Gemandpearlover's Lowly Beading Adventures

[amti]

Gemandpearlover, I wonder if India Silver is like Tibetian Silver, where there is no real silver at all.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

I wonder too Amti. They are pretty though.

Next project was turning lemons into lemonade. I have about 4 strands of 10-11mm FW white pearls that have been laying around. I bought some beautiful color lavender and peach potato pearls from Wen on Etsy. The colors were gorgeous, the pearls almost blemish free and great luster, but the shapes..... Oh no. Not really potato pearls but rice pears drilled sideways. I strung them up but the shapes bothered me way to much to wear them as a total strand. So I mixed those potato pearls with some near round FW whites to come up with this necklace. Finished it was an orbit clasp. Much better for a casual strand.







Next was what to do with those rice shaped FW metallics. Mix them with near round FW pearls and tiny FW pearls. Viola! I like it.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

Lastly I have been on a pink and lavender tissue nucleated FW bender. I will be restringing many of these and adding new strands. Will post some of those when the last strands arrive.

 

[pattye]

What delightful directions your pearling adventures are going! A luscious pile of pearls there, great luster and the colors play so well together!

 

[multichrome]

Lovely results! I love how you worked with the potato pearls—varying shapes in a strand can be so pleasing. The metallics are soooo pretty. I need to string mine that I got recently.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

Thank You Pattye and Multichrome.

Lavender pearl binge continues and has morphed into pinks as well. I just received a 37" pre-loved strand yesterday and promptly turned it into two necklaces. I would have left it as is except the strand had all the larger pearls in front, and doubling it resulted in the smaller pearls up front when trying to hide the clasp in back.

Pearl Guide has taught me a lot. The seller described the pearls as being pink and 8mm in size. Counting the pearls led me to believe differently and I believed they were closer to 10mm. The strand is mostly 9.5 to 10.5 pearls with a few 11mm pearls. Also the seller must have had their camera phone setting on cool-vivid to make the pearls appear so grey. Looking at the thread of the strand I assumed they were more pink/lavender which they are. I took a chance and really like the pearls. I am going to scrap the 14k gold clasp one day. I strung these on Lilac Beader's Secret and put SS claps on them. One is 17.5 inches and the other 19.5 so that they can be worn nestled together.

Seller pic:


Finished Strands:


Nestled Together:

 

[Charlotta]

The two new pink strands are really pretty.

 

[amti]

They look really nice as do the new clasp(s)! The different shapes and colors are very pleasing to the eyes. You're becoming quite the stringing queen!

 

[BWeaves]

Wow, the rare case where the customer photo looks much better than the vendor shots. Those are lovely, and I love the amethyst clasp.

 

[pattye]

What an excellent find, G&PLover; together or separately they make a gorgeous statement! Quality pearls, just look at that distinct reflection! You've truly developed a valuable skill in "reading" pearl photos! Thank you for sharing your thread color choice, too!

 

[Gemandpearlover]

Thank you for your kind comments Charlotta, Amti, BWEaves and Pattye.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

I had hoped to have a couple lavender/pink FW strands to show you by now. I received two strands from a seller that I had bought from before but the quality was so poor I threw them in the trash. White spots and plastic luster on one, the second with deep divots in each and every pearl. I was surprised because the quality was supposed to be as good as a previous purchase. Life is too short for any negativity so I am just going to consider the pearls and the seller as a total loss. I have a few other new strands coming soon, so hope springs eternal. I also picked up some 8mm strands of colored pearls from Wen. I hope to make some double strand necklaces with those for the summer.

Today I re-worked my Tahitian "Drama" strand. These pearls are dark but they are colorful as well. I took off the biggest pearls and added a few clasp pearls. The strand is now 11-12.5 mm instead of 11-14. I like to wear these with jeans.

Hope all is well in everybody's pearly world today.

 

[Charlotta]

Your drama strand is gorgeous.

 

[Incik Boncuk]

Oooh, that is fantastic!

 

[lisa c]

The color is so intense “Drama” is spot on. I like the clasp, too. Sterling, Chinese?

 

[BWeaves]

I like the drama strand a lot.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

Thank you Charlotta, Incik, Lisa and BWeaves.

Lisa- the clasp is sterling silver. I had a fancy sterling/cz clasp on the strand originally but it was too hard to work and I didn't wear the strand because of this. I have a strand of metallic pearls with a 14k gold clasp (the type with the pearl on the clasp) that has the same issue. I am kind of torn on restringing that one.

Hope everyone has a great pearly day today.

 

[Gemandpearlover]

I am running out of clasps and only have one good one saved for a klonk strand that is being delivered today. So these strands are just strung with a basic SS lobster clasp and a stainless clasp.

First is a recently bought multicolor strand 7.3-8.4 that arrived a couple days ago from Wen on Etsy . Shipping was a little over a week. The second lavender strand was supposed to be the same size and was planned to be part of a double strand necklace. She hand picked it for me, and I asked for pearls with a blue overtone. For that strand she sent me pearls that are 9-10mm. Very off round but clean and very metallic. So my plans for that double necklace have changed, but the pearls are so pretty and so inexpensive that I am not complaining. Sorry I couldn't capture the metallic luster in photos. The multicolor strand has one natural light blue pearl on it.

So these are my recent stringings. Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend.

 

[multichrome]

Beautiful luster and stringing. You can swap clasps out easily later if you like! Also love the lone blue pearl.

 

[Charlotta]

Those are gorgeous. Very nice luster and color.