[pattye]

Never fear, Steve,

We will not let you down! Hopefully Caitlin will also post her thoughts on the day's adventures! Of course, our first stop on Saturday was to return to DruzyDesign. We had left our card yesterday, so she knew to expect us. We were delighted to meet Carolyn herself, her spouse Peter and son Nick and girlfriend. They are all an important part of her business. Care, a lovely, tall, stunning, yet soft-spoken person, dazzled in pearls, which we unabashedly admired and discussed, (no, I have no shame,) from the Kamoka keishi torsade (Josh's pearls), to the bracelet of naturals. The items she had pulled from ebay were there, so it was awesome to examine them. She had a Cortez pendant with amazing colors, gem quality, the finest most colorful pink, green and more than I have ever seen, and I have some Cortez pearls. She had 2 full strands of the Sea of Cortez pearls, too. Even as wonderful as her photos are, one sees more in person. She explained in detail the extraordinary gold work, with the fine granulation, and how the tiny balls are held on with red plant sap until heated and permanently attached. She also had pendants and earrings made with fine wire work, so I pulled out and loupe, and we marveled at the workmanship. I am certain we will go back again at least once. Josh is expected to show up early this week with another parcel of pearls for her. We all look forward to meeting him, too! I did not make a purchase this visit, but will hope to get Kamoka keishi later.

Carolyn said she often refers others to pearl guide for honest info about pearls, and I hope she won't mind me saying she does read pearl guide and contacted Josh because she read about him here and so admired his philosophy of pearl farming. I thought that was sooooo cool!

Anyway, I will go ahead and post this, don't want to loose it like Caitlin did!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[smetzler]

Thanks! Yes, Carolyn exudes a passion for pearls that is only matched by the collective passion of those of us here. I only hope that I will not have to wait another full year before paying a personal visit. Put in a good word for me as I continue to nudge her/Peter towards setting 'La Panda' (ab from Pearl Paradise) as a pendant…

[pattye]

If you have any particular questions, please post them here, and we will try to find out for you. There is a lot of expertise to draw on!

Still Saturday-----

Next stop Kojima Pearls, to meet Sarah Canizzaro, she posts here! Also has a great website www.kojimapearl.com). Steve, you might like to check out the abalone pearls in finished jewelry on her site. We saw a number of the pieces in person. They had some amazing strands of Kasumi Pearls, wrinkly with amazing colors, and some freshwaters, huge, that look almost identical. Care had mentioned these were exceptional. Very high end, if I recall the prices were about 24,000-30,000, totally unique and gorgeous. (I should have brought a book of adjectives, I am running out!) She had some lovely abalone pendants, beautifully done, so I asked if she would like to see mine, turns out it is one of her custom pieces! Wow, small world! She has a friend who does the custom gold work for her, so I was able to find out the designers name! I did buy 2 strands here--pastel large ( 30mm?) ovals for $80, and large flat squarish light pink-lav pearls for $120. Sorry I did not bring a gauge in addition to my loupe. Sarah, young, adorable, was wonderfully friendly and dripping in gorgeous pearls, wearing lots of pearl bracelets, too, which she says she does frequently with no worry.

At the same booth was Pacific Pearl, which has been around a lot longer, we were thrilled to meet highly respected and well known Fuji Voll and share some of his oloong tea and biscuits. He showed me a strand of lovely wrinkly fw large cream to lt gold, enough for a double strand, or long rope. They were round and each pearl had such amazing texture, uniquely beautiful, not a finished necklace yet. They must have been about 13-11mm. I know my intentions were to take notes, but I blew it! We will go back there on the Pearl Walk, if not before.

I love colored gems also, and there have been plenty of those, but haven't had a lot of time to look.

And there is still more for Saturday---next post!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by pattye

Next stop Kojima Pearls...

So, what are the red ones? HERE

[pattye]

Hi Valeria,

We did look at some of the mixed natural strands similar to this, these are most likely Penn pearls, but I will verify that when I see Sarah again. They are sometimes reddish-brown.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[pattye]

What do you want more details about????? Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photos--however Dr. Tom will let us, and Caitlin will do that another day.

[Sueki]

Pattye,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the posts.
I've been eagerly wondering how you are all doing.
Thanks for a cracking good diary of how it's all going so far. Looking forward to the next instalments.
And I am definitely going to Tucson next year, come what may.

[danachit]

ooooOh...thank you for the narration! One of you should have brought a Live Web Cam so those of us stuck back in wish-we-were-there land could have come along...

Btw...that dragon looks like a pearl hemrrhoid. I can just see the finder of that little gem turning it from side to side wondering what on EARTH to do with that glob of glam.

My sites are on Tucson 2009.

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by pattye

What do you want more details about?

Me? Just curious about the unusual reddish round pearls. The other beauties seem familiar. Wow for the site!

Now that you said it, assuming they'd be Penn pearls starts to make sense. The picture does not show much.

[Sueki]

See you there, then, Danachit

[smetzler]

Running between gates in Chicago at the moment, look forward to reading at great length tonight. Also plan to see everyone next year in Tucson!

[GemGeek]

Pearl Guide reporter Blaire is hot on Pattye and Caitlin's heels....

Left San Diego at 4:30 a.m. in order to get to Tucson in time to go to the Pueblo show at Riverpark Inn..

Here is an unperky Blaire, greeting the dawn in her intrepid Plymouth Vibe...



I had to drive for twenty minutes through the mountains in deep fog and total darkness, so I was whooped before I got through the first two hours. The sunrise was worth the wait...



I thought this was cool until I realized that the sun would be directly in my eyes for the next half an hour...



Then everything was gray and drizzley most of the rest of the trip...



I know I'm teasing you! I have pearl photos up the ying yang, but I'll post them separately.

[pattye]

Ok, it's still Saturday---

Off to the Gem Mall, aka GLW (Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers), where there is lots of pearls, gems and stuff--more of the lower price range. Several pearl dealers there, with what looked like acres of pearls! Stacks piled on tables, boxes under the tables as high as they could go. Made another purchase of nice sized off round purple, nice lustre @ $15 a strand at Evergreen from Roy Chen. Something Caitlin noted this year which was different, prices were by strand, but one was expected to buy the whole hank. So we searched for the hank with the best pearls, and because I bought quite a few, Roy let me pull a few strands from other hanks. I think they are about 8mm, and the color still looked good after I got them out of the building. Caitlin wears her freshadama strand, so we can check the lustre against that. It helps to have a strand for comparison; Jeremy has mentioned that before. Also picked up 10 strands 5mm in matching purple for $5 each. They are actually graded A+, but few strands are actually graded. We felt those were a pretty good value. Lots and lots of dyed potato shape, $1 strand in very large hanks. Although it was the first day of the show, they have got a lot of pearls to sell! Did a lot of looking here--lots of stone beads, crystal glass, little carvings lower end kind of things, gifts, etc.

Next a quick stop at Jay's a local bead shop to pick up a couple of bead boards with a plastic cover, great if one is taking a project somewhere, or just setting it aside for awhile. I had not seen them before with the cover, but a good investment in my opinion for under $5wholesale. Here some strands of shell caught my eye, nicely rounded nugget shape, lovely pinky beige to cream color, about 9mm or smaller, Mississippi river shell, couldnt resist 2 strands, under $5 per strand.

Caitlin may have some other observations to add, we think about you all, and wish you were here, it has been great fun for me so far, and we look forward to seeing some of you soon!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[GemGeek]

The pearl girls are in their element!

Okay, the other posting aside from Care Ehret is the same seller Caitlin mentioned - the Peaches from Tenessee, so check out their photos. She was right, they had dark lavender blues and that's what I purchased. I wonder if I was channeling Caitlin???

[pattye]

Glad you are catching up with us, Blaire! LOVE the photos, as always, they add so much. Bet next year a whole herd of forum folk will show up for the fun and education.......

Sunday, Anyway--to catch you all up. Caitlin and I decided to slow up a bit and pace ourselves, but get together about noon at my hotel--she to give me a knotting lesson and me to refresh her earring making skill. We needed some smaller diameter headpins, and after finding 2 bead stores closed, drive back to --where else--Gem Mall, with it's several booths of sterling silver. Of course, we couldn't get out of there with just headpins, I found the brushed wavy disk spacers I love and small daisy spacers, and at another pearl booth small but vibrant brown fw pearls, $1 per strand, but had to buy all 19 on the hank. They are a great size for spacers, about 3mm.

Selections of silver chain were excellent, too, and in all sizes, a great deal of textures and purchased by the gram. I put extenders on a lot of my necklaces, and like matching small chain to use a few links on the earrings. It gives a nice bit of movement with a pearl or gem below. Still popular are lots of round links of varying sizes, ovals, very nice quality, and very much what is found in the marketplace now. Will have to make another trip back when there is more time to shop.

Now I feel more confident having seen in person how to apply gimp and knot back through the beginning and ending pearls. Thank you, Caitlin!!!! I swear she did the whole necklace from beginning to end in about 20-25 minutes, and we were talking during the whole process!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time