advice needed on gilding a damaged WSS pearl

[Katbran]

If you haven't worked with gold leaf before you might need to read up on it. I use it with Sterling silver and a technique called Keum Boo where the gold is bonded to the silver with pressure and heat.

You would need a base coat in the space you want to foil. Pearls are porous so you need to fill it. I went through this with Wendy when she wanted to know how to foil pearls and she makes great use of the technique in gold leafing WSS. Then glue for metal leaf over the dried sealant , a brush to pick up the foil...its very difficult to work with as it's so thin and just place it in the space you want to cover.

Here is a Rio Grande video on gilding wood. Be much the same
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luzokKmQ3ik

 

[StarryPearl]

Thank you, lisa c, JerseyPearl, and Katbran. There seems a lot to learn, and some experiments before I can feel confident to use this technique.

I guess I will just pick one piece from my old stock of tiny faceted gems and glue it onto the pearl using two part epoxy for this time.

Thank you all again!

 

[CortezPearls]

Great suggestion KatBran!

 

[Anna Reyne]

Please look into Kintsugi. The Japanese art form using fine metals dust and lacquer... Using 10kt gold, 14kt gold, 18kt gold, platinum, sterling silver or brass fine dust. To fix broken heirloom china and historical pottery in artistic form. I believe the same process could be used on pearls to cover / fix damage. Or to do artistic touches on pearls.

 

[CortezPearls]

Kintsugi is another great suggestion! At the Cortez farm's store we made some kintsugi pearls with silver. It worked!

 

[StarryPearl]

Thanks a lot, Anna and Douglas. I searched "Kintsugi" and love its art effect. Will definitely remember to try in future.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Douglas, do you happen to have a photo to share? I am fascinated by this process...

 

[Katbran]

I too would love to see a photo of the pearls Douglas !

 

[CortezPearls]

I started looking for a photo of the item, but I found none in my archives. These were sold at the Cortez pearl eStore so I also did not need to have a copy (one would be there, always available) but since I no longer have full access to the site, I don't have access to the photos
And since it was time consuming to make these (and they were not "Best Sellers") they are not making any more of these.
I always thought that the use of silver was not adequate...since Cortez pearls are mostly on the gray side so the color did not make a striking difference. Gold would have been better, even bronze! Sorry about this...
I will ask Fernando at the farm to see if he has a photo of one of these.

 

[CortezPearls]

Yup! He got me a couple of photos...hope you like them!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Fascinating, Douglas! I agree, a warm color metal would have shown up much better, but still cool to experiment with. Rose Gold would look lovely with Cortez pearls

 

[CortezPearls]

Yes indeed! And Fernando sent me another photo...this time with a green-blue pearl...and gold wire...looks much better!

 

[JerseyPearl]

Wow, thanks for the photos douglas!

 

[CortezPearls]

My pleasure