Author Archives: WendyG

Day five.. pearl finding

White mirror metallic rounds.

White mirror metallic rounds.

A busy day again, full of pearl finding. I picked up where I left off, working through the wants list of loose single and pairs. It took more than an hour to find ten perfect pairs of AAA white mirror metallic pearls. It is staggering how many variations are possible in what should be a simple task – after all, how much variety can there be? Well the answer, of course, is zillions. For perfect pairs the size, colour, overtone, lustre and mirror size and quality must all match perfectly.

Of course that is perfection. Later in the day Betty Sue King and I were sadly contemplating some big round bead nucleated ‘pairs’ most of which were sort of maybe something like. Betty Sue is a leading American pearl supplier with a lifetime of knowledge and skill in the pearl world. I just sit there learning when she is in the room.

Before that though one of the highlights was a collection of nuggety ice cream coloured 10mmish undrilled mirror metallics. Not sure what I will do with them, but at the moment I’m thinking some pretty and feminine station bracelets with silver chain.

Once I had paid for the pearls at the morning supplier I moved on to a second. Poking around the shelves, I pounced on some big and colourful bead nucleated baroques. Some of them huge -30mm and more. They were bead nukes gone a bit wonky.

Huge baroque bead nucleated pearls

Huge baroque bead nucleated pearls

Variable in quality, never the less, there were some big colourful baroques for some dramatic earrings. There were two bags of those, and then one bag of pretty rubbish pearls in which was modestly sitting this huge true blue pearl

The pearl is a true blue, not a grey with a blue overtone. It is truly blue

The pearl is a true blue, not a grey with a blue overtone. It is truly blue

The wholesale staff member and I both gasped. You can see how how big the pearl is. There are a couple of fairly big flaws but ..oh that colour!

It’s now mine (of course!)

For the last hour I dashed off to the findings supplier and grabbed silver, vermeil and gold clasps, earrings, pendant fittings, rings, enhancers and so on. Oddly the staff wanted to go home, so I left my basket. I’ll select some of the beautiful Italian-made and designed woven silver necklets

Day Four……lots of really fabulous pearls

This has been a great day, with lots of really fabulous pearls found. After the disappointment of yesterday I decided to go to one of my favourite but much smaller suppliers. This office is usually chaotic, with piles of pearls, bags of pearls, boxes of pearls and random pearls piled up on any available surface with no logic or system.

Four staff members, and most of the work done by one tiny amazing woman, while the boss tends to wander randomly handing you hanks of pearls he rather suspects you might like.and people pop in and out, just visiting apparently.

I like it there because there is most certainly no hard sell technique in operation. They have great pearls if only you can find them. It’s the only pearl company where I can get those rosebud/granulated pearls.

So I got stuck right in and have scooped some lovely rounded granulated rosebuds in creamy white and natural colours. then moved to white big smooth and rounded potatoes with metallic lustre

At my next prowl around I found a large box of ripples..not super dark colours, medium tones with some lovely shades and a few which I’m going to call moonlight ripples, delicate pale rounds with a silver overtones which stops them simply looking wishy-washy or pallid. I would not want wishy washy or pallid.

Mass ripples

Mass ripples

Then we moved on to smooth bead nucleated pearls. I’ve found some with great lustre and colour. Bead nucleated freshwater pearls, once very unusual, are becoming more and more common and available, in more sizes and qualities.

The boss wandered over. Most of the pearls he showed me were not what I wanted but this handful of undrilled metallic big natural colour rounds. A pair of delicate15mm golds looked right back at me. They were expensive. I mimed falling off my chair. the price came down. I go back on the chair but looked unhappy still and the price came down a bit more…this went on for a while until the pearls won and I caved. Wouldn’t you?

Delicate golds...wouldn't you?

Delicate golds…wouldn’t you?

Sensing a weakness boss then produced a bag of different natural colour pearls…without even thinking I was making pairs. Would I like a card to put them on? Then round whites.A tray of whites. The variety of shades..creamy, rose, silver overtones and fractions of a mm variation in size.

I finished the day with a selection from a big box of 8mm natural coours drops – all metallic o course. I picked up a bag of similar blacks and tipped them out then..nah…all pearled out. I could do no more. I had done enough for the day.

Day Three…natural colours akoya pearls…not….

Today has been a bit disappointing. I had hoped to be sourcing some exciting natural colours high quality akoya pearls but due to some misunderstanding the pearl farmer who I had hoped would be a new source came to meet me with white pearls.

I would have got some of them as they were great quality but they were in bundles and he was not prepared to break the bundles to allow me to select the very best strands for you, so I walked away with just a very very few undrilled loose 7mm natural colour rounds

natural colours akoya pearls

natural colours akoya pearls

I felt very disappointed as the few pearls I’ve got are blue/grey, pale gold and even delicate pink. I think there are a couple of pairs possible for earrings and maybe a station necklace or bracelet…But I had hoped for strands…..

Day Two…..Phew……lots of pearls

A great day.Spent the whole day at my favourite supplier and we’ve made some serious inroads into the big ‘wants’ list.Lots of pearls.

9.30 in the morning. I’m already seated at the big table, and there are some huge dark ripples spread out before me. Life is good!

In the end I selected a beautiful AAA metallic strand of bead nucleated pearls, a strand of really big soft gold white ripples and a strand of huge dark ripples.

Next were bead nucleated singles. various sizes and I’ve got a collection of the most stunning colours with the most intensely metallic lustre you could ever want

Stunning drops

Stunning drops

Then I was shown some of the latest harvest of Ming bead nucleated pearls. Phew. Up to 17mm, pretty much clean with only faint blemishing and metallic lustre and rich colour. I couldn’t decide which to select (all three?) so asked Twitter. Within a few minutes my mobile was throwing out replies! Each strand had votes. Watch this space to see what I decided.

Thee huge dark bead nucleated strands with metallic lustre

Thee huge dark bead nucleated strands with metallic lustre

Moving right along, How do 13mm and 14mm white metallic drops sound to you?

White metallic drops

White metallic drops

Finally I was given the first showing of some totally new pearls. They are small, 5mm to about 9mm, but with intense colours and mirror metallic lustre. Anyone have any idea what these little beauties are

Mystery new pearls

Mystery new pearls

I resisted the impulse to immediately buy every one and found nine pairs – mostly smaller sizes, for earrings and some singles which will be set onto rings. No-one yet has got what they are!

Being dutiful I tried to move on to black drops but when I spread them out I glanced at the clock…nearly 6pm! No wonder I was all pearled out for the day!

More tomorrow

Hong Kong 2014…day one

The plan is to get onto Hong Kong time as quickly as possible so that tomorrow morning I’ll be out, bright of eye, to start finding those metallic pearls.

Last year there was a real shortage of natural colour and black half drilled pearls, so good pearls for earrings are top of the list. Earrings are always popular because they make good presents.

Short entry today, no pearls!

Pearl Diver one of the victims of MH17

One of the victims of the MH17 atrocity was a pearl diver and jeweller – the award winning Gerry Menke from MAPA – growing, harvesting, and crafting abalone pearls.
http://mapapearls.com/Mallacoota_Aba…alia/Home.html

Congratulations Michelle Keegan

By permission of Robin Kennedy Bare Media

Congratulations to Michelle Keegan, voted runner up sexiest person in the world and sexiest in the UK in the poll run every year by FHM magazine..and she wears pearls – Pearlescence anklet pearls. So delighted for her. What a launch for her career in the big world away from the cobbled streets of Wetherfield.

Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright

Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright

Caveat emptor – buyer of pearls beware

Some of the internet is awash with rubbish pearls. (Not Pearlescence.co.uk of course!) (Yes, I would say that) The problem we have with these rubbish pearls is that people see Tahitian pearls for a tenner on eBay and wonder why we have strands for £3k. While I was at the London Assay office a week or so ago I took the opportunity to check up on some clasps which we had recently acquired. Last month we decided to do a little research and buy some pearls off eBay and off Aliexpress. We chose ripple pearls as they are the pearls currently hot in fashion terms so likely to attract all manner of sellers.

Ripples seem to be described either as Kasumi pearls (which they are not) or as nuclear (presumably a mistranslation of nucleated). We forgave the latter but not the former. Along the way we also bought a couple more strands which looked interesting.

Without exception the pearls in no way measured up to their (stock) photos (which appeared in many different listings at different prices). They were invariably of poor colour, smaller, with many flaws and generally worth very little. Some, which had been sold as finished necklaces, were a total mis-sell since the silver and gold clasps were plated – and this was inarguable since they have been checked at the Assay office itself.

For example, these sorry pearls were described as south sea pearls…They are big, but they are clearly nucleated freshwater circley pearls, with some satiny lustre but with a preponderance of nasty chalky areas and some ear wax yellow colour splodges instead of the deep gold of the photo. The clasp was plated and to add insult the silk was too thin and the knotting slack. Poor things

mis-sold pearls

poor things – note the complete lack of any lustre in the base of the pearl at 9

Others in the world of pearls spot freshwaters dyed to resemble Tahitians and south sea pearls with varying degrees of success on these websites.

fake tahitian pearls

Listed on eBay as I write this entry – for £6.70..or £7.10 from another seller or 0.01p in an auction from a third

So..buyers beware. Most pearls I have seen on eBay and other mass selling sites are rubbish. There are a few honest sellers on them, swimming against a strong tide, but no-one is going to sell a. Tahitian pearl necklace with a gold clasp for a tenner.

So, what happened to the pearls and clasps we bought? In the bin

Behind securely closed doors: The London Assay Office

The London Assay office, where much of the gold, silver, platinum and palladium sold in the UK is hallmarked, lives on the third floor of the hall or headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a stone’s throw from St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London.

Hall of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

Hall of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

I was fortunate to be one of the lucky few gold and silversmiths to be included in a party allowed in for a day to see the processes involved.

History

Hallmarking is the the oldest form of consumer protection in the UK, with Goldsmith’s Guild getting its first royal charter from Edward III in 1327 (the guild HQ has been on the same site since 1339) . Now the guild, through the London Assay Office, is one of four independent

ceiling in main hall

The sumptuous ceiling in the main hall

organisations (also Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh) which assay precious metals as required by the 1973 Hallmarking Act.

A hallmark is NOT a trademark. A hallmark is punched or lasered into the metal after the metal content is analysed and it is confirmed to be of a certain standard. Each hallmark tells you who made the piece or sent it for assay (the sponsor’s mark – Pearlescence’s is WMG in a cartouche shape) what quality of what metal both in traditional and millesimal (figures) marks, which assay office and in what year.

The Assay office also conducts an annual examination of the coins manufactured by the Royal Mint (known as the Trial of the Pyx) and uses its huge collection of old silver items as a resource for the dating of suspect antiques. Two years ago the head of assay personally checked and hallmarked every gold and silver medal for the London Olympics.

Modern Hallmarking

It seems astonishing that every item sent in for assay is individually checked…but it is. A method dating back to Roman times, touch testing is the quickest and simplest. Pearlescence’s silver ring was checked in a demonstration (no photos by me, unfortunately due to obvious security needs). In a method which ancient Romans and Egyptians would recognise and still be able to carry out, the piece is simply rubbed onto a highly polished tile of lydite until a 1cm by 2mm ish streak is made. Compare that with the streak made by a touch needle of known quality. check by a drop of acid on both. If they match you have identified the metal and its quality (in this case Sterling 925 silver)

The second ancient method is cupellation (which is a splendid word) and this method dates back to pre-Roman times. It is the most accurate. The gold sample is weighed very accurately then a known amount of silver is added in a process called inquartation. this mix is wrapped in lead foil and shaped into a ball, which is placed in a cupel. the cupel is put into a furnace for 20 minutes and everything melts. everything except the pure gold and silver is absorbed into the cupel. Dissolve the silver in acid (parting) Weigh the remaining pure gold, subtract the known amount of silver and simple maths then gives the proportion of gold in the assay item. (accurate to one part per thousand)

hallmarking room.

This is the main hallmarking room. Very skilled

Finally there is the ultra modern x-ray fluorescence where an item is placed into a machine and bombarded with x-rays. The resulting spectrum identifies the metal and carat. Pearlescence tried this with some unknown gold made into a fused ring (9ct) and another ring made of silver wire and fused gold (interestingly the silver only came up to 800 proof with a lot of gold mixed in (so will be marked as silver), while the gold was over 18ct)

Once the items have passed assay they will be hallmarked. This, astonishingly, is still mostly done by hand. we had a go. It’s scary to try to put the London mark onto metal properly and cleanly. The brilliant folk in the photo above do it so well that even with the smallest punch you can still count the (three each side on the leopard’s face) vibrissae.

Alternately marks can be applied with a laser now or mechanically with a press for long runs of identical items

Hallmark being applied with a laser

Hallmark being applied with a laser

Top tip from the day – heartfelt plea from the assayers and markers…please do not pack each item into its own packet. We have instantly resolved to use those plastic compartment trays. Make your assayer love you!

An amazing day, I learned so much. And I even got a certificate!

certificate assay tour

Pearlescence got a certificate!

Nacre depth on bead nucleated freshwater pearls

There’s been a lot of debate recently about the nacre depth on bead nucleated freshwater pearls, along with concerns about the materials being used as the nucleus.

Rather fortuitously while we were making up some necklaces recently and enlarging the drill holes so the silk can be doubled back and hidden two pearls split neatly in half.

One was a white 12.6mm Ming – metallic lustre with rainbow overtones and the other was a prototype small Edison white round of 9.5mm and rippled creamier nacre (If you don’t know the two pearl brand names don’t worry, just ignore).

Nacre depth is a real problem with saltwater Akoya pearls. Some pearls spend such a short time being grown that you can see the bead through the nacre (this is known as blinking because the pearls appear to blink when rolled back and forth). Thin nacre is one of the reasons why we have not carried an extensive stock of Akoya pearls up to now – although having found a couple of suppliers who guarantee decent nacre we will be stocking them more in future)

Tahitian and South Sea pearls are always grown on an inserted bead

But bead nucleation has exploded onto freshwater pearls in just the last few years. With large grower to wholesaler Grace pearl leading the way Chinese pearl farmers are producing huge round pearls from a schegeli/cumingii hybrid in the most amazing range of colours, some pastel and some deep, such as deep purples, as well as rippled surfaced pearls, nicknamed ripple pearls, with shimmering play of colours and often an effect like gold leaf has been added in patches.

ripple pearls

Classic ripple pearls – pink, lavender, blues, and the gorgeous gold leaf overlay effect

Anyway, here is the result of the two broken pearls…

bead nucleated pearls- nacre depth

broken white bead nucleated pearls

You can clearly see the beads and the layer of nacre. In the smaller pearl the nacre is just 0.6mm thick (minimum depth for a Tahitian pearl is 0.8mm over 80% of the pearl surface) so that would be a fail, while the larger pearl has a happy 1.23mm of nacre. Plenty.

Michelle Keegan loves her Pearlescence anklet

It must be nearly two years ago now that we supplied a simple white pearl anklet to Michelle Keegan’s stylist for a photoshoot with a holiday look.

Michelle loved the anklet so of course we gave it to her. And if you want proof that she really does love the anklet here it is out in Dubai on the beach with her and her fiance Mark Wright this week

Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright

Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright

And later on the beach (photo from The Sun

Michelle is leaving top UK soap Coronation Street in May. It was her enthusiasm for this anklet which triggered the making of the whole Beach Collection – which she named.

Beach Collection items are specifically designed to be all the jewellery you need to take on holiday. Either simple pearls or pearls on leather. And they look great on men or women.

added March 30…The anklet is still sending postcards – Today’s Star Sunday calls it ‘delicate’ !

Buy one like Michelle’s here

Bead nucleated pearls and tissue nucleated pearls.

There are two basic types of farmed pearls: bead nucleated and tissue nucleated. (The other main type classification is between cultured or farmed and natural or wild pearls)

Nucleation is the process which starts off the growth of a cultured or farmed pearl. It involves inserting something into a nacre-producing mollusc to trigger production of a pearl. This nucleus can be either just a tiny sliver of mantle tissue on its own or a sliver of mantle tissue plus a bead or other shaped foundation. In either case a nacre secreting pearl sac grows and a pearl is made within that sac.

Bead nucleated pearls include all tahitian and south sea pearls, akoya pearls and many modern big freshwater pearls (brands Edison and Ming) as well as fancy shapes such as coins or hearts.

Tissue nucleated pearls are mostly all freshwater pearls which are therefore all nacre, solid pearl. no bead inside. (Chinese and Biwa freshwaterpearls)

Keishi pearls are an exception. They are the pearls formed inside a usually pre-existing pearl sac from which a pearl has been removed (think of how a balloon looks when the air seeps out over time and you get the idea of a keishi pearl.

oyster diagram

Archetypical shellfish
1 Shell
2 area of mantle tissue from which donor tissue is taken
3 mantle
4 gonad
blobs pearl nucleation placements

Mantle tissue is used because that is the area of tissue which specifically secretes nacre. It’s usually there to make the mollusc’s shell but will produce nacre wherever it is – a talent utilised by the pearl farmer.

Placement of the nucleus varies as well. Beads are placed in the sex organ – the gonad – of the mollusc and only one per mollusc. (You might think that this would stop the mollusc from wanting to reproduce but there is some research which indicates it make them more not less active!)

Tissue nucleated pearl grafts can be many to a mollusc and are placed in the mantle.

The new big thing (last three or so years only) in pearls are the big freshwater bead nucleated pearls from China. These are branded as Edison pearls or Ming pearls or are described as ripple pearls. They are big – up to 17mm, round or symmetrically baroque (because of the bead inside), have a lustre ranging from metallic to gloriously satiny, and a smooth to convoluted or rippled. They come in a range of natural colours from white to pink, purple, peach, gold, with greens and blues. (you can see our ripple pearls here and we have smooth surfaced Edison and generic bead nucleated pearls throughout the freshwater section ..here is one beautiful example of a bead nucleated Edison pearl necklace

Huge record breaking oyster

Not strictly a pearl matter since it isn’t a pearl producing oyster but we can still note this huge record breaking oyster which is reckoned to be possibly as old as 20 years.

world record oyster

world record oyster

The oyster is a Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas), found in the Wadden Sea, off southeastern Denmark and part of the North Sea.

It is still alive and growing in a sea centre. It is 35cm and 11cm wide. It’s attached to five other oysters, so the total weight is 1.62kg

It will now live out a comfortable and cosseted retirement in the sea life centre in Denmark, fed on plankton and algae.

Sleepy koala and cuddly squirrel unique pearl brooches

Towards the end of the last buying trip to Hong Kong I spent a couple of hours poking through some smaller but very beautiful bead nucleated flameballs and baroques. I’ve yet to finish drilling the flameballs I collected for a necklace for myself (I need some hours from somewhere) but I did get to make two of these pearls into brooches last week.

Right from the start my imagination saw this pearl as a sleepy koala bear stretched out on a branch..one leg hanging down and head pillowed on branch and arms.

The lustre on this pearl is incredible, liquid metallic pearl white with rainbow overtones.

Sleepy koala pearl

Sleepy koala

The second pearl will sit up on its own but is still now a brooch…I thought at first it was a cuddly furry rabbit or teddy bear, but have decided it’s a sitting on his haunches cuddly squirrel, with his tail curled to the side. Again amazing lustre and texture and a rainbow of overtones.

Squirrel pearl

Squirrel pearl

To make each of these unique pearls into brooches we spent some time filing a deep and precise groove into the backs of the pearls, which exactly fits the base bar of the sterling silver brooch finding, which is glued into the slot to make the brooch.

The Blue Tahitian Pearl in its New Home

You may remember the blue tahitian pearl which I wangled during the last Hong Kong buying trip….

Blue Tahitian pearl

Blue Tahitian pearl

Well, We just heard from its new owner who has made it into a beautiful pendant on a handmade silver chain necklace. Here it is

blue tahitian pearl

Blue tahitian pearl pendant and silver handmade chain necklace

blue tahitian pearl

Front view

Maker retired jeweller Dennis (who made this for his daughter) told us: ‘First I made a handmade chain, a slimmed down version of an antique pocket watch chain, with a matching adjustment section. It is finished with a small freshwater pearl as a charm. On the other end is a hook fastener in similar style.

The long links were made by stretching large O-rings

The bell for the pendant is like the calix of a mini-aubergine and the whole is a bit like regalia, but it is going overseas, where they are not shy about a bit of power dressing.’

Thank you for letting us know what you made Dennis – we send these pearls out into the world and we do wonder how they fare.

How are pearls measured?

Can you please clarify regarding dimensions offered on pearl drops? Is this for the drop? If so what is the width

-Iwona

Pearls are always measured at 90 degrees (at right angles) to the drill hole if there is one, so for a drop pearl the measurement is indeed the width.

Ah-ha I hear you say. What about undrilled pearls? Well, my best answer would be that with round pearls you can’t tell and for anything else it is where the drill hole will be if there was one, if that makes sense.

Pearls are usually measured with accurate calipers. We use these neat and very accurate electronic ones when measuring pearls for uploading to the website

We measure everything in metric- it’s easier and more accurate. Even when pearl strand lengths are given in inches pearls are measured in mm. That isn’t logical but it is what happens!!

When pearls are being measured en masse to be made into strands or in lots of one specific size they are usually sieved. It took me a while to work out what the pervasive and distinctive rattly noise of pearl sieving was when I first heard it. But it is very accurate too as a way of measuring pearls.

calipers

calipers

but purely mechanical ones are fine too and are most often used in Hong Kong and China.

Our measurements are accurate to fractions of a millimeter, which is pretty small , but you need to be aware that pearls are organic and will vary a little between strands.

(Many auction etc sellers just copy over the wholesalers size description but these can be inaccurate by a mm or more.)

A Special Find….Lake Biwa Pearls

Lake Biwa near Kyoto in Japan was the home once of a thriving freshwater pearl industry.Nowadays the name is often slapped onto thin stick pearls (erroneously)

I have a regular customer/correspondant, Andrew. He teaches classes in Rasa Shastra -making medicines using, amongst other things, powdered pearls. Which is where Pearlescence comes in, obviously. We supply him regularly with both pearl powder from drilling and whole pearls for crushing.

Now a week or so ago I got an excited email from Andrew while he was in Japan, up near Kyoto. Would I be interested in some pearls which apparently were genuine Lake Biwa pearls. Lake Biwa was the centre of the Japanese freshwater pearl industry almost 100 years ago but the farms closed as the lake got hopelessly polluted, too dirty for its own species of freshwater mussel to survive.

Andrew had found the proverbial little old shop which, in a dusty corner, had some pearls which were said to be genuine Biwas.

recently the term Biwa has been slapped onto stick pearls. Stick pearls were produced but mainly production was of small, lustrous freeform pearls. Now these pearls have a slighly silky lustre. Andrew could get no clear paperwork provenance, but these certainly don’t have the look of Chinese freshwaters or of European river pearls. Their lustre is noticeably silky and they have a very clean surface, albeit not particularly regular. Sizes range between 6mm (not many) down to 1mm. they’re white with a rainbow orient.

biwa pearls

Biwa pearls

Now please note I am not saying for certain that these are Biwa pearls, just that there is a strong likelihood.

(I’m not going to drill the 1mm ones either)

Which silk to use to string Japanese Cultured pearls?

I need some advice regarding pearl stringing please. I have been asked to string some Japanese Cultured pearls purchased by a friend several years ago.

I need guidance regarding silk size and possible colour. the pearls are not white but a creamy beige. Should I be looking for a close colour match or just use white silk?

-June

Which silk colour?

White stringing silk is not brilliant white. It is made especially for pearls so it is a gentle white with a touch of cream, so it will be fine with akoya pearls. realistically brilliant white silk would soon get slightly discoloured anyway.

What size?

As for what size…that depends on what method of stringing you are planning to use, and how large the holes are in the pearls. There are about as many different methods of stringing pearls as I’ve had the proverbial hot dinners. (this is how we do it here at Pearlescence http://www.pearlescence.co.uk/extra_info_pages.php/pages_id/5 )

Many Japanese akoya pearls – especially early strands (sometimes called 3.5 momme strands because that is what they weighed in the old pearl weight system) – only had the first and last few pearls knotted anyway.

If the pearls at each end have the same size hole as all the others then, unless you are planning to enlarge those holes to 1mm you’ll need size 3 which will allow you to double back and hide your ends. If you can enlarge the holes or they are already 1mm you can go up to size 4 (which is the size we always use)

Size 3 silk

Size 3 silk

(http://www.pearlescence.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/93_41_48_148/products_id/773 )

Do you have some French wire or gimp to cover the silk as it attaches to the clasp? The tiny metal coils protect the silk from wearing and give a professional finish?

french wire

french wire

( http://www.pearlescence.co.uk/index.php/cPath/93_41_115 )

Before you take the necklace apart it is a good idea to clean the pearls and check the clasp, btw. And do make sure you keep the original order – very easy to mix up the pearls so it all goes horribly wrong

Ripple Pearls Get Their Own Section in the Website

It isn’t really very earth shattering news, but we’ve made it easier for pearl lovers to find the gorgeous ripple pearls on the Pearlescence Website (here) .

Nerida Harris of Australian pearl trade supplier Pearl Perfection and I spotted the first of the ripple pearls to appear on a vendor’s stand at the Hong Kong Gem show in September 2010. There was one hank, buried under many other white pearls and the rage of the time, souffle pearls (whatever happened to them?) Just the one hank of eight strands of these huge, rippled surfaced pearls of obviously natural colours which looked as if they had had gold leaf appiled to parts of their surface.

ripple pearls

Classic ripple pearls – pink, lavender, blues, and the gorgeous gold leaf overlay effect

Nerida took four and I took four.I can remember we looked at eachother and said ‘oooh’ They sold within a few days of going on our websites.

We got more next time we were each in Hong Kong. I found some huge white ones which I only realised when I got home and looked again at them looked remarkably like white south sea pearls

white ripple pearls

White ripple pearls. Some have the same satin lustre as south sea pearls for a fraction of the price.

Rpple pearls have proved so popular now that I decided that they need to be easier to find on the website and merit their own section – so it is here

The pearls are bead nucleated and are usually between 10mm and 16mm in size.

There are lots of places on the ripple bandwagon now – and when I was in Hong Kong last September they were certainly more plentiful. But there were an awful lot of really second rate pearls around, with poor colour and massive blemishing. Just not good enough for Pearlescence. The sort of pearls which end up on eBay or with sellers who don’t go to Hong Kong or mainland China to select each and every strand themself.

What’s the Difference Between Wild Pearls and Non-Nucleated Pearls?

What is the difference between wild pearls (natural pearls)and non-nucleated cultured pearls? At the moment it is thousands of £ and an educated guess without 100% provenance.

Telling the difference between a pearl which has come about in a wild shell as against what could be called a keishi or simply a tissue nucleated pearl is sometimes impossible. But necessary because the true wild pearl – usually called a natural pearl in the trade – can be worth a huge amount of money.

It has been a problem since culturing began about 80 years or so ago.

The Gemological Institute of America and Australian South Sea pearl company Paspaley have worked to collect natural pearl samples from Paspaley’s wild Pinctada Maxima beds. Australia’s wild pearl oyster beds have been fished continuously since the mid-1800s

In 10 days aboard a Paspaley ship GIA researchers collected 776 natural pearls from 20,488 large wild oysters. Most were were small “seed” pearls, with the smallest measuring under 1mm ir, and the largest was 16mm.

south sea wild pearls

The 776 swhite south sea wild pearls

Since these pearls have a clear provenance they can be used to establish benchmark criteria for future pearl assays and for now extensive research will be carried out using in-house high resolution real-time microradiography and micro CT imaging, as well as detailed chemical analyses and other tests.

The research will be published when completed.

There is no such thing as AAAA grade, especially for grade A pearls

This post is going to be a bit of a rant. Because there is no such thing as grade AAAA pearls – especially when the pearls are grade A.

silly pearl grades

The Jewellery Channel says this is grade AAAA

Flicking through the channels I saw that a selling channel was having a pearl day. I happened on this necklace for £30 plus shipping. It is described at grade AAAA and does seem to have reasonable lustre. But even on screen and now with the photo I can see rings and the pearls are no-where near round. The depressing thing is that 500 of these things have sold, and that means that 500 people will believe that these really are top quality pearls.

Close up – not round

I caught another channel a few days ago and the presenter there said freshwater pearls grew because a bit of sand or coral got into the oyster. Also they are selling what must be short grown akoya, because decent akoya cost more trade than their retail. (and I checked with a big buyer, so it isn’t just economy of scale). The nacre must be wafer thin.

Another sells dyed potato pearls as the finest of the harvest (noooooooooooo)

This isn’t business rivalry speaking, it is annoyance at the flood of cack pearls and cack information which these channels spew forth, and since they have huge audiences, this rubbish will be believed as correct and true. That’s simply annoying

And here finally, is a tahitian and platinum ring for £30,

Tahitian black!

Tahitian black!

Except, of course, it is, I suspect a ‘tahitian black’ freshwater pearl (It certainly looks like a freshwater pearl) and it is platinum plated on silver.

I thought eBay was bad enough for pearls….

Blue Tahitian Pearl. So Pretty

I’m still working through all the pearl stock I got in Hong Kong but one pearl stands out. I’m posting it here simply because a blue Tahitian pearl is so rare and so pretty.
I had to negotiate hard with the wholesaler to persuade him to break a large lot of pearls to sell just this one pearl but after nearly an hour of on and off work he caved and sold just the one pearl to me.

Blue Tahitian pearl

Blue Tahitian pearl

Wholesalers don’t like to take specimen pearls ouf of lots because the value of the lot as a whole drops if you cherry pick the really good ones.
This pearl is round to the eye but off round in fact (15.3mm by 14.3mm) and a delicious royal blue/Microsoft blue. With a metallic lustre and only minute flaws, it’s a beauty and I’ve only ever seen one other Tahitian so blue – and 100% natural colour.

Blue Tahitian pearl

Blue Tahitian pearl

At the moment I’m just enjoying the pearl and not making any decisions on what to do with it, partly because whatever I do will need to be something special.

I’ll take suggestions and designs and the pearl is for sale on the website as is.

About Half Done – Sorting the Hong Kong New Stock

So, we’re about half way now in getting sorted, catalogued. processed, made, into stock, photographed and uploaded all the pearl delights which I brought back from Hong Kong and the Gem Show..is it really two weeks ago now?

The time has passed in a haze and daze of sorting through bags and bags and piles of pearls, knotting necklaces, and uploading loose strands. Now we’re as far as drilling some of the undrilled to make earrings etc.

Yesterday I sat at my workbench and went through about ten cards of pairs, working out exactly where to drill them – sometimes it’s easy to figure, as an otherwise perfect pearl has a nobble or dent in just one place,. That’s where you drill, to hide the flaw in the hole and under a finding, hopefully. But some pearls have a sort of smeary patch and deciding just where to drill is then a bit more problematic. In any case, I mark all pearls with a black dot – it makes lining up the drill bit exactly correctly much easier.

So this is how the drill area looked first thing.

drililng undrilled pearls

Cards of undrilled pearls lined up and queueing for their moment in the drill

I’ve worked fairly steadily and the queue has gone down. I’m especially pleased with a card of peacock tahitians. They really are very pretty – all peacocks and some pale ones with a tourquise body and pink ‘eye’

Tahtian peacock pearls in various body shades with beautiful overtones

Tahtian peacock pearls in various body shades with beautiful overtones

There are also some fabulous metallic white drops and some white ‘splatts’ flattish pearls shaped a bit like ink blots which will be earrings and cufflinks. Plus some absolutely fabulous huge gold leaf ripple drops for pendants and earrings – and some frilly fireballs.

Since these are all top quality pearls I usually change the drill bit after 10 pearls because they go blunt very quickly and I usually drill quite a deep half drill. It give the glue/air pocket at the end some space so that the finding doesn’t bounce out when you put it down and leave it to dry. The first time I ever drilled some pearls I did them to the exact depth of the pin and when I came back to check them after leaving them to dry every single one had risen about 1mm out of the holes. You only learn by doing!

These beautiful Tahitians will be on the website soon, and will be priced to make a great Christmas pearl present

Quirky Pearls

I’ve called them quirky pearls for want of a better name. They’re bead nucleated little shiny mis-shapes which i found in amongst hundreds of strands of really junk pearls – pearls so bad I was surprised they were allowed in the office.

I pulled about eight strands out of eight large dustbin size bags and then cherry picked the best pearls to make these three longish necklaces from the pearls now that I’m back at the workshop.

Probably not the best use of my time but I wanted to see if I had anything useful. There’s enough for a couple more necklaces and then that will be it

There’s one strand of what looks like natural white with mixed overtones and patches of metallic lustre ….

White quirky pearls long necklace

White quirky pearls long necklace

Then two of natural colours pearls, with some fabulous gold patches and drop-ish shapes with lumps and bumps – all sorts of character

quirky pearls

Natural colours – mostly golds and pinks

(http://www.pearlescence.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/3773)

quirkly pearls

slightly lighter tones, still gold and pinks mostly

Technically they are pretty poor pearls, but they are idiosyncratic, with colour, lustre and texture and bags of character – get these and you won’t see any more similar.