I posted a good example of the problem in a strand of pearls that kept losing dye each time I washed them. I gave up on them and have not worn them to see if they lose dye with sweat. I think Sharpie would be more staining...I am guessing...or maybe unbonded. (I got dried Sharpie off a...
Merrily...report back!!! I have some old dyed Akoyas that have faded...looked into dyeing them. Seems Rit, and several other dyes are options. But so is Sharpie thinned by acetone. I was going to try on a few trash pearls...but my to do list is really long..so it will be a while before I try.
The dye does Not seem to come off more with rubbing. It seems to be a chemical reaction. It might be my body chemistry with the soap and dye all reacting. I had this happen with laundry detergent and the lettering on my washing machine...so Not fun! (I used a label maker and made labels.)
Pearl Dreams....I was shocked too!!!! I had not looked at jewelry in stores for about 4 years (before I knew anything about pearls)..so when my husband and I went on a date..we stopped at jewelry stores....all of them were clearly potato freshwater and all around $300-500!!!! Crazy!!!
Hey Wendy!!!! Nice to see you!. You might edit and add that you are in Australia. BWeaves is in the USA and I think so is Pearl Dreams.
There is also a thread under pearls for "freshwater pearls." Ask for vendors in Australia. Also feel free to private message me.
I have a strand that looks very much like these...I am so on the fence between bigger Akoyas and freshwater. I might try the LED light trick...Akoyas always get a blue spot with LED..often freshwater doesn't. Mine has no clasp...so I think a gold clasp was clipped off by the owner to sell it.
I am so sorry that no one replied! Yes, those are real Japanese Saltwater Akoyas. Tasaki is very high end..like Mikimoto and those are very pretty!!! You can tell by the shape of the end one, some natural pitting too
Ideas of thoughts on how to keep clasps from flipping "face down" on a single strand? (Besides using a lighter more balanced clasp?) It is heavy enough that it chokes me in back.... and flips if put at the front. (I'll try to get photos soon.) Adding more pearls to reduce choking?
Pearl Dreams has pointed out that the surface of real and fake pearls looks very different. Use you phone or loupe 10X and you will see what looks like spray paint on faux...real show minor blemish variations. The drill holes also show paint build up of loss on faux, while real have layers and...