and inclusions, chances are the diamond will be extremely expensive!

There are some minor inclusions which cause a diamond to appear slightly dull. The inclusion within the diamond can affect the stone's clarity because as light passes through the stone, it is intercepted by the inclusion. Many of these flaws and inclusions can be reduced or fixed with the various forms of treatment processes that gemologists and jewelers have learned to do over the years.

Other diamond flaws and inclusions may be large enough to cause weakness within the gem stone, and the stone could shatter or break much more easily than a stone without the weakness. These are the flaws you want to be careful with, since they reduce the value of your stone.

Pinpoint Inclusions

When a diamond has speckles of dark crystals in groups or scattered throughout the stone, it is said to havea form of diamond flaws and inclusions called pinpoint inclusions. If the dark crystals are all clustered together in the stone, the clarity of the diamond is effected, and it appears to have a “cloud” inside the stone. These types of diamond flaws and inclusions may cause the diamond to be worth less, as it greatly effects the appearance.

Problems from Laser Treatments

When an imperfect diamond is treated with lasers to remove dark diamond flaws and inclusions from within the gemstone, sometimes a line is left through the diamond that looks much like a thread. The laser line begins at the outer edge of the diamond, and moves inward to the area where the dark inclusion was treated by the laser. These diamond flaws and inclusions are unsightly and easily spotted by most people, making the diamond less desirable.

Mineral and Crystal Inclusions

While most diamond flaws and inclusions are negative, there are instances when the diamond flaws and inclusions are actually an eye catching aspect of your diamond! For example, diamonds typically have smaller crystals inside the diamond, often so tiny they cannot be seen without some sort of magnifying device. The clarity of the diamond can be effected by these crystals, if there are enough of them and if they are all grouped together in one area of the diamond.

There are a few rare instances when another gem stone is actually inside a diamond, and could certainly not be seen as a diamond flaw or inclusion. For example, if you had a ruby or emerald that was surrounded by a diamond, you would see that as a special piece of jewelry- not a flawed one!

Diamond Cost

How Diamond Cost is Determined

If you are in the market to purchase a diamond, you'll be learning all about the 4 C's of diamonds; cut, color, clarity and carat. But in the mind of the average buyer, there is a fifth “c” that just may be the most important of all them: the diamond cost.

The actual price of a diamond is determined by a grading system that takes into account the cut of the diamond, the color, the clarity and the number of carats. There is a non profit organization called the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) that has devised the official grading system of diamonds, and because of that system, a diamond that is of more carats may cost less than a smaller diamond if the larger diamond has inferior cut, clarity or color ratings. Cost is also determined by the retailer.

Buying Diamonds Online

The internet provides a wealth of information on diamonds, educating buyers on the value of diamonds based on size, shape and clarity- and luckily, diamond cost is regulated by industry guidelines. This means you can shop for your diamond gem stones online with as much confidence as you would shopping for jewelry at your local retailer, especially if you take the time to become knowledgeable about diamond cost before beginning your search for the perfect stone.

Guide to Diamond Cost

Every jeweler sets their own prices on their gem stones, rings, necklaces and other items. When dealing with diamond cost, it also depends on the shape of the diamond. A ”round brilliant” shape will tend to cost more than an ”emerald” shape even when they are the same quality and the same size.

If you have a minimal budget, such as $500 or less, you can expect to find a diamond with a carat weight between .15 and .25, set in a 10-14k gold. If you're in the market for a diamond cost of $500 to $750, you can expect to be able to purchase one between .20 and .37 carats. If you are looking for a 1 carat diamond, you should expect your diamond cost to range between $2000 and $3500.

Get the Most Diamond for Your Money

When you are researching diamond cost, there are many more factors to consider than just the size of the diamond. Remember that the shape (cut) of the diamond will greatly effect the diamond cost, as well as the clarity of the diamond. You can get multiple, smaller diamonds for less cost than you can a single, larger diamond due to the rarity of mining a larger sized diamond. Sometimes a diamond will be beautiful to the naked eye, and have a reasonable diamond cost- but it may have a lower rating for quality or tone given by the GIA. When you are shopping for your diamond, you'll need to decide what is more important to you; the diamond cost, the size of the diamond, the quality (the rating as given by the GIA), or how it looks when it's worn!