Freshwater rope

[Lulu]

Rather than further contaminate the 100" rope thread in this forum, I thought I would post my shorter-than-required rope in its own thread I think 50-55" ropes are my sweet spot: long enough to double or even treble (if it's 55").

This is one I made after raiding my stash and pulled out all of the special pearls that were waiting for the "right" project and yet have just been languishing these past months. In between, there are cheapie white potato pearls to provide visual "white" space between the more interesting pearls, and they turned out to be fine for this purpose.

I really love how this rope shows off the range of chinese freshwater pearls -- wrinkly kasumi-types, metallic off-rounds, potatoes, flameballs with tails, keshis, etc. etc.

My favorite of the pearls is the one in the middle with the fantastic green metallic pondslime. It's just stunning in real life. For some reason the photos that I post on this forum have been more washed out than they appear on my computer...



I'm thinking that this would be a really nice Mother's Day gift -- perfect with spring colors. It's turned out to be a pretty extravagant rope however, with all of the "special" pearls. I'm hoping that the recipient would be able to appreciate it for what it is, and if not, at least appreciate it for being pretty!

 

[Caitlin]

I hope so too. Those pearls are so well chosen and also so many special pearls make it unforgettable.

 

[pattye]

Lovely, lovely design, Lulu, well knotted, fascinating variety of pearls! Agree, the greenie is so gorgeous! Those little lustrous nugget pearls look perfect and help keep the rope from being heavy. Please keep showing us your work!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Very nice!!! That green pearl is amazing!

Was your background white? I tried adjusting the photo's colors to produce as nearly white a background as I could:

 

[Lulu]

Pattye, Caitlin, thanks so much I really had fun putting together this rope. It was a real a-ha moment for me when I was browsing the 100" thread that I could make something spectacular with what I have on hand.

Pearl Dreams, yes! Thank you! Your color-adjusted photo does capture the range of colors on this rope much better. There are white, peach, champagne and pondslime kasumi-types, and a few really lavender pearls sprinkled in as well.

I need to be careful, because I may be tempted to keep it for myself...

 

[Amrita]

Wow - Lulu!! Love this rope of yours - there's so much in it. So many shapes, so many colours - such a lovely creation! The recipient is going to be a very lucky lady indeed!

 

[Marianne]

Lulu Dear, that is a definite Keeper!!!!

 

[Naria]

Very pretty.

 

[Lulu]

Thanks, everyone!

I've taken another look at the big champagne-colored Kasumis.... they came from a standard-length strand I bought off of a vendor on ebay and I think that they have really thin nacre. I don't know how to describe it, except that it almost seems that the nacre isn't entirely opaque. It just looks different from the other light-colored kasumi-types that I have purchased from other sources. I'm a little annoyed as such strands aren't inexpensive. Oh well, you live and you learn.

As such, I just don't think I can give them as a gift and pass them off as "real pearls" since they aren't much more than pearl-plated beads, as Caitlin might put it, and may wear out really quickly. (No, I'm not just looking for a reason to keep them!)

For the record however, all of the pearls, kasumi-types or not, that I've gotten from Adeline at BaliBotanika on Etsy have been absolutely lovely...

 

[Sarah]

As such, I just don't think I can give them as a gift and pass them off as "real pearls" since they aren't much more than pearl-plated beads, as Caitlin might put it, and may wear out really quickly. (No, I'm not just looking for a reason to keep them!)

Ha! Yes, I think you are, but you should! What a beautiful combination of colors, Lulu. You did an amazing job arranging and stringing the pearls. The wrinkled pearls look fine to me. What makes you think they have thin nacre?

 

[Lulu]

Thanks, Bluebirrd! It's hard to describe. I bought them very early on in my experience and didn't know better at the time to be unhappy. I can see that there is only a thin layer of nacre at the drill holes the luster is different - more shallow somehow and I feel I can almost see the bead. I remember reading that some one had this with akoyas but I didn't think it would happen with cfw. I any case the luster is very different from the ones that obviously have thick nacre. Now I know better. The folks and pictures here have been super helpful but no substitute for handling them in person!

 

[GemGeek]

Ha Ha - GMTA! Before I had read any farther, I, too, adjusted the color. I knew there were colors just waiting to POP. The green one is calling my name! I'm posting mine for the heck of it. Cute cute pearls!

 

[Caitlin]

I was daydreaming about that rope last night. It is so darn beautiful! So balanced. It could be a signature piece! GG's corrected photo is even more pop-y than you corrected photo. I love that strand! It is the way you put it together. It dances, it has rhythm!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Hee hee, more fun with attempts at correcting the photo.
This is such a lovely piece, I can see why you dreamed of it, Caitlin!

 

[Caitlin]

The more I look at it, the more I wish I had some Kasumi-like pearls to do an imitation.....alas, I don't......

 

[Lulu]

Aw, thanks guys and gals! This really was a fun piece to put together. After I read through all of the posts on Pattye's 100" rope thread, I dumped all of my baggies of pearls into trays and figured I was going to use as many of them as I could. I had originally planned to make a kasumi-like-only strand, but it turned out surprisingly boring (and unsurprisingly heavy), so this was a fun project. My husband's comment on it at the time was: Is there a pattern? I didn't want it to be too matchy-matchy...

I do wish the champagne ones were higher quality, but when they wear out, I'll have a new project to work on, I guess!

Caitlin -- it sounds like you have a project to shop for when you're at Tucson...

 

[juliebeth]

all i have to say is, wow. so gorgeous!