Confused and need some pictures

[Carol]

Greetings to all:

I have a couple of questions regarding the colour of pearls. When you speak of lavender, do you mean lavender as in "white with a hint of lavender overtones" or do you mean "this isn't white - it is closer to purple"????? The same with pink. Does anyone have a picture where the three colours - white, pink and lavender are together so that I can see the difference?
I recently bought some "Lavender" pearls from an internet site and while I truly think they are beautiful and have no intention of sending them back - the colour "lavender" is a stretch.
So please help me out and educate me as to what the various colour labels mean and what I should expect when I order any further strands.

Thanks
Carol

 

[jshepherd]

Here is a picture of a strand with the colors side by side, but they show just a single saturation of lavender for the most part. Lavender does not have to be deep to still be considered lavender, some strands can be very light. Some pieces are hard to distinguish, they may appear lavender to one and pink to another. This is because the available color range is white, peach, and lavender. But as it is a range, colors fall everywhere in between each.

 

[Carol]

Thanks for the picture Jeremy!

I appreciate the picture. When I look at the strand - the three colours do indeed look like a white, a pink and a lavender (purple) pearl.
So my next question is: when ordering pearls, does one specify that you want the deepest shade available of that colour? As opposed to a shade closer to white?

 

[jshepherd]

I guess that would depend upon the company from which you were ordering. If the company has a good inventory, they should be able to match the exact color you like. Some saturations, hoewever, like deep purple, are very rare and difficult to get.

 

[Carol]

Does the shade of the pearl, lighter to deeper, affect the price? It would be interesting to see a picture of several pearls that all fell into the category of "pink" or "lavender" - showing the variations in colour. Is there such a picture out there?
Thanks for all your help Jeremy - you have an incredible wealth of knowledge and are a great help to novice pearl buyers such as myself.

Carol

 

[jshepherd]

No problem, Carol!

The shade should not affect the price unless you get into the exotic colors, like the deep purple. But those would not even fall into the lavender catagory. All other saturations cost the same wholesale.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Jeremy

Remember these?

(The following 3 pictures aren't all pastel shades, but this seemed a good place to show variations in color for future readersl.)

 

[Caitlin]

I got one of the above strands. I believe it was one of the first strands that was entirely untreated. I added some little pearls in between to make it longer. I am looking for better pearls for the ones in between, then I will restring it. I call this one "Transitions"

 

[Caitlin]

Mandyshan posted this picture on another thread. It also shows many shades of natural colors. The inside strand of purple appears to be of somewhat darker than medium purple.

I want some of these shaded ones as I am collecting enough to make more strands with transitions in shades from dark to light.

 

[jshepherd]

I forgot about the transition strands! A perfect example!

 

[Caitlin]

Yeah, that's a good photograph for the record but I'd like to see it gussied up a bit. Was that the only one you took?

 

[jshepherd]

I think I took that picture on my desk a long while back. I doubt if I even have the original file as I just took a low-res shot for this board.

 

[Carol]

Thanks to everyone for their input! From looking at the pictures Caitlin posted, it appears to me that lavender pearls truly can be pretty close to "purple."
The lavender freshadama pearls look very dark in colour on the website - in actual fact, are they as dark as the center pearls in the pictures in this forum strand? Or do they fall into the colour range of the pearls to either side of the center?
If one is ordering a strand, is it important to specify darker towards purple versus lighter towards white? I must confess that prior to this, I had no idea about the gradations in shading.
It is really great that this forum exists - especially for novice pearl buyers like myself.

Carol

 

[jshepherd]

If you order from us, and you have a preference, definitely specify. You may even want to phone in.

 

[Aycee]

I played a bit with the picture of the transition strand and ended up with this. I hope this shows it more like it is.

Alain

 

[Carol]

That picture is just fabulous. I sure would give my eye teeth and my first born child to have one of those strands. Do you suppose they are all the same size of pearl or do they go smaller to larger? Should one stay with a certain size of pearl in a colour graduated strand or is bigger always better?

I am heading over to China later this summer and I will hopefully find some nice things, but not only am I Canadian, but a librarian so the fine art of bartering might be more than I am up to!
So.....in case I totally fail at the bartering end of things, I am pre-buying a couple of strands. That way when I get back to work, I can wear them and just say "It was a challenge...."

Seriously though, having looked in the jewelry stores around where I live, I have found that the mark-up is just incredible. Buying from an internet site appears to be the way to go, but you have to know what you want. I am doing a couple of trial (inexpensive) purchases first to see how things go.

Carol

 

[jerin]

Coloured Freshwater strands

Coloured Freshwater strands

Hi Carol,

this is the second mentioning about being a Canadian .... meaning You are no good negotiaters?

I would recommend to order a strand from Pearl Paradise in at least AA+ quality and when You go to China You would be able to compare this strand with the ones You will be shown. Then You would have a reference strand and it surly would be easier to pick a fine strand from over there... they could not easily deceive You in telling that their quality is the finest AAAAAAAA..... You would have the living proof. On the other hand I understand that You have not so much experience but why throw away good money on even one single, bad strand?

Good luck

 

[salem]

Hey, I have a new interpretations of that sort of pearl rankng!


When you see AAAAAAAA

Just imagne yourslef running away, yellling AAAAAAAAAAAH!



Sorry, a weird mood has struck me