DID IT! Restringing

[CricketBug]

After quite a hiatus from stringing, and recently re-reading through the great how-to thread here, I decided to re-string a strand of, to-me, whoppers. They're Tahitians, circled, some with zits, most with lovely lustre and with gorgeous colours from aubergine to intense green, gray-blue-ish and banded colours. The sizes are from 14mm to 15.8mm and while not the highest quality, overall, it's a fun and colourful strand!

It was originally strung with silk, by the look of it. I forgot to take a before photo. D'oh! It's 22 inches (without the clasp), and I had to quadruple the thread (Beaders Secret, Charcoal, purchased from Pattye... in 2013!!!). Just a basic clasp that's nicely secure and strong.

It didn't take long at all! Turns out my fingers still remembered what to do. Yay!

These are iPhone shots, and nope, the colours don't show up nearly as beautifully as to the eye, physically.

Coincidentally, the pearls, in real life, look amazing on the top I'm wearing! Doesn't show so much in the photo:



My fave background colour for pearls is this soft gray:



And a hand shot to show their relative size.



I'm so excited to get stringing again! I ordered some finger tape from Pattye (and can hardly wait 'til it arrives. My fingers are rather tender after all that knot tightening today, LOL!), as well as more Beaders Secret and some needles.

 

[Marianne]

I love your pearls! Muscle memory is great to have

 

[pattye]

A M A Z I N G!! Great colorful ringed pearls and great stringing, Cricketbug! Quadrupled thread takes a bit more time to knot, but is tidy and strong, I often do this, sometimes with #40 also, adjusting thread to the hole size.

 

[GemGeek]

Wow! That is a major strand and super colorful. It turned out great.

 

[CricketBug]

I love your pearls! Muscle memory is great to have

Thanks, Marianne. Yes, muscle memory is magical!

A M A Z I N G!! Great colorful ringed pearls and great stringing, Cricketbug! Quadrupled thread takes a bit more time to knot, but is tidy and strong, I often do this, sometimes with #40 also, adjusting thread to the hole size.

Thank you, Pattye. Once I got over my brain-cramp of figuring how much thread was needed, the rest was easy. LOL! I actually liked the quad thread, because it made nice sized knots and the doubled threads were easier to tighten.

Wow! That is a major strand and super colorful. It turned out great.

Thanks, GemGeek. In real life it doesn't seem so big, somehow. It would be wonderful to have a mini diffused light source on pearls wherever we went, so the colours would always show up!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

That sure is a whopper size strand!

You did a beautiful job and they look amazing! Love the colors, shapes, rings-- all of it.

As a result of your post I went through the stringing tutorial tonight, updating in little ways as needed.

 

[SydK]

Those are huge and so colourful for pearls of that size! Great job on knotting, they look terrific.

 

[BWeaves]

Wowza! Great job. It sounds like this strand would benefit from the thicker size of Beader's secret.

 

[Katbran]

CricketBug - Those are huge and have such great colour !! Well done, I find the larger pearls harder even though they go quickly. I'll try the quad thread next time. Really great strand !

 

[CricketBug]

That sure is a whopper size strand!

You did a beautiful job and they look amazing! Love the colors, shapes, rings-- all of it.

As a result of your post I went through the stringing tutorial tonight, updating in little ways as needed.

Thanks, PD! As a result mainly of the "Show Me Your Pearls" forum and photo contributions, I'm inspired to get back to stringing. This has also encouraged me to purchase more pearls, too. LOL! PD can be a bit of a deadly forum to hang around, wallet-wise! When someone posts a link to a store or vendor, I go trotting off to have a look... and maybe a "buy" while I'm at it. I've now banned myself from more purchases, LOL!

Those are huge and so colourful for pearls of that size! Great job on knotting, they look terrific.

Thank you, SydK. I confess I kind of took them for granted, and hadn't worn them in a couple years due to needing restringing. I actually don't recall where I sourced them from, but it was a lucky purchase, lustre- and colour-wise, given the size.

Wowza! Great job. It sounds like this strand would benefit from the thicker size of Beader's secret.

Thanks, BWeaves. Yes! Heavier thread would be better, but I'm also very happy with the result of using quad thread.

CricketBug - Those are huge and have such great colour !! Well done, I find the larger pearls harder even though they go quickly. I'll try the quad thread next time. Really great strand !

Thanks, Katbran. This is the first strand of large pearls that I've done. Other strands were small but loooong. I ended up taking one to be professionally restrung as my efforts were sorry, to say the least. LOL! It was just too daunting at the time. I love working with the shorter strands, and with larger sized pearls, so I'll happily experiment with some new treasures that are en route.

 

[Charlotta]

Those tahitians are beautiful, and so lustrous. Great restringing.

 

[CricketBug]

Those tahitians are beautiful, and so lustrous. Great restringing.

Thank you, Charlotta. Your restringing is what got me thinking to try it again. I'm so glad I did!

 

[Gemandpearlover]

Great work! The strand is so lovely with beautiful colors.

 

[CricketBug]

Great work! The strand is so lovely with beautiful colors.

Thank you, Gemandpearlover! BTW, your avatar picture is adorable. Pearls on a dachsie is an elegant look.

 

[jshepherd]

Knots are tight! The stringing looks perfect.

 

[Abi]

The stringing looks great! The strand looks great on you!

 

[CricketBug]

Knots are tight! The stringing looks perfect.

Thank you, Jeremy. I'm quite pleased with the knotting this time around and very much looking forward to doing more. This is rather like eating popcorn—can't stop at just one handful.

The stringing looks great! The strand looks great on you!

Thank you, Abi. For my level of experience, (not very experienced, that is) I think the Beaders Secret makes all the difference!