A new type of freshwater pearl on the horizon

[pattye]

Gosh, those are pretty! Wax on thread = dirty mess, IMO, but an interesting experiment.

 

[Marianne]

The colors are beautiful! Lighter weight is nice. Seems like a series of hot water baths could remove most of the wax (although that would be rather labor intensive).

 

[Pearl Dreams]

If the wax were to melt and come out entirely, it would make the pearls hard to restring.

If it melted, then resolidified the drill hole would be gone.

 

[Katbran]

Self lubricating pearls ....how funny !

 

[BWeaves]

What is the benefit of using the wax bead nucleus?

It's cheaper than buying bead nuclei from America.

 

[Ash]

Fabulous news Jeremy! Excited to hear the progress on this.

 

[ennui]

Are smaller pearls coming back into fashion? I had a vague sense that the past few years have been all about bigger, bigger, bigger ...

 

[jshepherd]

Chinese producers have been focusing on size for years but smaller pearls are much more wearable. We probably sell 50 or so 7 mm strands for every 10 mm strand.

 

[BWeaves]

7mm is a very wearable size.

 

[Karman]

These new pearls are interesting! I was eyeing some "Baby Ming" pearls from Wendy - are these the same?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

7mm, or at least under 8mm, is also a more affordable size.

I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for all-nacre FWP?
And if the earring-grade/Freshadama FWP pearls of the future will have a bead nucleus, because more people prefer rounder pearls? Seems like they would have to, to stay competitive.
And what this may mean for akoya sales?

It's all very interesting.

 

[jshepherd]

These new pearls are interesting! I was eyeing some "Baby Ming" pearls from Wendy - are these the same?

No, they wouldn't be the same thing. These haven't reached commercial production and they are mostly in the 5 mm range. They weren't selling them yet either. These were given to me.

 

[jshepherd]

7mm, or at least under 8mm, is also a more affordable size.

I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for all-nacre FWP?
And if the earring-grade/Freshadama FWP pearls of the future will have a bead nucleus, because more people prefer rounder pearls? Seems like they would have to, to stay competitive.
And what this may mean for akoya sales?

It's all very interesting.

It won't be good for akoya. That's for sure. It may definitely mean the beginning of the end for all-nacre FWP. We will have to wait and see what commercial production looks like.

 

[Purranha]

It won't be good for akoya. That's for sure. It may definitely mean the beginning of the end for all-nacre FWP. We will have to wait and see what commercial production looks like.

Oh man time to stock up...

 

[Pareltje]

Is it possible to produce off round/potato all nacre akoya pearls? I'm not talking about keshis.

 

[BWeaves]

I'd go for a multistrand necklace of 5mm all nacre akoyas, with the strands all different lengths, not nested. Where do I sign up?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Is it possible to produce off round/potato all nacre akoya pearls? I'm not talking about keshis.

I'd go for a multistrand necklace of 5mm all nacre akoyas, with the strands all different lengths, not nested. Where do I sign up?

I imagine it would be physically possible to produce cultured akoya pearls without a bead nucleus, but surely the farmers simply wouldn't.

The market demand is for perfectly round pearls, and as farming akoyas is more costly than farming FWP, I can't see it being financially feasible to deliberately culture beadless baroques-- especially with FWP getting rounder!

Fortunately for those of us who love baroques, they happen anyway. What I would like to see is more of the thick nacre baroques that were offered as a special back in 2015.

 

[jshepherd]

I can't see an akoya producer ever doing that. They would basically be considered keshi and be much less valuable.

 

[Elephagreen]

Sorry, total newbie here. A baroque, is that the kind of tear drop shaped pearl?

 

[BWeaves]

A baroque shape is any shape that isn't perfectly round, and isn't a definite shape. A tear drop would be a definite shape.