advice needed on gilding a damaged WSS pearl

[CortezPearls]

Great suggestion la-corsetiere!
Glad to see you back!

[JerseyPearl]

Attachment 77715StarryPearl, if you do a search you may be able to find some examples of our friend Caitlin's nail polish pearls ... I remember meeting teal, and purple and pink? at pearl parties. I seem to recall there are photos here somewhere. She passed on a few years ago, and we miss her dearly; you'll find all kinds of interesting posts under her name Also if you haven't seen, for inspiration, Eliko Pearl sells Maki-e pearls, lacquered and painted with karat golds, sometimes referred to as Mosaic pearls. There are some examples here on PG too, in various threads. The technique they use is a very old Japanese artistry secret, but they do use real gold, and they might provide some inspiration. Here's a sample: My own Maki-e pearl, chosen and set for me by Oceanscove (forever THANKS, Sarah!).

Oh I love seeing this pearl in action!!
Eliko is the US supplier (trade only) for these wonderful pearls. They are each so unique and little works of art.

[StarryPearl]

Hi Cathy,
Thank you for your informative reply! Your pendant is such a piece of ART! Thank you for sharing the picture and your experience with OceanCove. I wasn't able to find Caitlin's nail polish pearls but I found her abalone nail polish, which is both fantastic and very interesting. I searched Eliko Maki-e pearls and got to this page: https://www.elikopearl.com/specialty-pearls/ . It seems customers have to inquire first instead of browsing and choosing? Not sure how that would work when customers do not have something in mind. The photos on the website are extremely delicate and amazing.

Hi la_corsetiere, thanks very much for the epoxy advice! I will give it a try.

Thanks for taking time to read my post and reply! Anyone has any idea about Q1,3,4?

[lisa c]

Starry, would it be possible to show us a photo of the pearl and the damaged area?

[JerseyPearl]

Hi Cathy,
Thank you for your informative reply! Your pendant is such a piece of ART! Thank you for sharing the picture and your experience with OceanCove. I wasn't able to find Caitlin's nail polish pearls but I found her abalone nail polish, which is both fantastic and very interesting. I searched Eliko Maki-e pearls and got to this page: https://www.elikopearl.com/specialty-pearls/ . It seems customers have to inquire first instead of browsing and choosing? Not sure how that would work when customers do not have something in mind. The photos on the website are extremely delicate and amazing.

Hi la_corsetiere, thanks very much for the epoxy advice! I will give it a try.

Thanks for taking time to read my post and reply! Anyone has any idea about Q1,3,4?

StarryPearl, Eliko is a company that works with trade members only. They do not sell directly to consumers.

[Katbran]

If you haven't worked with gold leaf before you might need to read up on it. I use it with Sterling silver and a technique called Keum Boo where the gold is bonded to the silver with pressure and heat.

You would need a base coat in the space you want to foil. Pearls are porous so you need to fill it. I went through this with Wendy when she wanted to know how to foil pearls and she makes great use of the technique in gold leafing WSS. Then glue for metal leaf over the dried sealant , a brush to pick up the foil...its very difficult to work with as it's so thin and just place it in the space you want to cover.

Here is a Rio Grande video on gilding wood. Be much the same
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luzokKmQ3ik

[StarryPearl]

Thank you, lisa c, JerseyPearl, and Katbran. There seems a lot to learn, and some experiments before I can feel confident to use this technique.

I guess I will just pick one piece from my old stock of tiny faceted gems and glue it onto the pearl using two part epoxy for this time.

Thank you all again!

[CortezPearls]

Great suggestion KatBran!

[Anna Reyne]

Please look into Kintsugi. The Japanese art form using fine metals dust and lacquer... Using 10kt gold, 14kt gold, 18kt gold, platinum, sterling silver or brass fine dust. To fix broken heirloom china and historical pottery in artistic form. I believe the same process could be used on pearls to cover / fix damage. Or to do artistic touches on pearls.

[CortezPearls]

Kintsugi is another great suggestion! At the Cortez farm's store we made some kintsugi pearls with silver. It worked!

[StarryPearl]

Thanks a lot, Anna and Douglas. I searched "Kintsugi" and love its art effect. Will definitely remember to try in future.

[JerseyPearl]

Douglas, do you happen to have a photo to share? I am fascinated by this process...