In Praise of Potato Pearls

[Cicadalady]

In my new journey into DIY pearls, I considered the adage that "practice makes perfect" and so ordered some strands of freshwater pearls from Wen on Etsy. They're a lot less expensive than the Tahitians I love and I figured I could get a lot of knotting practice with them. They came in yesterday and I dumped all the strands of like size ("6.5-7mm AAA pink/lavender/gold button pearls" and "AAA+ 10mm natural misc color round (?) Edison") in plastic food storage containers. Then I started stringing, 1-4 small pearls randomly fished out of one box and then one big one fished out of the other box until all the big ones were gone.

This afternoon the heat index was 107 degrees Fahrenheit so I stayed inside and strung with actual findings and knots and certainly got my practice in! Besides building the muscle memory for knotting, the irregularity of these pearls made me really consider how their orientation and position made the light move. Looking for flaws and positioning to minimize them was also a good exercise. So kudos for potato pearls! Of note, the "round" nucleated ones are definitely not 8-way rollers, so they certainly fit in with the rest of the strand.

In the end, it came to 47" long, including the clasp. Long enough to double or even triple if I don't want it swinging its full length. I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this one!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Oooh, YES! Color, luster, interesting arrangement-- that strand has it all.

 

[Katbran]

Love it ! That turned out really well !!

 

[pattye]

C-Lady,

Downright yummy! LOVE the random placement of color and size; be ready for compliments when you wear this one!! I adore Tahitians and FW have a wonderful charm all their own! Great knotting, too!

 

[mrsadm]

Wow, I love how they look, especially doubled and tripled! Now I think I may have to make something very similar. Enjoy them often!
Linda

 

[Cicadalady]

Oh- I forgot to mention that they're knotted on Beader's Secret in "Shell"

Here's a knot shot with the full length:

 

[BritM]

Oh, I love this necklace. It's really beautiful. Argh, have I mentioned how much I NEED to start learning to knot? (after about 30 other things which are priority when one has a 10 month old.)

 

[Pareltje]

That's a great necklace. It's very versatile and I really love the luster.

 

[BWeaves]

Wowza! I love everything about this! The luster, the irregular sizes, the length, the versatility. Great job. It reminds me of the Mermaid ropes from Kojima and the Bubble ropes from PP.

 

[Marianne]

Lovely all the way around!!!

 

[Icyjade]

I really like how you have arranged the pearls. Great job!

 

[GemGeek]

OUTSTANDING! Great job on placement and knotting and the pearls are so beautiful.

 

[CathyKeshi]

What a wonderful rope, Cicadalady!

 

[JerseyPearl]

That looks fabulous! I love the variation of colors and sizes...I'm not normally a huge fan of freshwater pearls, but yours are quite lovely!

 

[Cicadalady]

Thanks, all! It was so hard for me to do the random color and size placement. My day job is in health care, where variation in practice is to be avoided if possible. I had to grit my teeth and not re-arrange things after I blindly pulled those pearls out of their bins

 

[kalmen22]

Outstanding arrangement. It's so beautiful.

 

[KatalinPG]

It's a beautiful rope, you did such a good job! I have to learn to string!! By the way I think the pearls are really nice, I buy also quite often from Wen!

 

[SunSeeker]

Bravo!! I love your artist technique, "..blindly pulled those pearls.." I love the effect and it looks fabulous on you!