Right? It's like super difficult to capture the beauty. I can see it, and in person it's just gorgeous, it's just so damn difficult to translate into pics without the pics looking like a plastic-y mess. My aunt saw my Instagram pics of the Asha... says "glass" on the phone. Showed her in person and she was wowed. Like... wowed. Ugh, it's okay, as long as "I" can see it's beauty LOL it's all good.

Congrats ladies on your baking efforts. ;-)

They've proven to have tasty results.

WOW! I'm super impressed! I thought it was pretty before, but you REALLY can tell a difference! I love it! What carat weight is that? Fabulous. I have a 2 something version, and I really like it, but it does look a little plastic-y... and the stones are small so it's hard to tell what they are. What kind of metal is it set in? I have no idea what mine is, maybe platnium covered silver? or covered something? I wonder if this will hurt it?

Hey Brookie, it is 6 1/4 ct tw Diamonvita asschers. This is set in sterling silver. Yeah I was also concerned about the metal, but I heated mine anyway. There was absolutely no change/damage to the sterling silver after the heating. :-) not sure about platinum covered silver though...

My asscher was platinum covered silver and it was totally fine.

S_I, the stones look great, especially the 2nd pic! So not only did the stones get steely, you really do notice a warmer color?

I've baked a Winfield's cz, but I wasn't sure if the warmth I saw was a reflection of the unplated gold prongs.

Agreed. I feel step cuts are harder to photograph. Sometimes videos are better for these cuts.

@MGR: Yeah I noticed a warmer color when viewed to the side. I looked for damages to the silver and found none, so I'm guessing it's from the stone. ^_^

So I finally did it and baked a diamonique 2 carat asscher eternity band (200 for 25, checked midway)- and I SWEAR I can tell- it looks like it went from a glassy/ sometimes plastic-y F CZ to a slightly warmer (g/h?) but much deeper looking, more realistic diamond stimulant. It looks more "oily" or "dewey" .... Better. I will post before/after. I am absolutely baking a few other diamoniques I've had for years- BUT I won't be touching the asha with real diamonds e-ring I'm waiting on. Would die if I hurt it.

I have baked loads of times now, and I have never gotten any great results for 200 and such a short time... You might notice something but I would imagine you would need to get the stone to at least 350 and at least an hour. I tend to do 400 for 2 hours, and I do that 2 or 3 times depending. My asschers have all needed a lot more baking to make them look better.