Oh my gosh I can't wait!

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redwood66

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I saw Pareltje and Sanippy's strands from Cees and had to contact him. I love their strands so much! Such colorful candy pieces.

So this will be on its way to me. I have no idea how to string but these look so pretty I don't even care! I love craft projects and have been watching videos on stringing for over a year but have not actually attempted it yet. Cees is such a wonderful person to work with. These are 11.00mm - 13.80mm. That big blue one is wonderful looking! My first Tahitians and probably the only ones I will have. If I fail at stringing I guess I will have to send them to someone.

As an aside where can I get one of the orbit clasps in white metal? I like how those look and it seems they add a bit of length?

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Congratulations! Such vivid colors. :)

Have a look at the tutorials stickied on our Lowly Beaders Club forum. You can string them-- it isn't hard! Many of us string our own pearls. Pattye's Beaders Secret thread makes it very easy to knot without tools. She carries gimp and needles as well.

You can buy the oval clasps from Pearl Paradise: https://www.pearlparadise.com/collections/clasps

Rio Grande sells oval hinged hook and eye clasps also: https://www.riogrande.com/search/go?p=KK&srid=S1-3IADP&lbc=riogran…

Edit: Sorry, the Rio link isn't working. Go to Rio Grande and use search terms "oval hinged hook and eye clasps".
 
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Pearl Dreams thank you so much for your links! I spend a lot of time here perusing and I actually did buy some beader's secret from Pattye last year but time has gotten away from me it seems. I have lots of gem beads and some earring findings from Rio Grande also. Thank you again. I am glad you like the colors!
 
Oh, sorry -- my Rio link doesn't work! Just enter in the search field "oval hinged hook and eye clasp".
 
I look forward to you receiving this beauty, and seeing a lovely neck shot with it!
 
Oh my god they are stunning!! LOVE the centre blue pearl! So many great colours. I ordered a large orbit clasp from Rio Grande for mine!
 
Wonderful strand. Beware - this will be the start of a very expensive hobby!
 
OOOO, you're certainly starting at the top. No buyer's remorse on this strand. It's gorgeous and I can tell you're going to love it for years to come.
 
Oh thank you all for your kind comments! Cees was very helpful and did offer to put this on a harpoon system that seemed interesting. But I am not sure of the layout in the pic and wanted to play with the layout myself. There are a few pearls that seem too similar in color right next to each other. I do have a board for necklace layouts so really I am pretty much set up to do it except for a clasp. Now I will for sure need to start practicing but if I keep these beauties in sight at my work station that is more incentive right? :D
 
My GSS strand from Cees is on that sort of harpoon system, and it's very comfortable and easy to use, but the strand was already strung when I bought it-- and they were all GSS, and well-arranged.

But you have a multicolor strand and I can see why you want to play around with the layout. I think you are better off getting them unstrung so you can rearrange at will. I've rearranged most of the necklaces I've bought. I think my WSS and GSS are the only ones I haven't rearranged.
 
That is good to know that you like that system.

What are your thoughts on the golden one next to the big blue? When I look at it, it seems to draw my eye away from the big blue. What if I swapped the golden and the teal next to it so there would be 2 teals on each side of the center? They seem to be similar in size. Well I guess I will have lots of time to play with them! I might have to post layouts when the time comes for all of you to take a look at because everyone is so very helpful to each other here.
 
Congratulations! That's a gorgeous strand and I can't wait to see it on you! You're going to have a love hate relationship with the stringing until you get the clasps on... then you're going to love it. And do it over and over again. lol... I might as well extend welcome to the stringing club to you now.

What is the harpoon system?
 
I'd be tempted to swap that gold one two pearls to the right.
 
amti, to answer I need to hijack the thread for a bit.

With the harpoon system Cees referred to, the pearls are strung on a Japanese steel wire (not sure if that is the same as the Beadalon coated beading wire I buy here) with an invisible clasp. Pressing the end two end pearls together clicks the clasp shut securely. Squeezing the space between the end two pearls releases the clasp by pushing the end pearls apart.

There are silicone bumpers between the pearls instead of knots. As you can see, the bumpers between my GSS are white. Gold colored bumpers might have been better, but white was what Cees had. It's okay for gold pearls but I don't think you'd want white bumpers between dark Tahitians-- they would stand out too much.

The upside to this system is that it is very comfortable. The strand drapes nicely and has a continuous appearance. I actually like not having a clasp --sometimes clasps tickle/irritate my neck. It doesn't need to be restrung periodically and there is no silk to get wet/stretch out.

The downside to this system is that I'm not sure how I would restring them if the wire ever broke. I would first try using beading wire, but I'm not sure how I'd attach the wire to the end pearls. I'm used to using crimp beads with beading wire. If I could not figure out how to attach the wire, I'd just restring on the gold colored Serafil thread that I bought from Pattye, with an orbit clasp to take the place of the end 2 pearls. This would avoid making the strand longer than it was originally. However, this is academic-- with care, hopefully the wire will last.

A few photos dragged from my GSS thread that show the harpoon system and bumpers:

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Lovely pearls ... and Ceee is great! I'd be rearranging those colors a bit too ... have fun!
 
I like the contrast of the yellow pearl next to the centre blue. Allows the colours to pop. But definitely play around!
 
Oh, yes-- I think the 3 center pearls are all eye-catching. The gold pearl will command attention wherever it is.
 
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