Hi Knotty,
I'm inclined to think that the necklace is not pearls as I see some rather sharp looking corners, but none of the rainbow lustre one would expect of pearls. Perhaps some lucite-type squares or maybe plastic? That would be lighter weight---------it's a bit difficult to imagine what they were trying to achieve. Petal pearls are so gorgeous in their own right, they don't need much, IMO, certainly not layering like fish scales.