What's the fastest way to remove the dye layer from "dyed pearls"?

[lisa c]

I've got some badly dyed pearls and I've spent some time scraping off the dyed layer w a blade. Some of the pearls underneath are respectable, pretty enough to use, but I'm finding the effort hard on my fingers and overall not a cost-effective use of time eek:shocking revelation). I started this scraping in a moment of idle curiosity, now I'm thinking "why not? Why not find out if there's a faster way to remove the dyed layers?" without destroying the pearl underneath, of course. I suppose I could line up a whole array of solvents, but I'm hoping someone else already knows. I don't even have any nailpolish remover in the house right now. Anybody?

 

[purlgurl]

I have had some really bad dyed pearls, which faded in sunlight. I did the dishwashing detergent trial too, which took some of the colour out. However, if the pearls were good enough to be their natural colour, they wouldnt be cost effective enough to dye, I suppose. So dont expect any Akoya -like luster, once you are done. I have a tumbler, which I could empty the steel shot out of, and give walnut shells a try.
There are so many variables, with what is used for the colouring. Aqua blues seem to fade the quickest. Reds are still strong for a long time.
Good luck!

 

[pattye]

I've used the dishwashing soap plus a little clorox-type bleach, on cheap pearls to remove the excess dye, but it certainly doesn't remove close to all of it. Plus sometimes the pearls seem to be dyed on the string, so the string retains a lot of the dye also. Soaked them for an hour or so, then gave a good scrub with an old toothbrush. I know, it is a waste of time. Wish I had taken photos now of before and after.

Do you have before and afters, Lisa? Good luck with those!

 

[lisa c]

That's something I'm bad about -starting on impulse, then realizing I wished I'd taken a before shot. I've tried lacquer thinner so far, and alcohol, soap and water - this stuff seems fixed, at least resistant to this bunch of solvents.

It actually looks like the strands were of previously dyed pearls in a fixed pattern peach, pink, yellow, and white which were coated with a thin turquoise colored glaze. Why??? who knows.

Of course they aren't freshadamas under there, but they're decent, so far. I'm going for the vinegar next. just a small patch test. just for fun.

Thanks for your input, all. I love youse guys on PG!

 

[GemGeek]

You definitely need to take a before and after for the vinegar. If vinegar dissolves pearls given enough time, I wonder how it will affect the dye and the surface. Maybe you'll get dalmation pearls?

 

[Caitlin]

I was reading that list of solvents. Maybe you can drop one in some coke. Maybe it will peel it for you.

We are learning a bit about the pearl dyes. They are fairly permanent. The usual solvents do not remove it. Very interesting!

 

[barbie biggs]

Of course they aren't freshadamas under there, but they're decent, so far. I'm going for the vinegar next. just a small patch test. just for fun.

Thanks for your input, all. I love youse guys on PG!

Hey Lisa!

They have been strung right? So how will you keep the vinegar out of the drill holes?
Just my 2C.

Have fun,
barbie

 

[lisa c]

I like your 2C! (chuckles) They've been drilled, yes. So, here's the latest. I'm a chicken, so I didn't soak the pearls in any of the solutions, just wiped them on w a paper towel. Tonight was the vinegar. I didn't see much difference in terms of color wiping off on the paper towel, not much more than a molecule of a hint of the blue.

At that point, if the pearls hadn't had that frosty look that I love so much, I'd have given up. With nothing much happening visually, I rinsed the pearls w tap water and decided to try Pattye's bleach without the dishsoap. This time I immersed the pearls. I washed a couple of coffee cups and a casserole dish and rinsed them (the real scientists in the readership might be groaning about the time-standards re method) then I lifted the pearls out of the bleach solution.

At this point the string dissolved. I'd forgotten the vinegar on the string and how chlorox in combination w vinegar (actually chlorox combined w just about anything), etc, etc... fortunately I had a strainer nearby to catch the pearls. I ran them under hot water to rinse any residual stuff, and peeked into the strainer. It looked like a bunch of disembodied eyeballs w pupils staring back at me from the strainer, but nothing gooey. Yoiks! Disconcerting!

The net effect is that the pearls wiped down w vinegar then soaked in chlorox and rinsed, had lost the blue tint except for the drill holes. The tint on the pearls I hadn't wiped w vinegar seemed unchanged.

I'll check the pearls' condition in the morning, then try to replicate the results tomorrow.

 

[lisa c]

I was reading that list of solvents. Maybe you can drop one in some coke. Maybe it will peel it for you.

We are learning a bit about the pearl dyes. They are fairly permanent. The usual solvents do not remove it. Very interesting!

Not only fairly permanent, but also fairly deep! When I was simply scraping the pearls until I got down to what I considered a relatively pure, original color, the pearls were noticeably smaller. That was more noticeable on the frosty looking pearls, too; the smoother pearls seem to be harder, more dye-resistant; meaning the smoother pearls seem to have a thinner layer of color? hmmm...

This must be in the pearl research literature somewhere. I suppose some of the information might be proprietary, not on the net yet?

Coke! Why didn't I think of that. Soda water, also; they're going on the list.

I'm going to request Strack from the library again. Maybe this time it'll be available.

 

[lisa c]

Update -or- just Some More Bits and Pieces of Information.

Well, after I started this section of the exp, I found a video piece by Douglas McLaren of Cortez Pearls about Cleopatra's pearl-in-wine exploit. Vastly entertaining and informative and much more scientific than my report, in it he popped pearls into various solvents (like wine) and documented what happened.

I wanted to shout "No, Wait! Stop!!" when he started sacrificing the pearls; it hurt to watch that - A LOT, Douglas. I hope we don't see aaaaany - more of that out of you, young man!

Still, the experimentalist in me watched with horrified fascination as the pearls melted and bubbled. (Were they screaming like the Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard of Oz - I'm melting, I'm melting... You might be thinking She's nuts, she's nuts...)

I was impressed with the speed and thoroughness of the chlorine bleach, so I thought this time, I'd get bold and use straight bleach rather than diluted, as I had already. I figured I'd watch it closely and just do it for a very short period of time.

Again, no before photo. One day I will get a camera.

and, Oh, yes, I got distracted. Some 6-8 hours later I remembered that pearl and dashed in to see if anything was left. There was, although the size was significantly reduced, so crowing with delight, I scooped it out of the bleach and rinsed it forthwith, then soaked it for a while in two Brita Baths, then let it dry for a couple of hours. Don't you just hate the scientific inexactitude of my exploits? I'll do it seriously next time.

After a couple of hours its appearance was much like the pearl I'd immersed in diluted bleach after wiping w vinegar, sans color, with shiny and dull spots in patches all over it. I picked it up and rubbed at the dull spots and they didn't polish off with a cloth as they had on the diluted-cl-solution pearl, so I picked up a utility knife to gently scrape them off.

Darned if the dull spots didn't seem endless, so I exerted a little more pressure with the blade. Ladies and Gents, that nacre sliced off like cold butter, in smooth-sided slabs. I kid you not.

I laid down the utility knife disconsolately. What now? I remembered Barbie Biggs remark about keeping solvents out of the drill holes. So right, Barbie.

I soaked the pearl again in a Brita water-bath, let it dry and then a couple of months later, remembered it. It had hardened again, and I was able to gently shave off succeeding layers of nacre until I got to solid ground, so to speak, a more resistant-to-scraping layer. Then I rubbed it with a soft smooth cloth, and forgot it again, for a long time.

Well, it's a hard pearl again. There's a soft pearly shine to all areas when you turn it, but an uneven, wavery-look at rest. The surface is very smooth. The shape is rather baroque-round. Yes, the dye is gone.

The above-reported method is not the way to go. I'll try again under more controlled circumstances, because I still want speedy removal of dye.

 

[lisa c]

I've noticed a uniformity of layers on the lighter dyed pearls I've scraped (these were pearls that I hadn't inflicted liquid experiments upon). The upper layers are the dyed color, but the layers closest to the original pearl are Aurora Borealis layers!

So, if you start this scraping (which I think most of you will find is an unprofitable venture, but I started it because I wanted larger weird-shaped pearls in white, not colors, and already had some in a dyed state) and find yourself getting queasy as the pearl gets smaller and smaller, be reassured, you can stop, and
1) still have a colored layer, or-
2) keep going until you get to the AB layer which is pretty, although somewhat dense re light refraction. (read Slreap's remarks about how she notices a gun-metal type of light refraction in dyed pearls, as opposed to undyed pearls)