[J Marcus]

Wow! It's taken me a while to weigh in on this. That arrangement of Pau pearls just stuns me! What a beautiful suite. Words cannot do justice. This is carrying one-of-kind to its' top end. I'm sure there must be nothing else like it in the world. Simply amazing. Thank you for showing this to us.

It's been my intention to take part in this thread all along but I have nothing on a par with that grand spectrum to show so I won't even try. Rather, I will explore examples and issues on more of an individual basis. As well, I take part in PG more as a way to educate myself on many of it's myriad subjects rather than as someone with any related expertise (Other than goldsmithing.) When I weigh in on any subject I do so as a student seeking to learn and that is what intrigues me about the subject of this thread.

I think that there are a number of aspects to abalone color that we might look at. It seems to me that the color in these mulloscs is caused and influenced by several factors. Some of these are iridescence, the base color of the shell material, conchiolin, layer thickness, thickness of cumulative layers, shell transparency. . . I'm sure that there are other influences as well, such as weathering, sun bleaching and who knows what all.

I spent a few hours reading, rereading and checking out references in the threads of the Pearl Guide trying to understand the concept of "orient" over the last couple of days. After looking at shells over and over again and thinking about it I've come to the tentative conclusion that, for at least a couple of reasons, it doesn't apply to abalones, at least in most of them. I state this as an example of something we could explore and that I'd like to hear others opinions on.

I also find that it is quite difficult to discern the base color of the shell material--these things tend to be so wildly iridescent! I'm going to try to cut some very thin sections of the shell and look through them with transmitted light rather than refracted or reflected.

Since New Zealand Natural Pearl has us thinking in terms of color range, I'll post some pictures that I have taken that show some interesting variations of color in west coast USA abalones. The first two are from the edge of the muscle scar area in the center of the shell. The blisters themselves show the layered effect that the shell there has and these are good examples of the just how colorful they can be. It is also, I'm afraid, an example of how the time of day may affect the colors. These were shot very late in the day, near sunset and seem to by missing most of the yellows that I see in them more to the middle of the day. The third one is not at all common in that it shows somewhat more than a 50% preponderance of a gold color. This seems to be a result of a thin layer of conchiolin that was starting to be deposited at the time of it's demise. I have just a few mabe's that show this in varying degrees, this being the best example. This conciolin seems to be as hard and durable in the pink and red abalones as the nacre. The last picture is of a mabe' from a black abalone showing the lighter tone and the delicate shading to the iridescence in the shell of these creatures.

Marc
http://www.flyrodjewelry.com/home.html

[Nerida]

Marc - wow, thank you. Once again your post has made me feel privileged to learn from your knowledge and experience.

These examples are stunning. I have had no "soft spot" at all for abalone until I started reading posts from you and NZ ... thank you again. I actually love the luminescence of the mabe in the final photo - minus the wildly exotic colours of the others, it is gentle and natural and just oh so beautiful. Size? Intent for this piece?

[New Zealand Natural Pearl]

Thank you Marc. The basic of pearling technology is so simple to understand, compared with the Natural Creation. It leaves more
questions than answers but let us all learn together.
Our observations of colour lay-up have led us to believe that
El Nino has a bearing on nacre production.
e.g.. If you polish a shell the outside will show nacre growth
in stages (similar to rings on a tree). We find every several years
there is an extremely thick layer of nacre - we assume that this would
apply to the creation of pearls.( We need to do more work in this area.)
We also find pearls in their early stage of formation tend to be pale in
colour until they lay up their first dark brown conchiolin layer. That,
in turn, when coated again with argonite turns the pearl into rich
green, red or blue colour. ( we will supply photos when camera is
fixed) Meantime another mixed colour photo - of Golden South Sea
Pearls and blue natural abalone earrings.

[smetzler]

Originally Posted by J Marcus

I spent a few hours reading, rereading and checking out references in the threads of the Pearl Guide trying to understand the concept of "orient" over the last couple of days. After looking at shells over and over again and thinking about it I've come to the tentative conclusion that, for at least a couple of reasons, it doesn't apply to abalones, at least in most of them. I state this as an example of something we could explore and that I'd like to hear others opinions on.

Originally Posted by smetzler

(Haliotus genus serves as an argument against too closely associating iridescence with 'orient.')

We had a thread or two last year where yours truly attempted to disassociate 'orient' and iridescence, quite unsuccessfully—tantamount to divorcing vanilla from ice cream. What seems certain is that whatever disparate concept of 'orient' may locally prevail, it should primarily tease.

[hopepaua]

Originally Posted by New Zealand Natural Pearl

Our Natural Abalone Rainbow of Colour.Attachment 4568
A New thread opened up to discuss colour and origin of colour

Denise, you must spent hours to lays these pearls, great job!
I wish I can help you.
Watch out the naughty meows!

[knotty panda]

I realize you need to set these in metal, but somehow it breaks my heart to have anything but these beautiful pearls on display. On the other hand, when it's set, you'll have to post another pic for us to feast our eyes on! Naughty meows? Is that like my distant relative?

[hopepaua]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

I realize you need to set these in metal, but somehow it breaks my heart to have anything but these beautiful pearls on display. On the other hand, when it's set, you'll have to post another pic for us to feast our eyes on! Naughty meows? Is that like my distant relative?

Here it is!

[Nerida]

What a stunning cat!! Very aristocratic!

[barbie biggs]

That comment belongs here but maybe a copy could go the 'pets' thread. What a fabulous creature. Nice picture of...is that a chocolate cat?
barbie

[barbie biggs]

Clarification on the comment, comment. Does Naughty Meows play with pearls or other valuables?

[J Marcus]

Originally Posted by Nerida

I actually love the luminescence of the mabe in the final photo - minus the wildly exotic colours of the others, it is gentle and natural and just oh so beautiful. Size? Intent for this piece?

Hello again Nerida,

The overall size of this one is: 21.5mm X 18.3mm. The size of just the blister is about 16mm X 15mm X 5.45mm (height) for a H/W ratio of about .35. A notably higher ratio than average, I would say.

Intent? W-e-e-e-l-l-l-l . . . My intent, I'm sure it goes without saying, is to sell it. However, I've been looking at a number of stones that I could set it with and am considering setting it as a pendant underneath a larger druzy heart--sparkly shades of grey with sinuous grooves running through it. We'll see. I'm working on a couple of others first, one of which I've never shown yet from a red abalone. As a teaser I'll mention part of what I'm calling it: Freckled Lady, Strapless Gown,... I'm accenting it with a pear shaped ruby. It should be done soon.

Oh yes, I have another mabe' from a black abalone that is a real knock-out! I hope to post a picture very soon.

Take care,
Marc
http://www.flyrodjewelry.com/home.html

[GemGeek]

Originally Posted by hopepaua

Here it is!

Your fur-designer is tres-chic!

[jerin]

Originally Posted by barbie biggs

That comment belongs here but maybe a copy could go the 'pets' thread. What a fabulous creature. Nice picture of...is that a chocolate cat?
barbie

This cat breed belongs to a group that is called "Oriental Shorthair" or maybe it is a Havana Brown, if he/she has green eyes.
Very elegant to look at. She/he is in the right place with all those lovely pearls....

[hopepaua]

He is a wonderful cat belongs to New Zealand Natural Pearls.When I was there, cats are taking nap near or on the beautiful gems. They are jewelers cats, they seems to know what to play with or not. (Sorry about not to related from thread.)

[barbie biggs]

Animals are related to everything. Thanks for bringing him along.
barbie