Hooked!

[Chroman]

Confession time

Until not too long ago, I had no idea that there was a world of pearls outside of small round white spheres. Apparently, marketing and tiny selections at big box jewelers had limited my view of things. Then, one day, my mind was blown after seeing a green tahitian somewhere (still round - but.., green?!). Fascinated, I took to the web to find out more. That led me to the wealth of knowledge here!

For a while, I was mostly perusing the "looking for a gift for my SO" threads, as that's really what I was eventually after - a gift for my wife. Though somehow I managed to keep getting sidetracked by all the amazing pearls out there - Colors, shapes, sizes, combinations, oh my!

I'd caught the pearl bug.

Fortunately, Kojima isn't too far away, and Sarah was kind enough to spend a good chunk of a morning hunting through tahitians with me. In general, I hate shopping, but I had a blast that day! I now need to come up with good excuses to head back over to ogle more pearls. And somehow find the restraint to hide the gift until our anniversary.

So, thanks for all the great information, and sharing all your wonderful pearls!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Lucky wife!

I hope you will post a photo of her gift after you give it to her so we can all drool!

 

[BAS]

What a wonderful story. Please keep us posted and share pictures. As I'm sure you know, we love us some pearl pictures!!!

 

[GemGeek]

We do have a great forum here. I'm so glad that that it led you to meet Sarah and see Kojima's pearls in person. A fabulous introduction to the pearl world.

 

[Chroman]

Sure thing - I'll try my hand at photographing pearls once they're done being set and when I can stealthily setup some decent lighting.

Even if my photos suck, I'll get a photography lesson out of it.

 

[GemGeek]

Try indirect natural light with a non-reflective white background such as a paper towel. Or ask Sarah if she would mind taking a photo for you - she's an expert at pearl photography.

 

[Chroman]

GemGeek -

I think I was totally spoiled to get to visit Kojima as an introduction to pearls. The bar has been set high! I'm sure the other trusted vendors here are surpurb, but shopping online pales in comparison to an in-person experience.

I've built disposible light boxes in the past for some projects, though none stood the test of time. Time to build another! Trying to take pearl "glamour shots" actually sounds pretty fun.

 

[GemGeek]

I like your attitude! We await your photographic efforts.

 

[Katbran]

Wow you are like the perfect husband...infected with the pearl bug....I bring up pearls and Johns eyes glaze over lol You have certainly headed down the right path..lots of research and a stop at an excellent vendor. You are right...seeing in person is by far the best way to buy. No matter how good the photos they don't compare to seeing the way the light changes the colours. The most beautiful pearls in the wrong lighting can go a bit blah ... shiny...but blah. Change the lighting and it's like Xmas at Disneyland. So different to other gems. And don't forget that you can always buy the raw material and have your favourite artisan jeweller make something unique. We have some members that have fabulous unique pieces created by their favourite designer. What ever you do...you will have a beautiful gift !

Good luck with the photos ... GemGeek is an expert so be sure to ask for her advice once you get started ! We all find it difficult to capture a pearl on film ... well .. not GemGeek ... she's an artist with the camera !

 

[GemGeek]

Goodness, thank you! If you only knew how much trial and mostly error led up to my figuring it out... Taking lots of photos and then trying to be sure that they are in focus before you walk away, is the key to the show photos. Some lighting cannot be overcome.

 

[pattye]

Chroman, Welcome! You dropped down the pearly rabbit hole and found wonderful Sarah and her gorgeous pearls in person; that's a terrific introduction!

 

[kelluvpearls]

Please share photos your gift when you can, what fun to be able to visit Sarah in person!

 

[pkinnew]

Welcome, Chroman! I'm sorry to hear about your recent pearl bug - it's pretty much unrecoverable!!! I look forward to seeing the final product!

 

[Chroman]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

It was wonderfully overcast this morning, so I tried a first attempt at some photos. They could be better; perhaps I'll try again later in some different light.

First up - earrings. These are 8-8.5 tahitian round studs (though I totally blew the focus!). To my eye they match much better than they show up here, and the one on the left is much less 'blah' in reality. The right isn't too far off what I see though, though there seems to be more blue in the photo, and I see more olive.




Next - pendent time. 10-12mm tahitian drop. Color wise, this turned out pretty well. In brighter light it can show up as more of a 'christmas tree ornament' green, whereas in paler light there are wonderful streaks of blue, falling off to purple on the edges. I stare at this everytime I walk by it, and it's constantly different! In your imagination, disregard the fact that the chain doesn't really match.

 

[CathyKeshi]

Chroman, these are beautiful! The pendant pearl is a great photograph ... and a stunning pearl

 

[BAS]

Thanks for sharing your photos. Please take and post more for us, if you are up for that!

 

[ckrickett]

these are so beautiful!!!!

 

[Chroman]

Cathy -

I really love that drop - it has so much going on!

BAS -

Managed to get a much more respectable photo of the studs. I still think the camera is accentuating the color differences between them, as they seem to match much better than this shows. That's ok, I still love them



I gather that some people prefer larger studs, but I intentionally stayed on the smaller end (at least of the Tahitian size spectrum). My wife has a pair of 6mm-ish (as best I can tell from clandestine measurements) round studs that she wears all the time. Those seem to look well proportioned, so I was wary of going >8mm for studs at this point. We'll see I guess!

 

[BAS]

Chroman, thanks for the additional photo! Pearls are hard to photograph, especially Tahitians -- the devils! My camera usually picks up different colors/overtones from what I see with my naked eye.

Personally, I am in agreement with you (and your wife) regarding smaller mm pearls to wear as studs.

We'll love to see ear shots if she is willing!

 

[kelluvpearls]

Elegant and beautiful.