Recent content by Gail5

Thanks to everyone for all the kind compliments. The necklace is already smoothing out quite a bit. Considering that this is only the second necklace I have restrung, I think it came out pretty well, although certainly someone more experienced could have done it much better. One thing I was not...

Here is the necklace. A bit crinkly after restring but hopefully it will smooth out. Thanks to all for help and encouragement. I still have a lot to learn.

Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. The project should be finished tomorrow and I will post a pic. In the end I was able to fit the 0.6 mm French wire into the clasp.

The little gold beads arrived but still waiting on the 0,6 French wire. In the meanwhile I am trying out knots with the gold beads. The holes are quite large so I made double knots. Those don't seem to slip into the holes. If I make single knots, the knots are invisible. Which option is better?

I hope you are right about that. So I got all three strands on temporary threads and cleaned them. I also removed the bead tips from the clasp. I notice the following: The short strand has 81 pearls and is 28 cm unknotted The middle strand has 82 pearls (I took 2 very little pearls off because...

Thank you for this reassuring information about the thread lubricant. Based on her website, I thought the Italian stringer who highly recommended Coats Gral for stringing was experienced and knowledgeable about different kinds of threads. She thought the Coats Gral was superior to silk and also...

Thanks for this encouragement. I ordered 30 2.5 mm 18k white gold balls with a pattern and also the 0.6 mm silver French wire, just to make a last attempt at getting French wire through the clasp openings. While waiting for those things to arrive, I will put the other two strands on temporary...

I removed the bead tips from the middle of the clasps and tested whether the finest French wire that I have will go through the openings in the clasp. Unfortunately not. The finest that I have is silver plated Griffin French wire marked outside diameter 0,8 mm and inside diameter 0,65 diameter...

Thanks for this advice. I cut up the middle strand and put it on a temporary strand. I used a twisted wire needle that I made with 0.1mm copper wire I bought on Amazon. This needle worked very well going through the little pearls but it was still quite difficult to get it into the smallest...

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. It probably will take a while to assemble all the materials and find the time to work on it calmly. The supplier I found for the little gold beads has them in 2.5 mm size with a hole of 1-1,2 mm. Is that hole too big? Will the knots go into the...

So I wrote to her on her Facebook page asking whether the lubricant in the thread might damage the pearls in the long term and she answered that she has been using this thread for 35 years and she has never had any pearl damage from it. I think she would probably notice because not only is she...

That's an excellent question to which I don't know the answer. It doesn't feel or smell toxic. The professional Italian stringer recommended this thread very highly, saying that she has been using it for over 30 years on the most expensive necklaces in a downtown jewelry shop. She says that...

What a great idea. Why didn't I think of that. I bought some supplies from Griffin in Germany, including their silver gimp in three different sizes. Since I am in Italy, it would not be that convenient to get US materials. The Italian stringer's website I found said her favorite thread is...

So I am now considering trying to restring the triple strand necklace myself. I purchased the materials and then practiced restringing an inexpensive freshwater pearl necklace with big pearls that I already had. I am sure the result is far from perfect, but it is quite acceptable to my eyes. I...

Sorry I wasn't clear. I took the SECOND necklace to the gemologist for an appraisal -- the pendant one, not the triple strand. The gemologist said the pearls in that necklace were natural keshi pearls but not rare and not worth much. She valued the whole necklace as follows: she said the...