My first self-strung necklace! What a journey!

[pearlies]

Hi all! If u have read my earlier post, you would have know that I had purchased a strand of peacock tahitian baroque.

I had then ordered some white gold beads to be strung between the pearls. I like the look and idea to knot between every pearls and beads, but I have no idea how to do it. I lucky to come across Catherine Cardellini website and thought of sending the pearls to her for stringing, but well, before doing so I have decided to try stringing/knotting myself.

Then I came across this well-known jewelry shop in the mall and decided to let them do the stringing. However, though I expressed preference for knotting between, the stringer thought that the knots will detract the beauty of the necklace. Hence, he did it without knots. And the worst thing is that he did not use the right sized french wire I am really unhappy with the completed necklace.. (u can see in the photo with the black background)

I am all ready to send over to Catherine in Australia. When I though that I wanna give it a go myself. Youtube video and Catherine's advises were really helpful!

And I DID IT! Just an hour ago I am really happy with the completed necklace. Here are some photos to share! Thank you all for the guidance all along too

 

[Caitlin]

Knot only is that a gorgeous necklace with great knotting, your story from first query to finished product is an absolute treasure.
thanks so much!

 

[Cathybear]

I'm proud of you!

 

[pattye]

Congratulations! It looks terrific on you!

 

[newberry]

Good job, looks lovely, enjoy your new treasures.

 

[pearlies]

Thank u all for the kind words!

 

[KarinK]

Great work! And isn't it just a relief to be able to do it yourself?

- Karin

 

[pearlies]

Hi Karin-Yes! should I require restringing in future, I can do it all by myself

Btw, I have some questions here. as the pearls are individually knotted. Should I decide to restring in future, What is the fastest way to cut this knotted strand?

I have a single piece of baroque tahitian, is it possible to purchase a match to be made into a pair of dangle earring? Do u think I can send some photos to the vendor to match? have anyone does that before? tks

 

[Pearl Dreams]

What a nice job you did!

 

[Marianne]

Congratulations on your accomplishment, it looks lovely on you. I think that it would be very difficult to match your pearl by photo alone. You might want to PM several of our members who deal in large quantities of Tahitians about actually mailing yours to them for a match. More realistically, just make a pendant with your solitaire and purchase earrings that are already matched. Sometimes one needs to sort through hundreds of pearls to find a matched pair for earrings.
Good luck,
Marianne

 

[pearlies]

Tks pearl dreams! I had just burnt the frayed end of the powerpro before apply heat to my necklace. I tried putting my other loose tahitian over the flame to 'test' and true enough they do not burn!

 

[Caitlin]

I am impressed. You really went from 0-60 in 4 seconds. Every choice you made was perfect. It is a stunning necklace!

 

[pearlescence]

Good job, well done. hope you take it back to show to that (totally wrong) stringer in the Mall, who was talking total rubbish - probably does not know how to know!
when you decide to re-string make sure you cut between the knot and the pearl in each case so that the knot does not get jammed in the drill hole.
It will try to. I can drill it out because I have 0.7 drill bits but if you don't then you could be stuck if you pull the wrong end of the thread and the knot jams in the drill hole.
Other than that, sharp scissors or cutters - nail or embroidery scissors or jewellery snips

 

[pearlies]

Hi caitlin! Tks for the comment, it's really encouraging I appreciate it.

 

[pearlies]

Hi Wendy! Tks for the advises and your helpful YouTube link I just find it really hard to cut the powerpro with a pair of scissors. Is there a better cutter to use? Btw, there's a jewelry show in Singapore this weekend. I will try to find a match for the Tahitian pearl I have hope that I can find one.

 

[Caitlin]

Use Thread clippers
These clippers are very cheap. look at English retail beading sites.

 

[pearlies]

Hi Caitlin tks for the recommendation What a BIG photo!

 

[Ash]

Great job stringing those beautiful pearls. They look fantastic on you!!!

Cheers!

Ash

 

[Narcissa]

Your steep learning curve is impressive, and the results are so great! Some of us agonized over our pearls for years before attempting knotting

I agree that your story from first inquiry to finished necklace is a lovely benefit to Pearl Guide.
Congrats,
Elizabeth

 

[pearlies]

Not-so-matching earrings

Not-so-matching earrings

Thank u so much Ash and Elizabeth

I wore the baroques to the jewelry show for the first time today. There were a quite a few Japanese exhibitors that specialize in South sea pearls. Pearlway, Tanaka pearls...

I was looking for a pair of 9-10mm round stud earring to match the necklace they compared several pairs of earring against the peacock overtone necklace and could not find a good match. They mentioned that the baroques have intense peacock green and red overtone and a close match is not readily available.

I saw a pair with very intense peacock overtone, but as they were wholesaler, they are only selling the pearl loose. I hope to look for a ready pair of 18k white gold stud earring.

So, I kept the search on and saw this pair of round 9mm studs from another Japanese exhibitor (Pearlway). It has a rather close body color to my baroques with good luster and smooth surface. But it do not really have a peacock overtone. Well, I bought it anyway I like the look of the studs with the matching baroque necklace.

Here's a pict of it. Saw some south sea pearls with 18k white gold beads in the show, they look very elegant and its certainly inspiring! I hope to work on a strand of cream pearls with 2mm white gold beads soon!