[Valeria101]

Caitlin, your thread with natural pearl cleaning is getting its fair share of use!

Perhaps we should have a special service for cleaning & restringing natural pearls 'round here!

[aerinha]

Ok Valeria, underwear comment henceforth deleted from my vocabulary, if only I could delete it from my mind I write (not that I'm published, but I attempt to write my novel every night) so mental images tend to stick with me.

Caitlin, if the pearls look dry, I've heard near constant wearing next to skin will help? Actually I've heard mixed things on this. One place says skin oils are bad for pearls and another says skin oils make them shine. Is this a cultured vs. natural difference? My boss will love all the low-cut tops I'll have to wear to keep a matinee length strand against bare skin. Although 20 inches isn't that much longer then my 18 inch strands.

I'm curious to see how I look in smaller pearls, my smallest strands 6.5-7.5mm pink and lavender from PP's mother's day offering in 2006 so 2.5-6.5 will be a change. The rest of my pearls are 7-8 and up.

[Perle]

Caitlin,

Can you see down the drill holes of your naturals? What do they look like? (I've heard mixed/conflicting reports as to whether you can distinguish between naturals and bead nucleated cultured pearls that way.)

Perle

[Caitlin]

Here is a picture of 2 of them where you can see down the holes. The orange holed one... that's a glow not visible on the surface. Our favor bs artist said it could be from Qatarri waters which apparently have a high gold content. I don't know if that is an urban legend, a lie or the truth.

The other one in this picture has nacre the same color as the outside as far as I can see into it.

What is definitive to me is the kind of flaking where Gulf pearls are worn down a bit. It just looks like a Gulf pearl (Pinctada radiata). There is a picture of that pealing in the first photo of the pearls on this strand and the one on the right below shows it also.

[Caitlin]

Most people don't have oily necks, so I don't know where that came from. Sweat is not good. Nor is sunscreen, I would imagine. (Take them off before playing tennis) I think alcohol is the most harmful ingredient in cosmetics, but I bet many perfume ingredents would stain pearls. Maybe hair sprays would be bad too.

Many oils applied to the skin or the pearls are on the acid side of the ph scale, but don't seem acid enough to be visibly harmful.

Jeremy used corn oil on one strand I got, but you couldn't feel a thing, so it was a mighty thin coat.

[Perle]

Thanks, Caitlin!

The peeled area – does it look somewhat like sandwashed beach glass, only with a fine scaly pattern/wavy lines? Translucent, but without the same luster/mirror as the rest of the pearl?

Perle