Recent content by A Breaker

I second the "get a second"! My sweet husband has 3 tungsten rings...the first one broke when he hit is hand really hard on a metal handle. The replacement he got engraved. The second was for a deployment to Iraq, where he didn't want to lose the first one. (Shocking he didn't lose it!)...

On another thread...BWeaves and I were talking about our pearl journeys....the best thing about pearls is that you can always pick them up again!!! Almost 30 years ago...my oldest brother took a jewelry class and needed to restring pearls. My mother had a strand that brother had broken at age...

Restring isn't cheap...I just got old cheap pearl necklaces and kept practicing. It took me 4-5 necklaces to get good enough. Maybe find pearl necklaces for grandbabies or other relatives...restring those and them restring your Tahitians...then if you get then gooky...you can restring when you...

Thank you for all you ideas, suggestions and tips! This one was super hard...I tried finding a hole...but gave up after 1 hour. I tried again with a plastic dental floss puller.....I thought I got the hole...but ended up stuffing the pocket between the nucleus and nacre with the plastic. I...

You do amazing wire wrapping!!!

Happened to be in an on-line lot of pearls from a thirftstore....no clasp, so great pearls were in with dreadful pearls. Where I live I HAD Walmart jewelry...they got rid of that section!!!! I have bought lots of on-line pearls as I learned how to look and tell faux from real. Sometimes I got...

Are you asking a question or just showing it off?

It looks like silk twist to me. I find it a lot harder to work with...although I love the feel. I rarely even have serious issues with Pattye's Serafil...when I do it is because I am trying to get something too big to fit thru something small..... Even tangles & knots I can undo or reposition.

About 3 years ago...I knew so little about pearls. I came here and asked so many question. I was trying to figure out pearls. I found such kind and helpful people! (The Pearls as One course was super helpful!). I looked at tons of eBay photos and got used real pearls. I am not an expert by...

Jeremy...thank you, thank you!!!! I learn so much!

What are you looking for on the edge? I have a loupe and some Tahitians. (These are so hard to photo...my pic takes all the luster out). They have more depth and oiliness.

I started this thread because I found out that sometimes the big names in pearls changed their logo/trademarks. Mikimoto had his logo very early on...pre-WWII. Some others seemed late for marking their pearl clasps, post WWII. A number of them borrowed the Mikimoto clam shell, with their own...

Another mark: there are two hallmarks on it, but that could make sense. The one on the left in your first image is an old Mitsukoshi mark. The character is "koshi" and it was their "maru ni koshi" mark, which really just means koshi inside a circle. The second mark looks like an MP which is...

Thank you both!!!! I do have some very tiny needles that I thought I would try using to rotate the bead...but I didn't know how to keep it aligned!! I am also very concerned about the rest on the strand...so I am pulling them off onto a wire, now, so this doesn't happen again

These are fabulous!!! I am wondering in the most recent necklace, if it would look more balanced to have 2 of the grey bigger pearls near the middle & only 1 grey bigger pearl on each side nearer the clasp? For me, having more eye catching bits near my collar bone makes me look wider.