Akoya redos

[Charlotta]

Years ago I bought a lot of vintage akoyas. Some I gifted to familymembers some I kept for myself. Not all of them were in great condition, some had worn pearls and some strand were broken. Then I discovered tahitians and south seas, not that they were in any way news to the rest of the world, but not easily seen in sweden. I knew of them of course, I just hadn't seen them i real life. The first ones I bought had lots of flaws, but occationally really nice colors and/or luster. When I did get some better tahitians and south seas I really didn't use my akoyas that much. But I didn't want them to not be used at all, so I started redesigning them. I started with a single graduated beautiful strand that I bought broken. I had wanted a trassel enhancer for quite some time, I found a beautiful birdcage tassel enhancer finding on etsy and tried to make one with some tiny freshwaters. They had tiny drillholes however and I couldn't double back the tread on them. Then I tried with the akoyas and it worked beautifully, even though they are graduated. The small freshwaters I used for a long strand that I usually wear the trassel enhancer on.

 

[Charlotta]

Then I used another vintage akoya strand, with a silver and marcasite clasp that I kept. I added 4 greenish south sea pearls to the strand, but kept the graduation between the south seas. I removed some of the smaller pearls to get the right lenght.

 

[Charlotta]

I also combined a double strand of vintage akoyas with a strand of deep golden south sea pearls that I bought from Cees and made 2 wavestrands. These ones I really love.



The deep golden south sea studs are from Oceanscove.

 

[Charlotta]

I also combined another vintage double strand of akoyas with some baroque light golden south sea pearl. Some of the akoya pearls were badly damaged. Someone clearly loved those pearls for years, wore them a lot and applied perfume and/or hairspray. Most pearls were fine and I placed them randomly with the south seas.



The champagne south sea studs are from Tahitipearldesigner.

 

[Charlotta]

I bought 4 strands of blue and silver baroque akoyas from Pearlescence for making a triple blue akoya necklace to go with a vintage clasp with an aquamarine in it. That I did, however the clasp is so fiddly that I hardly used the necklace. I did make a really long tincup with some of the pearls after finishing the triple.


The blue tahitian pearls are from Pearlescence
When I remade the other akoyas I added some silvery tahitian pearls, some silver south seas and some golden south seas and made another really long rope.

 

[Charlotta]

I also combined a greenish baroque akoyastrand from Pearlescence with 6 dark green tahitians. It's prettier in real life and goes perfectly with some big forest green tahitian studs I bought from Pearlescence in july.



The forest green tahitian studs.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

The little tassel is adorable!

 

[Charlotta]

Thank you Pearl Dreams, I love that tassel. It's was so fun making it, difficult because I didn't wanted the tread to touch the metal and used gimp as protection under the tassel head and on the ends of each arm(?). It was fiddly to get it right. Hopefully it now lasts forever.

 

[86Corvettegirl]

Outstanding, Charlotta!! I love the wave necklaces!!!!

 

[Charlotta]

Thank you 86Corvettegirl, the wavestrands turned out really well.

 

[CricketBug]

So much beauty! I really like the tassel, it turned out so well! And the wave strands are especially gorgeous, too. It's wonderful to see the pearls re-purposed.

 

[Charlotta]

Thank you Cricketbug, there is so much one can do with a graduated akoyastrand or two.

 

[pattye]

Ahh, tassels are forever charming and classy! Love how large and small pearls play off each other ~ how complementary pearl colors are to each other too! Well done, Charlotta; thank you for sharing your design process!

 

[BAS]

Lovely reworked pieces! I've never had a tassle and this really makes me want one...just beautiful!

Wear your new pieces in health.

 

[linda.wald]

I love the tassel, too! Are they very difficult to make? I am somewhat clumsy and shaky, but I can knot pearls OK (thanks to the wonders of Beader's Secret). Anyway, you have some lovely pearls; thank you for sharing!

 

[Parrot Lady]

You inspired me to buy the same bird cage but haven’t figured out how to make the tassel. Yours is a tough act to follow.

 

[Charlotta]

Thank you Pattye, Bas, linda.wald and Parrot Lady. Making the tassel isn't difficult but fiddly. First I made 9 piles out of a graduated akoya strand and sorted them according to size. I even used the biggest pearl so each "arm" is slightly different. Then I wirewrapped the 9 endperls=the biggest ones with headpins for a nice ending of each arm. I then started making a loose knot on the cage with some Beaders Secret tread, and I did let a long tread dangle outside of the cage for finishing knot. Then treaded all of the pearls for one arm, except for the wirewrapped one. Added gimp and used a wirewrapped pearl, like when you add the clasp to a strand, and doubled back up. Added gimp and let the gimp hang of one of the bars in the cage going down with the needle on the other side. Added a new row of pearls and gimp, but then I had to tighten the tread so that only the gimp were on the bar inside the cage. The tightening part was the difficult one. Also I used the openings on the side of the cage to get the needle around the bars without bending it. Then attatched another wirewrapped pearl, doubled back up, added gimp and went around another bar inside the cage. The pearls are attached like a spiral inside. When all of the pearls are attached I took the tread out were the first piece of tread was and tied it with a bunch of knots and cut it, not to close to the knots. I think that I hid the knot and tread somehow but don't remember exactly. You will not see it inside the cage anyway. All done.

 

[Marianne]

Goodness, you have been busy and it paid off beautifully! Well done!

 

[CricketBug]

Lovely Tahitian colours, 86C!

Charlotta, that's quite a process to making a tassle with that cap! Kudos for an excellent job and description!

 

[Charlotta]

Thank you Marianne and Cricketbug. I know the description is a handful, but if you break it down it's not really difficult and then you have an awsome tassel instead if a neglected graduated akoya strand. Don't get me wrong, graduated akoyas are very pretty but if you don't use them you might as well redo it or give it to someone who will use it. That’s what I do anyway.