[richipat]

Has anyone heard of this? Vapor encapsulated nuclei?

I was just surfing around and came to this website http://www.islandpearls.net/newtech.htm and found it strange.

I guess the bizarre thing was a pearl in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head and a pearl with a raised dolphin in the center. It was all very alien and just not quite the thing for me.

Anyone know anything?

[jshepherd]

It is an operation run by Paul Cross and Michael Crowe of American Bio-Gem in La Jolla, California.

The vapor-encalsulated nucleus project is still in theory at the moment. I tried to get some for a test about a year ago but failed. It is a great concept if it works. But as far as I know it has not been tested yet.

The pearls with the faces are called icon pearls. They insert an implant into the mollusk shell by drilling through the shell and attaching the implant under the mantle. I believe they are currently running tests in French Polynesia, in fact, I introduced them to Josh a few months ago as a possible partner.

[smetzler]

Seems like nacre itself is being shown the door (visions of Bio-Gem top secret files on the fabrication of aragonite ceramics, an association with Josh to obtain unlimited samples for replication).

[Pearling Technologies]

From what it says, it is a coating that covers the stain on/within a nucleus and I guess essentially provides a blank canvas. Not sure why you'd want to do this process which would add cost to the nucleus. Black pearls grow happily on stained nuclei and no colouration shows through so why bother masking it? Unless it also provides some other benefits.

We have experimented (as have others) with growth hormones, etc but no definitive just yet.

[Mikeyy]

I don't know why you would want vapor on your nuclei. Sounds like a Mickey Mouse outfit to me. Isn't vapor just a lot of hot air? Ask them to send you some of these nuclei. And then see if your order vaporizes. LOL

Sorry I cracked myself up. Good thing I wasn't drinking coffee.

They once had the idea of putting bar codes on the nuclei.