Free Guides - The Science of Fine Jewelry

Guide 01 — Treatment Transparency Guide

What Jewelers Don't Tell You — But I Will

Most colored gemstones on the market have been treated. Heat treatment, irradiation, fracture filling, surface coatings — these are standard practice, and most jewelers don't disclose them. This guide explains every major treatment: what it does at the atomic level, how it affects value, when it's legitimate and when it's a red flag, and the 7 questions you should ask before buying any gemstone.

5 pages. Written by a Chemical Engineering professor who evaluates stones the way she evaluates materials in the lab.

WHAT'S INSIDE

—  Why 95–98% of colored gemstones have been treated

—  Heat treatment: intact rutile silk, the unheated premium, value tables

—  Irradiation: why virtually all blue topaz is irradiated

—  Fracture filling vs. oiling: the critical distinction most jewelers skip

—  Surface diffusion and coatings

—  7 questions to ask any jeweler

—  The Bravais Transparency Pledge

Guide 02 — The Lost-Wax Casting Guide

Five Thousand Years of Making One Thing at a Time

Lost-wax casting is one of the oldest metal-forming processes in human history — and the exact process used to make every piece at Bravais. This guide walks through every step, from wax carving to stone setting, explaining the materials science of what actually happens, and why this process means every piece can only ever exist once.

5 pages. Step-by-step with historical context and the science at each stage.

WHAT'S INSIDE

—  A brief history: Indus Valley 2500 BCE to present-day

—  Step 1: Wax carving as a subtractive process — tool marks that transfer to metal

—  Step 2: Sprue trees and investment compound chemistry

—  Step 3: Burnout — what "lost wax" actually means and why the void matters

—  Step 4: Casting — centrifugal vs. vacuum, gold vs. platinum temperatures

—  Step 5: Quench, divest, retrieve

—  Step 6: Stone setting and bench finishing by hand

—  Wax-carved vs. CAD/printed: what the difference actually means

About the Author

Professor Abigail Koppes, Ph.D. — Chemical Engineering & BioMaterials Science, Northeastern University, Founder of Bravais Fine Jewelry. I evaluate gemstones the way I evaluate materials in my lab: at the level of crystal structure, trace element chemistry, and optical physics. Bravais is named after the 14 Bravais lattices — the crystallographic systems that describe the atomic geometry of every mineral on earth. These guides are what I wish had existed when I started collecting gemstones ten years ago.