Our new obsession…shell pearls!

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but pearls aren't bad either. 😉

Hey everyone,

A couple of months ago, my cousin asked my mom if she would be able to design the bridesmaids’ jewelry for her wedding.  My mom told her that she would do it as a wedding gift.  When my mom asked my cousin what kind of jewelry she had in mind, my cousin said that she wanted all of the bridesmaids to wear simple pearl necklaces and pearl earrings.  While my mom thought this was a great idea, she also thought that this might be an expensive one.  A pretty strand of good quality, well matched, cultured pearls can cost hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.  My mom was a little unsure of how she was going to come up with a half a dozen pretty, yet inexpensive, pearl necklaces for the wedding.

Then she remembered shell pearls.

Shell pearls are made from the shell of an oyster (a.k.a. “Mother of Pearl).  In case you were wondering, cultured pearls are made of the same stuff.  The difference between shell pearls and cultured pearls is that shell pearls are lab made, while cultured pearls are nature-made.  Shell pearls are becoming more and more popular, and while the price of these pearls is rising, they are still much more inexpensive than cultured pearls.

The price, however, is not the only reason pearls are growing in popularity.  Another advantage to shell pearls is that can be made to be perfectly round and uniform in size.  They also have a high luster and are very durable.  Shell pearls can withstand sweat, perfume, lotions, etc., without losing any of their luster or color.  You can wear shell pearls every day and not really have to worry about the effect that your lotion/detergent/makeup may be having on them.

My mom made the bridesmaids’ necklaces with shell pearls.  The concept was simple, and the jewelry really pretty: a single strand of pearls with a silver clasp, and drop pearl earrings.  After she finished the jewelry, she remembered why she likes shell pearls so much.  The pearls on these necklaces were pretty big, perfectly round, and had a high shine, but they only cost a fraction of the price of similar cultured pearls.  Now she has begun to make more jewelry with shell pearls (which will soon be featured on the website).  She just purchased some black shell pearls, and as someone who is very familiar with colored pearls, I still found these to be interesting.  They are the blackest pearls I have ever seen.  It’s almost like the color is truer with shell pearls than it is with cultured pearls.

My mom is making the finishing touches on these necklaces right now, so tomorrow we should have more pics up of our new shell pearl necklaces!

The wire-wrapped necklace is finished!!!

The necklace I described in yesterday's post...more pictures will be available on the website soon!

After working into the wee hours of the night, my mom finished her necklace!  We’re both very excited about this one.  It reminds me of something a mermaid might wear, lol.  My mom is also finishing up another pearl wire-wrapped necklace, and she says she already has ideas for another one (which is kind of unusual, since she doesn’t do this type of jewelry all that often).

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Making a Necklace…Twice?

One difficulty that my mom and I have encountered several times over while making jewelry is that sometimes, no matter how much time you spend on a project, the finished product is just not what you wanted it to be.  Those cute earrings you made?  One ends up being longer than the other.  That bracelet you’ve been slaving over for the last few days?  Turns out, the pretty crystals you added make it very uncomfortable to wear.  Sometimes, when this happens, you have no choice but to start over, and that can be very discouraging.

My mom just spent the last few days working on a beautiful wire wrap necklace.  This necklace has an alternating pattern of abalone shells that have been dipped in Swarovski crystal solution, freshwater pearls, and Swarovski crystals.   I’m telling you, this necklace is gorgeous. Wire-wrapped necklaces are some of my mom’s best sellers (the necklaces she has previously made haven’t even made it onto the website because she always has immediate offers for them), but they take a very long time to make, so she doesn’t make them all that often.

Well, this morning, my mom told me that she thinks she will have to redo the necklace.  She doesn’t think that the size of the wire-wrapped loops is uniform enough.  I also made some suggestions about increasing the length of the necklace while also reducing the size of the pendant.  This means that she is starting the necklace over.  From scratch. Ughhhh.

This comes with the jewelry making territory, though.  I have several pairs of earrings that I have to remake before I can post them onto the website.  Sometimes, I have to make about five different attempts to come up with a pair of earcuffs that actually match each other.  That being said, there is something wonderful about putting time and effort into something and coming out with an end result that is so…pretty!  That little bit of bling makes it all worth it!  🙂