My pearls

[Charlotta]

Thank you Gemandpearllover, even my blue tahitian strand looks pale beside the dark strand, but I do like it. I will try it with a white t-shirt. I don't think that I ever seen a strand as dark. I have only seen my own tahitians live though. In sweden there is only white akoyas and white bad quality freshwaters to be found, most often described as "pearl"...so maybe that’s why. I would love to buy a whole bag full of tahitians to play with. That would probably be costly, I don't know how many pearls there are in lots in Hongkong, they also come undrilled I think and I don't have a pearl drill. It would be fun though, wouldn't it?

 

[BWeaves]

Those are dark. I completely forgot that Tahitians are called black pearls for a reason. I'm so used to all the lighter ones now available that I completely forgot how pretty the dark ones are, too.

 

[Charlotta]

BWeaves , me to. Took me by surprise.

 

[Charlotta]

When I reread baby nurse 365 tread I was blown away with her golden south sea and akoya wave rope that I think she got from Hongkong. I really like that there are such a soft transition in size, since the akoyas are graduated. I so wanted to have one like that. Then an idea popped into my head. What if I combined my deep golden south sea strand from Cees with my vintage double akoyastrand, the one with the amethyst clasp. Since my akoyas are old or maybe just unbleached, who knows, they have a lovely creamy color. The pearls in this one is also in a great condition and very lustrous.



Even not-husband approved and thought that they layout looked nice and he sometimes don't like my project, especially the once with big differences in colors or size, like my sampler strand.

I am very pleased with my wave strand. The wave is lesser, the smallest pearls is around 4mm and the biggest south sea pearl about 8mm but the strand has a nice flow and the colors are lovely together. I kept playing with it all night. It's about 32inches long maybe a little longer, I cannot find anything to measure with and the beading board isn't accurate.





Then I had some pearls left so I made a matching 18 inch strand. They look really cool when worn together. I post a photo of them once I changed out of my old t-shirt.

 

[Charlotta]

Both wavestrands on. Not the best photos but you can see the strands together al least.

 

[SydK]

Ooh, I love the re-do - very glamorous.
The dark Tahitians are very dark indeed, but they have lovely overtones. They are quite subtle and mysterious.

 

[Charlotta]

SydK, thank you. The dark pearls have been rearranged today.

 

[Charlotta]

Today I rearranged the dark tahitian strand. I took the best pearls and blended them with the white south sea pearls from Wendy that I recently combined with some green and blue akoyas, also from Wendy. So I cut that rope apart...anyway made a 18 inch strand or so with the black and white pearls.



Me with the black and white strand on.

Then I realised that the green and blue akoyas from Wendy looked really good with some of the greener tahitian pearls from the dark strand, the leftover ones. So I arranged them one one side of the akoya strand. For this one I used Beaders secret in aqua. The strand id really more pretty than the pictures shows. It doesn't show all of the green colors.




Me wearing the strand.

Now I'm out of Beaders secret in ivory again. Have ordered more.

 

[Andrew M]

Very fun! I like both rearrangements that you did.

 

[Charlotta]

Thank you AndrewM.

 

[Charlotta]

Took some more closeups on my wavestrand. They are prettier in real life. The golden south seas are a little bit more cooltoned.

 

[CricketBug]

Funny, when I first noticed ombre strands, I wasn't overly impressed with them, but... now I LOVE them! Same for wave strands. And to have the combo of ombre and wave together is really fun!

 

[Charlotta]

I now Cricketbug, they grow on you don't they. Somehow I like ombrestrands more if it's just tahitians, tahitians and white south seas or white south seas and golden south seas. Or akoyas instead of the south seas. When the ombre strand has both white south seas/akoyas, tahitians and golden south seas most of the times if find them a bit harsh, unless the colors are exactly right. It's the same with "pelosi" strands, I have yet to find one I like. I like rainbows though, so a rainbow strand would be lovely. Why don't we se an for example 8-10mm rainbow strand, with pearls that are roughly the same size? I know you can get them like my sampler strand, arranged in a rainbow colorway but with very different shapes.

 

[CricketBug]

Yes, they have grown on me! Although I haven't done anything about it. Yet. I also like ombre Tahitians, or else SS in white/gold. The colours and overtones just seem to go best when the strand is either all Tahitian, or all SS. They seem to know they're family, hmm?

A rainbow ombre strand would be interesting to see! I think you've given yourself an assignment, Charlotta. All in the interest of pearl science, of course. Heehee!

 

[Charlotta]

Of course rainbow strand in maybe 9mm on my list. Pearls at hand for project:0. They have to have the same luster also. Might take a while. Red is a hard color to find naturally, but maybe a dark pink could substitute. Orange can be found in south seas or freshwaters, yellow south sea, green tahitian or south sea, blue tahitian, redish purple freshwaters and lilacy purple in tahitians. It's doable, but more muted than a bright rainbow. Then I have to find different tones in each group of colors so that they transition nicely. A fun project, all in the name of science of course.

 

[CricketBug]

"Pearls at hand for project:0." Haha! That made me laugh!

Well, if anyone is up for such a colourful challenge, it would be you, Charlotta!

 

[Charlotta]

And true. I have used up most of my leftover pearls and not a lot of them were 9mm or round.

 

[Charlotta]

I made a rainbow Lone Star quilt some years ago that I gave to my mother. I had to adapt the rainbow some for that one as well since there are 8 color blocks in a Lone Star pattern.


Yep, I did handsew and handquilt the entire quilt. It was really fun playing with colors. Pearls don't usually take years to assembly so hopefully I can collect my rainbow pearls somewhat faster.

I am thinking somewhat more muted colors...

 

[Charlotta]

On second thought, I think that I may use pearls that are about 10 mm. Might be easier to find. Still 0 pearls for project though.

 

[Charlotta]

Today I remade my blueish akoyarope. It needed something. I like it more now. I used a lot of bluish akoyas from Pearlescence, 4 golden south sea pearls from Kongspearl, 2 silver south sea pearls and silvery greyish sort of blue circled tahitians. It's now 54 inches long.