When shopping for a custom engagement ring, the first decision you need to make is if you want a mined diamond or one grown in a laboratory. 

Diamonds grown in a lab use advanced processes duplicating the conditions of the earth's mantle where they form in nature. Since the carbon atom arrangement in lab-grown stones is the same as those formed in nature, they have all of the same chemical and optical properties.

Lab-grown diamonds are less expensive than mined diamonds. In addition to the lower cost, there are many other benefits of selecting a lab-grown stone over one mined from the earth, including:

• environmentally friendly
• higher purity
• brighter sparkle
• custom-color options

Before going to a place like The Art Of Jewels and purchasing a lab-grown diamond, it's important you have a clear understanding of how it was made. Typically, diamonds made for jewelry are created using a process known as chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

There are six steps in the CVD process:

Step 1: Diamond Seeds are Put Into a Diamond Growing Machine

The first step to making a diamond is placing a tiny "seed" diamond into the growth chamber of the laboratory machine used to grow it larger. The seed is actually a tiny chip off of another diamond previously grown. 

Step 2: Hydrogen and Methane Gases are Injected into the Growth Chamber

Inside the diamond growth chamber, methane and hydrogen gases are pumped in. The gases are heated to a very high temperature and pressure until they change state and form a plasma ball.

Step 3: The Plasma Ball is Superheated to the Ideal Growth Temperature

After the plasma ball has formed, then it is superheated to an ideal growth temperature. Once it reaches this temperature, it is held there until the diamonds are finished growing.

Step 4: Carbon Atoms Transfer from the Plasma to the Seed Diamonds

As the seed diamonds are subjected to the superheated plasma ball, carbon atoms from the plasma stick to the seed diamonds. Over the course of a few weeks, the seed diamonds attract layer after layer of carbon atoms and grow into larger diamonds. 

Step 5: The Diamonds are Removed Once They Have Reached Their Ideal Size

Laboratory technicians closely monitor the diamond growth process. Once the diamonds have reached their desired size they are removed from the diamond growth machine. At this stage, they are crystals with a cubic structure.

Step 6: The Cubic-Shaped Diamond is Faceted into a Gemstone

The final step in the lab-grown diamond process is taking the cubic-shaped diamond and faceting it into a gemstone ready to be placed into a metallic setting.