Greetings and First Post!

[KarenW]

Hello to everyone,

I have been browsing this forum for years and the discussions have been enormously helpful. I finally decided to register and join in the conversation. I'm no expert, but I have a collection and am an avid amateur in collecting and making personal jewelry. I took the course on pearls and found it to be wildly entertaining as well as educational. Everyone involved in making that available did a wonderful job.

My most recent strand of what I call "serious" pearls are metallic fresh waters. I just couldn't pass them by any longer.

Hopefully I can contribute to the discussions in the future!

-Karen

PS. I would like to upload some photos of my favorites but am not sure about image sizing and quantity allowed in the forum. I'll read to see if there is guidance in the sticky posts in the headers.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Looking forward to seeing your photos!

You can post quite a lot of photos. I've posted many over the past 10 years and haven't hit the max yet.
I size my photos 800 x 600 but I also see some larger photos here. If the attachment fails to post, try resizing it smaller (but your first few posts have to be approved, so wait a bit before resizing).

If uploading from a smartphone, you need to use the desktop version of Pearl-Guide.
If uploading from a computer, follow these instructions:
How to Upload Photos

 

[KarenW]

Thank you Pearl Dreams! I'll wait a bit before trying to upload pictures.

Sorry if this was the wrong place for my first post - I will follow up in this thread with the photos at some point when I'm more established and can see the results of the post right away. That way I can edit if needed without waiting for the approval period.

Thanks again. Looking forward to getting to know everyone.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm online now...I can approve posts pretty quickly. Post away-- or wait, if you prefer. I check in pretty often.

 

[amti]

Welcome Karen! Looking forward to seeing your collection!

 

[Katbran]

Welcome Karen!!!

 

[Pareltje]

Welcome! Do post your collection please.

 

[morella]

Welcome Karen! I'd love to see your metallics. Metallics are my favorite freshwaters. What body colours do you have?

 

[KarenW]

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

Morella, the strand is multi-color. It has a predominance of pink tones but there are lavenders and other colors as well. I'll include that one when I post pictures for sure.

 

[KarenW]

OK, Here Goes! First Attempt...

OK, Here Goes! First Attempt...



These my new metallic freshwater pearls. I hope the attachments come through okay. If not, then I'll go back and re-read the terrific instructions posted yesterday to me and try again!

I really love these. They are classic size (to me) pearls at 7 - 7.5mm. I wear them with everything from office outfits to jeans. In fact I just had them on yesterday and a colleague asked me, "Are those real?!"

My collection is small, but growing and I have strands of golden south seas, white south seas, and several strands of tahitian pearls. Also akoyas, freshwaters and chinese ripples/nucleated freshwaters baroques. I have a strand of freshwater keshis arriving soon and I am like a little kid waiting for Santa. When the budget allows, I'll be investing in a high-quality strand of tahitian pearls. The strands I have, while beautiful and adored, are not top quality. I'm not sure of the grade, but I would likely rate them from A to probably AA+.

I'll post more later if you guys would like to see them. I'm not the best photographer in the world but have tried to pay attention to the various tips given in this forum.

 

[BWeaves]

OOo, lovely luster and pretty soft colors. Very pretty.

 

[KarenW]

Golden South Sea Pearls

Golden South Sea Pearls

These pearls are my prized possession.

If my home was on fire, I would grab my dog first and then this strand of pearls as I ran.



Edited to add: The color in the second photo isn't capturing the strand correctly. The pearls are a well-matched gold color; I think the photo makes them look almost silver in places. I'll have to brush up on my photography skills!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Wonderful luster on those metallic FW pearls! I love multicolor strands, too-- they are so versatile.

It's hard to capture pearl colors with a camera, but sometimes it helps to adjust the color of the photo to make the background look the way it looks IRL; then the pearl color will be corrected also. In that GSS photo the background is a very cool white, almost blue.

Tell us more about this GSS strand!

 

[KarenW]

Photo adjustment

Photo adjustment

Thank you Pearl Dreams! I am even less skilled in photoshop than I am with an actual camera but I tried your tip. The goal with the adjustment was to get rid of the blue in the background. On my monitor, the color of the background is as close to the white (paper towel) as I think I can get. We'll see how it looks now on screen.

The pearls are treasured not only for their intrinsic beauty but much more so for the sentimentality. My husband gave them to me as a gift just because he knew I wanted golden pearls. They are near-round, ranging 10mm - 13mm. They are not perfect but they are perfect to me.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Beautiful, and the best reason for them to be sentimental to you.

"Perfection" carries a steep price when it comes to pearls. Most strands have at least some flaws. I don't see that as an issue, as long as I love the look of a strand as a whole. And I love near-round and baroque pearls.