A Taitian Keishi Necklace.

[Bodecia]

This is my own Tahitian keishi necklace. Now broken up for the pearls as I hated the necklace itself. Horrible gold plated beads and threaded on wire. How cruel to pearls. One of the pearls is totally wrecked due to the goldplated beads cutting into it. The rest survived although a couple had minor damage not necessarily caused by the wire or beads but by lousy packing and drilling.

The pearls look much better loose in a box than they do on this Yuck necklace though. Have just taken a photo of them loose with a few others. In second photo. The 3 in the middle were the ones I considered damaged. My photos are lousy though and the pearls look better in real life than in the photo. Sorry.

I think some of them are very nice though and the best will go into my small but growing collection for a necklace one day.

Bo

[Bodecia]

This is after the pearls were freed from the wire and metal cage. The 3 in the middle are damaged in one way or another. The ones on the right arrived with the necklace but were not part of it. Some good, some not so good and a couple or three which I have my doubts on whether they are keshi. Can keshi have ring growth on them?

Overall pleased with them but disappointed with ones being damaged.

Bo

[Kevin Canning]

I think they would look nice on display in a half shell - but as jewelry they don't have a lot of appeal to me.

[pattye]

I love keishi! The lustre can be so amazing, and they have an informality that is fun, and the individuality of each strand makes people ask what they are! Bo, I agree your Keishi are not set off by the gold beads! If they are tiny, multiple strands can be twisted together in a torsade too. I also like using my smaller ( and less expensive) strands as "chains" for pendants and enhancers. IMO---
Pattye

[Valeria101]

Speaking of the keshi posted - count another vote for setting them on a chain. With a couple of tiny colored stone beads to pic up the colors on the pearls, they'd look fantastic, IMO. For some reason, the designs combining black pearls and small bits of color that pic the overtone of the pearls have a particular appeal... to me at least. The pearls seem very well served indeed, and it doesn't have to be terribly expensive.

[pattye]

Another thought--
I do see partial strands of Keshi for sale at quite reasonable cost, and perhaps you could replace the damaged ones and add a few more too if you wished--they have so much variation, I think it would not be too hard to find a lot that would compliment them.
Pattye

[jshepherd]

Maybe it would be fun to do something crazy like replace the bad ones with freshwater keshis or maximas. There are enough colors in the existing pieces to make it work.

[Cam Hatch]

Would anyone consider drilling Keshi's the opposite way and making a full strand?? These are 11-16mm...not really to my liking but an interesting one-off strand that's for sure. What do you think?

[pattye]

Hi Cam,
I think those pearls look really interesting. About the size of large coin pearls, but more baroque. Looks like lots of lustre and fascinating colors. Coins I've seen are usually side drilled, not center drilled, but I have seen both. I think these would be fun to use if side drilled, now the circle shape is so popular, perhaps linked with some open circles in white gold and some high quality chain. Sort of a negative-positive look. I have never seen keishi this shape and size, however. But you no doubt see some truly amazing pearls (I've looked at your Pinctada website more than once!!!)!!!
Pattye

[Cam Hatch]

Hi Pattye
Yes, have seen some pretty interesting pearls and designs, that's the great thing about being in this industry! IMO some things are not attractive, but still amazing pieces.