Pearl Confessions...

[CricketBug]

I confess that for quite some times now (many months), I have been meaning to post some photos. Some of the strands/pearls I've had for years, some are new to me, and some are new from various vendors/sources.

This may take longer than expected, as the photos seem to be uploading in a wonky, sideways fashion, so I need to tweak them as I discover which ones are uploading oddly.

Here goes!

I adore blue pearls, like many of us on P-G. The long strand is from Aloha Pearls, Tahitian keshis. The white pearl is re-purposed from a set of beautiful 15mm freshwater earrings. Note to self: 15mm earrings are MUCH too heavy/large for my ears! Blue pendant is from Hawaii, years ago, and is 11x13mm on w/g. Shorter necklace-strands are blue Akoyas wrapped around another strand of blue Akoyas. Pearl earrings are Akoya with very high lustre and gorgeous at 9mm.



With earring included. Hmm. The earring looks weird; it's perfectly round. I used my iPhone (older version with less than great camera):


The other re-purposed earring (on yellow gold; the other pendant/earring is on white gold) on a gorgeous "chain" of little Akoya pearls from Cees. The shorter necklace is from Sarah/Kojima, with weensy pearls, a Kasumi, and tiny turquoise beads:



The last VIP sale from PP, there was a pair of gorgeous 11mm+ studs. I asked if there were smaller ones (10mm maximum) but nothing was available. However, the 11mm+ pair became available again, so I jumped at the chance, and had them changed to post and eye/loops. I wear these on hoop earrings, and had the eyes made large enough so that I could also wear them as a pendant. Here, with the Akoya chain from Cees, and with a pistachio Akoya strand purchased pre-loved from one of our P-G members. The pistachio strand is from PP originally, and I restrung it on lime Beaders Secret. It's gorgeous, too!



These pearls are spectacular!!! I would love a strand of these! Maybe next year there will be some available...



The beautifully sweet strand from Sarah/Kojima and a gorgeous pendant from Pearl Society, the latter of which is a whopper, at 28 x 17.8mm—the lustre and iridescence are stunning in real life. I wear it mostly on a long, antique curb chain that my grandfather gave to my mother:

 

[CricketBug]

Some earlier purchases from this winter (yes, it has been a very busy year with pearls!).

A strand of greeny-gold 10–12mm SS pearls from KongsPearl. I used Beaders Secret Cork. this strand is chameleon and really changes colour, depending on the light and the colour of I wear it with:



A 10–13.5mm metallic freshwater strand from Fandapearl, strung on Beader Secret Baby (pink). This is a lovely strand, although I'm not entirely sure that I love the mauve on my skin tone, so I tend not to reach for it much:



This is a long strand of Tahitian and WSS pearls that took me years to collect. Many are Robert Wan pearls (from Druzy) which are just crazy beautiful, with blue, green, and aubergine overtones! They don't show up much in the photo. I adore this strand and often wear it doubled. It's my version of a harvest strand with pearls from 7mm to 16mm:



And now, some serious pearl confessions:

I had purchased some beauties from Cees and innocently asked about GSS pearls. Well, whose good fortune to learn that Cees had some "beginner" GSS strands! I quickly (a complete impulsive purchase!) hopped onto that bandwagon after admiring so many GSS strands/earrings on the forum. These are 10–12mm with light circle and the most glowy, beautiful golden colour! I am a convert to GSS! I was impatient and couldn't wait for the new stash of gold threads to arrive, so I think I used Cork:



And my fave, fave strand, from Cees, a Robert Wan chunk of beauty. It's 12–14mm and I used Navy to string it. This strand is mesmerizing both in colour and lustre. It glows and makes me smile! Even though, as a pearl-mom (Heehee!), I suspect I am not to have favourites, there are a few very favourite pearls in this strand. .. Like the navy blue ones, and bright green ones, and teal ones and aubergine. Okay. I love them all, but the navy ones just a little bit more. LOL!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Wow, wow, wow! That is some delectable eye candy there, CricketBug! I love all the colors.

 

[CricketBug]

Some blue strands, one of which was another impulse purchase (from, you guessed it, Cees!). All are blue Akoyas, some from Japan, some from Vietnam.

Top strand (another rogue/impulse purchase, LOL!) is from Cees earlier this year; 10–10.5mm, Vietnamese Akoyas strung on Turquoise. Second strand is 8.5–9mm Japanese Akoya from a Rakuten vendor (sure wish I could read/write Japanese!!!). Third strand is Japanese Akoya, 8–9.0mm on Turquoise (from an Etsy vendor). And the last strand is hilarious! I was rummaging through my non-worn pearl stash and found a long strand of mixed pearls, some of which were these little 7.5–8.0mm pearls. I cut the strand apart, re-strung the little guys on Sky and wow! They're soooo pretty!

I often wear combinations of some of the blue strands twisted around each other. Sometimes three strands, sometimes just two.

 

[CricketBug]

Wow, wow, wow! That is some delectable eye candy there, CricketBug! I love all the colors.

Thank you, PD. I'm smitten with the colours and textures, too!

 

[CricketBug]

There are some studs, too, however, those will have to wait, as the post editing function seems to be "sticking". I think it's a si-i-i-ign that I should get back to the physical world and errands.

 

[CricketBug]

Here is where the Robert Wan strand typically lives—on my (home office) desk where I can gaze at it through the day... My desk is often strewn with pearls.

 

[pattye]

Cricketbug,

Wonderful, colorful enviable collection; thanks so much for sharing this "chapter" in your pearl story! Pearls are indeed works of art, fascinating to see how pearls change with the lighting. Congrats on your knotting expertise and many thanks for mentioning thread colors!

 

[86Corvettegirl]

WOW!! Such beauties!! Thank you for sharing your treasures!!

 

[jeg]

I’m so happy you shared your collection, CricketBug! Wonderful, fun, versatile, it’s a great collection!

 

[CricketBug]

Thank you, Patteye, for all the generous information about knotting, threads and pearls. Plus, I love to hear what others have used for thread colours. It's fascinating how just something so simple as a different thread colour can make a difference to the eye.

Thank you 86C and jeg. Amongst others, you two have been instrumental in my still-growing list of "wants" for pearls. [Where is that angel emoji?] There were types of pearls/stylings that I didn't find interesting... until I saw them worn by someone else in real-life photos. Then all of a sudden, I loved the look of them! LOL! Thank you (I think?!) for helping me broaden my pearl horizons.

 

[Charlotta]

You bought some really beautiful pearls this year. The Robert Wan strand from Cees is spectacular, the golden strand is so pretty, the long south sea and tahitian strand is gorgeous, well they are all gorgeous.

 

[lary007]

I loved looking at all these!! Especially the blues. I am a sucker for those. I also love kongspearl and fanda. Haven't looked in a while but I think I need to now.

 

[CricketBug]

Thank you, Charlotta. I think it was mainly seeing all your beautiful Cees pearls that tipped me over the edge to contact him. I am pretty much putting myself on a hiatus from buying pearls. Heh. Well, that's the plan... Who knows what might happen though, if something too beautiful crosses my desktop!

lary007, I'm also a total sucker for blues, hence having a few strands. But they're each different, and I wear them all.

 

[Lilpearl]

Cricketbug, you’ve a spectacular collection and it must be hard to decide what to wear with all those beauties. That Robert Wan necklace took my breath away do, Cees has an eye for beautiful pearls!

 

[Parrot Lady]

Cricketbug, thanks for sharing your collection. You’ve acquired some real beauties!

 

[Charlotta]

Cricketbug, I did buy some nice strands myself this year didn't I. It's been a good pearl year. I got my ombre tahitian rope, my white south sea strand and my silver tahitian strand from Cees as well as my blue tahitian strand from Pearlescence. And those lovely blue south sea studs and pendant, also from Pearlescence and lots of earings, and bluish akoyas... Hm rather many pearls accually. There are some more... The rikiteas and the golden strands were last year. You know how you sometimes have to wait along time for something to come along, but not this year.

 

[Alyend]

You have a spectacular collection!

 

[CricketBug]

Lilpearl, I rarely wear the purple-peach combo strand as they somehow look a bit odd on my skin tone. The Robert Wan strand, blues and the GSS strands all get a lot of wear. And with layering, keshi and pendants get worn a lot with any of the blue strands. I'm so glad to see so many great examples of layering here on P-G! It inspires me to mix things up, and that way more strands can be worn at once. Sometimes I just want to wear the all at once. LOL!

Can hardly wait to see your strand!!! I hope you post lots of photos.

 

[CricketBug]

Thank you ParrotLady and Alyend! We are so very fortunate to have wonderful vendors that find and provide so much beauty, right?!

Charlotta, yes!, you also have had a spectacular year in pearl acquisitions! I know I sound too repetitive, yet I will say it again—your pearls (and photos!) are just so beautifully curated! I love looking at them.