When a loved one or beloved pet passes on, one way to keep them with you is to have a piece of memorial jewelry made from their cremated ashes. Creating a diamond from someone’s ashes allows you to carry a powerful symbol of your loved one’s life with you as a constant reminder of the bond and memories you shared.
Transforming a loved one into a diamond can help the healing process, converting the pain of grief into the celebration of a remarkable life. However, ashes aren’t the only thing you can use to make a beautiful keepsake. Did you know you can also use human hair or pet fur to create a diamond?
The same material that is extracted from ashes to make a diamond can also be taken from human hair or animal fur. For loved ones that have passed on, this process provides a way for them to become a diamond, even if they are buried rather than cremated. It also allows you to create living diamonds from the hair or fur of loved ones or pets that are still alive.
Want to create an engagement ring with a lock of your future spouse’s hair? Or anniversary jewelry made from a tress of your children’s hair? How about a beautiful diamond ring comprised of your special pet’s fur?
With just a small amount of hair or fur, you can do it.
The diamond creation process
The process for creating a diamond from hair is the same as the one used when creating a diamond from ashes. All diamonds, mined or lab-grown, begin as carbon atoms. If those atoms are exposed to high temperature and pressure, naturally or synthetically, they will eventually form into diamonds (carbon in crystal form) over time.
Both ashes and hair contain carbon that can be extracted to create diamonds. The process involves the following steps:
Collection
The first step toward creating a diamond is collecting the hair that will be used to make it. A diamond can be formed with only a half cup of hair or pet fur taken from one or more sources.
Carbon Extraction
The hair sample is transferred to a graphite crucible and put through a carbon purification process. To extract carbon from the hair, a chemical impurity remover is first introduced to the sample to eliminate any unwanted or unstable particles. The hair is then ground down into a fine powder. The hair powder is placed in a vacuum tube furnace at a high temperature to further remove any impurities, leaving only the pure carbon remaining.
Heat and pressure
Once the carbon has been extracted and purified, it is placed inside a machine that mimics the pressure and heat conditions under the earth’s crust. The combination of high heat and high pressure is adjusted to the specific level and purity of the carbon that’s been extracted to create ideal purification conditions.
Cutting and polishing
Once the carbon has been grown into a diamond, it is inspected, and any inclusions are identified and mapped on the stone. Once the purest diamond form is achieved, it can be cut into the diamond shape requested and polished into a brilliant, finished stone.
Quality standards
While the lab setting creates the purest diamond possible and each stone undergoes rigorous inspections and quality checks, every diamond, mined or lab-grown, is unique. The carbon levels of every sample are different, and the process and product reflect the individuality of the elements they contain.
Why hair diamonds?
Lab-grown diamond quality has increased so much in recent years that they are no longer considered any different from mined diamonds. Diamond authorities like the International Gemological Institute (IGI) and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) don’t even denote them as “synthetic” anymore, and instead assign the same grading to any diamond, no matter how they were formed. Not only is the quality the same, but lab-grown diamonds also provide the added comfort of knowing exactly where your diamond came from, avoiding any potential ethical issues surrounding how and where the stone was sourced.
Creating a diamond from hair gives you a variety of options for any scenario to make something personal, meaningful, and powerful with only a small hair sample.
Memorial diamonds
Using the hair of a loved one or beloved pet who has passed, you can create a radiant stone that reflects the unique beauty of their life to carry with you forever. This is a great alternative to using ashes in the event that your loved one is buried rather than cremated, or you don’t have access to the ashes.
Living diamonds
You can also create living diamonds using hair, creating a memento of someone you love who is still alive. There are a variety of options for living diamonds that can express love, commitment, and support between you and your loved one.
· Engagement and wedding rings. Putting your hair or the hair of your spouse into rings for one another can be a powerful symbol of your commitment and a reminder that you are with each other always.
· Anniversary gifts. Hair diamonds can make a perfect gift for a significant milestone. You can include a lock of your children’s hair, the fur of a cherished family pet, or even add your own to create a one-of-a-kind diamond that represents you or your family’s bond with that person.
No matter whose hair you choose to use or whether you create a ring, pendant, necklace, or other type of jewelry, a hair diamond gives the piece an incredible power and significance that both embodies and transcends the physical.
