365 Days of Pearls

[Purranha]

JP that's good to know, thanks for sharing!

MSC - haha I bought soft baby toothbrush for cleaning my jewelries too!

 

[baby nurse]

BN! your ripples pearls are beautiful! When you had the chance to show case through most of them, I would be so curious to see another family shot and perhaps a little portrait shot as well?

Love the souffle & akoya set. The tarnish is indeed a bit strange. I find that some yellow/white gold do still tarnish a bit, especially if it is a lower K mix. But the earring wire wrapped portion does seem more severe than others.

In terms of cleaning, I know a lot of people swear by the sunshine cloth, but it would be difficult to use it on wires.

Personally, I LUV Jewel Brite. (http://www.jewelbrite.com/) CAVEATE MEPTOR!!!
I randomly stumbled upon them at my first Intergem in White Plains. They had a booth there, took one of my silver pieces, scrubbed it up, it was good as new, and I immediately plunked down a very reasonable few bucks and brought a set home.

The silver paste is indicated to be pearl/opal and other more fragile materials friendly. I haven't needed to use it on my better pearls, have tried it on some cheaper pearls and they did not damage the pearl and cleaned up the silver well. It is a paste you scrub onto the wire with toothbrush then rinse & dry off. You may want to test it on some less loved pearls (if that's possible lol) first.

In the set, they also have a jewelry cleaning solution. It doesn't clean the tarnish - it is for general jewelry cleaning but it works great and I've used it on plenty of pearls with no issues what so ever!

Purranha, I laughed when I read the first part of your post about a group ripple pic and here is why. A few years ago when these pearls were super popular, I was crazy about them. Couldn't get enough of them and bought a lot. BAS loved them as well and asked for a pic of my collection. I froze! OMG, how to please my friend while not exposing my ripple hoarding problem! Because I have that many. I did share the pic (cough cough left a few out). And I've been purposely spacing them here every few days to "camouflage" their sheer numbers. But there are no secrets in this thread lol!! I will do a group shot once I've shared them all.

Wow, that jewelbrite sounds great! It's good to know you've used it on pearls without any damage. Thank you

 

[baby nurse]

Those souffles are absolutely beautiful! Amazing luster! You are lucky to have them as souffles are getting harder to find and also getting quite expensive. Great description...like clouds!!

Are they getting harder to find? Have you contacted PP because that's where I've gotten mine. I had assumed they were still out there...

 

[baby nurse]

I have one wire wrapped tin cup necklace from PP which I specified was to be in 14 kt white gold. I would be quite disappointed if silver was substituted in any part of it. I'm sure this was an inadvertent mistake. Personally, I would have the silver portions redone in white gold.

Beautiful soufflés, by the way. Just gorgeous.

I am really disappointed but I have no doubt it was an oversight. I'll send them in when I have another project.

Thanks Red!

 

[baby nurse]

Oooo, love those meringue clouds with blue akoyas!!! Stunning with the color of your sweater - great length, as well. Hmmm, never heard of potato water, I'd also be interested to know how it works.

Another wonderful description! "Meringue clouds".

I'll let you know about the potato water.

 

[baby nurse]

Hi bn, I would not submerge the soufflés. They are hollow and might take on their bath water and retain it… Could get a bit stinky!

Yikes, good tip Marianne!

 

[baby nurse]

Love the souffle necklace and earrings, they are gorgeous!

I've had white gold wire get slightly darker with wear (tarnish), much like the wire wrapping in your necklace, but definitely not as dark as in your earrings. I've just used soap and water to give a surface clean. I've found a baby rubber finger toothbrush thing to help get into the nooks while not being scratchy.

Hmm interesting. Maybe soap and water will be enough for the sections on the tin cup. It can't hurt anyway. Thanks!

 

[baby nurse]

Day 51:

Fireball pendant from Pearl Paradise and freshwater pearl studs from Maison Birks in Ottawa. The fireball portion of the pendant is roughly 36mm x 22mm. The studs I rarely wear but I liked how the slightly pointy shapes mimicked the fireball.

 

[baby nurse]

Front of fireball.



Back of fireball.

 

[baby nurse]

 

[Purranha]

Are they getting harder to find? Have you contacted PP because that's where I've gotten mine. I had assumed they were still out there...

I remember Hisano mentioned during the ruckus that larger souffles are harder to come by. And some of the suppliers are recycling old souffles from prior years and don't have much new harvest. There's also the issue of most pearls being sold by weight, which makes souffle less profitable for pearl farmers. So yes I think there are still available, but honestly not sure when we would be able to see an entire souffle strand anymore!

 

[Purranha]

Purranha, I laughed when I read the first part of your post about a group ripple pic and here is why. A few years ago when these pearls were super popular, I was crazy about them. Couldn't get enough of them and bought a lot. BAS loved them as well and asked for a pic of my collection. I froze! OMG, how to please my friend while not exposing my ripple hoarding problem! Because I have that many. I did share the pic (cough cough left a few out). And I've been purposely spacing them here every few days to "camouflage" their sheer numbers. But there are no secrets in this thread lol!! I will do a group shot once I've shared them all.

Wow, that jewelbrite sounds great! It's good to know you've used it on pearls without any damage. Thank you

Lolol I think I can imagine!!! And I'm sure there has been new purchases since you last shared with BAS!

 

[Purranha]

Ladies! I have decided to do an experiment on Jewel Brite cleaners!!!
I'll start a new thread on it but here are a few previews.

 

[Purranha]

I don't want to spam BabyNurse's thread so did a Jewel Brite experiment thread as public service!

Testing out Jewel Brite on Pearls! GASP!

Hi Ladies! I have encountered a number of discussions on PG around pearl cleaning - especially when it comes to silver parts/wires/mountings attached to the pearls. Silver is tricky since it tarnishes really fast, plus silver polish cloth often can't get to those wire wrapped portions or...

www.pearl-guide.com

And BabyNurse love the fireball necklace!

 

[baby nurse]

Ah yes, the reasons for the scarcity of soufflés is sounding familiar. I think I heard parts of that before, Purranha. What a shame : (

I was about to "nope, I haven't bought a single ripple strand in years!" But I did buy Pkinnew's. and 1 HG counts for what? 5? 10 standard ripple strands? Haha--joking!

Ohh, looking forward to the jewel brite experiment!

 

[Pearly-Whites]

BN, That is a wonderful play of color off of the purple and the white with the two accent pearls. It looks great and is so creative. It looks great with white and I would imagine purple. The fireball is wonderful how it looks dipped in purple!!

I contacted Pearl Paradise looking for a few souffles and they only had one available, so I do believe there is a scarcity.

 

[Purranha]

I was about to "nope, I haven't bought a single ripple strand in years!" But I did buy Pkinnew's. and 1 HG counts for what? 5? 10 standard ripple strands? Haha--joking!

Ohh, looking forward to the jewel brite experiment!

Lol ahem ahem cough cough.

Jewel Brite experiment has been completed and detailed photos and results posted in the dedicated thread! Pearls came out completely undamaged!

 

[MSC]

Oh that pendant is TDF!

 

[JerseyPearl]

BN, that is one amazing fireball pendant! I love how it graduates from white to purple...you know I want to put that on a strand of teeny tiny stones that ombre from purple to white. And those earrings are so lustrous.

And on a side note, is that top from Free People? If so I have that one too....

Purr, I haven't tried that product, but off to Amazon to look it up.

 

[Purranha]

BN, that is one amazing fireball pendant! I love how it graduates from white to purple...you know I want to put that on a strand of teeny tiny stones that ombre from purple to white.

Haha JP LUV your idea!!!