Hi all,
Its Friday and time for another weekly update.
With the debut of the Amora lab gem (click here if you haven't seen it), I figured it was time to start a new thread/chapter for the blog to make it easier to follow.
Plus, it will be refreshing to continue the blog without withholding that minor detail that we were working on a lot more than just a new H&A cut
Very glad to see the positive response to our future product and one that will likely become our biggest product by far. We are working on finalizing production parameters and moving into actual production, but there is still some work there to be done. But at least now you know what is coming
One thing to clarify is that we'll continue to offer the 'Amora Enhanced Moissanite' for a while for those customers who may have to wait until 2015 before the Amora gem is available to them.
Thus, in 2012 we will have:
1 - Amora Gem (H&A rounds, etc)
2 - Amora Enhanced Moissanite (color improved moissanite by C&C)
After 2015, which is when their patent on 'silicon carbide gems' expires, the Amora Enhanced will be discontinued since I have no interest in putting money into C&C's pockets, and we'll only offer the Amora Gem.
Hardness testing for Amora gem - one topic I'll mention that may be of interest. We have gotten access to a large University's nanoindentation equipment, and that was how we were able to determine the exact hardness of the Amora gem (23% harder than sapphire).
We're hoping to be able to eventually test a number of gems and publish that as a paper in the future b/c the use of the Mohs scale is a pet peeve of mine...the Mohs scale is not used in Materials science b/c it is not a linear scale, nor is it very accurate, and was designed simply as a quick test for use in field geology in the 1800's. Under Mohs hardness, sapphire is 9 and diamond is 10, but sapphire is *not* 90% as hard as diamond...it is 30% as hard. So it leads to a lot of confusion.
By comparison, in nanoindentation testing - Diamond is 100 GPa, Sapphire is 30 Gpa...so the 30% as hard is very evident. And glass is 3-5 GPa (based on what ingredients added while making)...which now lets you see why Diamond Nexus claiming their 'revolutionary stone' cuts glass means about nothing.
Anyway, I figure its a bit like blending materials science into gemology and time for gemology to step into the current century...
On other news - the keylight test samples have arrived! These are the small keychain lights we did the poll on a few months back...they arrived with the Mira logo proudly engraved. So, great thing that we did not proceed with production on those yet or we'd have a few thousand Mira keychain lights to ship with the Amoras.
It looks like the keylights do what we want, which is to provide immediate lighting to view the brilliance of your Amora Moissy or future Amora gem. Thus, we'll have to finalize what type of keychain attachment to go with it (swivel, clip-on, etc) and see if they can put our new Amora logo on it and then we'll get those underway.
The Hungarian Natural History Museum did receive their display Amora H&A gem on Monday and they emailed that it was 'gorgeous' and were very happy to have it. They are working furiously on finishing up the display and I believe it opens on 11/15. After things settle down I'll see if they can take some photos of the display and we'll get those posted out for you to see it.
On other news:
1 - We'll have a large restock of Amora enhanced Moissanite rounds next week, including some of the sold out sizes. That will likely be the last restock before the holidays.
2 - We have a large batch of Asha H&A rounds in coating now, and those should finish up within the next week to week and a half. That will allow us to restock a number of sold out round sizes as well for the Asha H&A.
3 - We're going to expand our trademark filings for the Amora name into China and Hong Kong since I expect both will be large markets after 2015.
Anyway, thanks for the postive feedback from the Amora H&A gem debut. I'm excited about the Amora gem because its the first time we've been able to make a gem from the ground up - both Asha and the Amora enhanced were enhancements to existing gems (CZ and Moissanite by C&C) but this is a rare chance to really pull out all the stops and have a gem that is completely ours (and hopefully yours in the future
Have a great weekend,
Less
Its Friday and time for another weekly update.
With the debut of the Amora lab gem (click here if you haven't seen it), I figured it was time to start a new thread/chapter for the blog to make it easier to follow.
Plus, it will be refreshing to continue the blog without withholding that minor detail that we were working on a lot more than just a new H&A cut
Very glad to see the positive response to our future product and one that will likely become our biggest product by far. We are working on finalizing production parameters and moving into actual production, but there is still some work there to be done. But at least now you know what is coming
One thing to clarify is that we'll continue to offer the 'Amora Enhanced Moissanite' for a while for those customers who may have to wait until 2015 before the Amora gem is available to them.
Thus, in 2012 we will have:
1 - Amora Gem (H&A rounds, etc)
2 - Amora Enhanced Moissanite (color improved moissanite by C&C)
After 2015, which is when their patent on 'silicon carbide gems' expires, the Amora Enhanced will be discontinued since I have no interest in putting money into C&C's pockets, and we'll only offer the Amora Gem.
Hardness testing for Amora gem - one topic I'll mention that may be of interest. We have gotten access to a large University's nanoindentation equipment, and that was how we were able to determine the exact hardness of the Amora gem (23% harder than sapphire).
We're hoping to be able to eventually test a number of gems and publish that as a paper in the future b/c the use of the Mohs scale is a pet peeve of mine...the Mohs scale is not used in Materials science b/c it is not a linear scale, nor is it very accurate, and was designed simply as a quick test for use in field geology in the 1800's. Under Mohs hardness, sapphire is 9 and diamond is 10, but sapphire is *not* 90% as hard as diamond...it is 30% as hard. So it leads to a lot of confusion.
By comparison, in nanoindentation testing - Diamond is 100 GPa, Sapphire is 30 Gpa...so the 30% as hard is very evident. And glass is 3-5 GPa (based on what ingredients added while making)...which now lets you see why Diamond Nexus claiming their 'revolutionary stone' cuts glass means about nothing.
Anyway, I figure its a bit like blending materials science into gemology and time for gemology to step into the current century...
On other news - the keylight test samples have arrived! These are the small keychain lights we did the poll on a few months back...they arrived with the Mira logo proudly engraved. So, great thing that we did not proceed with production on those yet or we'd have a few thousand Mira keychain lights to ship with the Amoras.
It looks like the keylights do what we want, which is to provide immediate lighting to view the brilliance of your Amora Moissy or future Amora gem. Thus, we'll have to finalize what type of keychain attachment to go with it (swivel, clip-on, etc) and see if they can put our new Amora logo on it and then we'll get those underway.
The Hungarian Natural History Museum did receive their display Amora H&A gem on Monday and they emailed that it was 'gorgeous' and were very happy to have it. They are working furiously on finishing up the display and I believe it opens on 11/15. After things settle down I'll see if they can take some photos of the display and we'll get those posted out for you to see it.
On other news:
1 - We'll have a large restock of Amora enhanced Moissanite rounds next week, including some of the sold out sizes. That will likely be the last restock before the holidays.
2 - We have a large batch of Asha H&A rounds in coating now, and those should finish up within the next week to week and a half. That will allow us to restock a number of sold out round sizes as well for the Asha H&A.
3 - We're going to expand our trademark filings for the Amora name into China and Hong Kong since I expect both will be large markets after 2015.
Anyway, thanks for the postive feedback from the Amora H&A gem debut. I'm excited about the Amora gem because its the first time we've been able to make a gem from the ground up - both Asha and the Amora enhanced were enhancements to existing gems (CZ and Moissanite by C&C) but this is a rare chance to really pull out all the stops and have a gem that is completely ours (and hopefully yours in the future
Have a great weekend,
Less
Last edited:
)
