Faceted Pearls

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

I was not sure how I felt about faceted pearl strands after many years of seeing so many poor specimens in dyed freshwater pearls. Lately I have been seeing so many created designs using tahitian pearls, typically as a one off. Then I stumbled across this pic of a strand and now I am back on board:

Faceted Tahitian Pearls at Marcharit.com

This is one of my favorite Faceted pearl rings by Mark Schneider

Do you have a faceted Tahitian?

 

[la_corsetiere]

I don't own any faceted Tahitians, but I'm still regretting "the one that got away", an incredible 16+mm faceted drop I saw when I was in Hong Kong a couple years ago. Alas, they didn't want to sell only one, and I didn't "need" to buy the whole lot, even if it had been within my budget. That ring is TDF...

 

[ericw]

These pearls are marvellous. The ones you show are worked by Komatsu, I think, with these square facets. Viktor Tuzlukov makes nice patterns also, but with triangular facets, I don't like them so much than Komatsu's. Other tahitian pearls can be found faceted, but hand-carved: that gives not so fascinating shapes and light effects. For the rest, Komatsu pearls are not for any wallets: 500 dollars one for 10 or 11mm diameter (I have forgotten the right), that only sold per ten, at the last Hong Kong show

 

[SunSeeker]

BPDDC, I felt the same way and so I don't own any faceted pearls either. But these pieces are stunning. I may need to take a trip into DC and see the piece in the Smithsonian. Thanks for sharing!

 

[battah]

I'm fascinated by these. So are they actually polished to create the facets?

 

[dmj]

we used to make quite some pearl locks with them.

 

[ericw]

I'm fascinated by these. So are they actually polished to create the facets?

They are exactly cut like gems by lapidaries.

 

[Katbran]

Daniel - that is a spectacular use of those faceted pearls !! What a beautiful clasp !!!

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

I like the pearl locks even as a focal, or using them mixed with colored gemstones would be a cool idea, sort of flipping the script using smooth gemstone bead spacers with faceted pearls.

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Funny you mention drops. I spent a good part of the morning looking for really nice images of faceted drops.. I was sketching a design of Amethyst and Tahitian pearls and looking for some images as inspiration. Sometimes I will crop and image of a pearl into a sketch to see how it works. A 16m+ I am really sorry you can't share a picture of that!

Re the ring, a friend just told me she would be worried about knocking it around and thus hyper aware of wearing the ring not sure how much she would enjoy being worried. Sometimes you just have to admire a ring no matter how impractical the wearing might be LOL, Remember my big claw ring on FB? It gets caught on everything, and always snagging my shirts... but it is uber edgy.

I don't own any faceted Tahitians, but I'm still regretting "the one that got away", an incredible 16+mm faceted drop I saw when I was in Hong Kong a couple years ago. Alas, they didn't want to sell only one, and I didn't "need" to buy the whole lot, even if it had been within my budget. That ring is TDF...

 

[Pareltje]

I'm undecided about faceted pearls. Yes they're pretty but oh why waste the nacre?

 

[ericw]

I'm undecided about faceted pearls. Yes they're pretty but oh why waste the nacre?

Pareltje, it's a question of personal feeling. Pearls can be appreciated as they are in natural appearence, or worked, it's not one against the other.
Please, look the diamonds: to cut one loose often the third of the rough stone weight, and a rough diamond is so a nice thing itself. Last fashion rediscovers that, and many modern jewels show rough gems. It can be the reverse for pearls, but the most important is that anyone would be able to have its one taste.

 

[MSC]

A faceted SoC erotochromatic mabe is on my wishlist...

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Wasting nacre is a matter of opinion I suppose. I was undecided for a long time too, but mostly because faceting on poor quality pearls is yuck and turned me off to the idea. Gem quality crystaline stones are of course carved all the time to a beautiful result and to the credit of the lapidary. To my mind the lapidary/artist simply goes where creativity takes them...whatever the material. I'll also admit 16+mm is a huge temptation !

I'm undecided about faceted pearls. Yes they're pretty but oh why waste the nacre?

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Suddenly Stephen Webster comes to mind...lol

A faceted SoC erotochromatic mabe is on my wishlist...

 

[ericw]

Wasting nacre is a matter of opinion I suppose. I was undecided for a long time too, but mostly because faceting on poor quality pearls is yuck and turned me off to the idea. Gem quality crystaline stones are of course carved all the time to a beautiful result and to the credit of the lapidary. To my mind the lapidary/artist simply goes where creativity takes them...whatever the material. I'll also admit 16+mm is a huge temptation !

I agree with you PPDC: wathever the material, is a question of pure creativity. The lapidary of Komatsu ( I don't remind his name), has worked ten years to create this cut, that in a right artistic way of thinking. And pearls used for that must be perfect, not at all poor quality.

 

[battah]

This is interesting! I guess when I think "faceted" pearls I think of pearls with beads that have multiple flat sides, but that's not what this is at all. I assume to facet a pearl it has to have very thick nacre?

 

[ericw]

Yes, Battah, pearls used for that must have thick nacre, more, they must be perfectly spherical or regular around an axis. Without that, facets can't be cut right. It's a real challenge to do that!

 

[BWeaves]

The photos of the really good faceted pearls make me lust after one, but I'd have to see them in person. I think I would be more likely to like a single faceted pearl as a focal point rather than a strand of them, which I'm afraid would just look like a string of beads.

 

[ericw]

These pearls seem truly well used alone on rings or mounted on pendants. I am not sure also that sharp edges of the cut would not be too much fragile to wear these pearls by strands, also bluring so unique light effects of these shapes.