My Design

[effisk]

For info on faceted pearls, try searching the term on this forum. I believe I started a thread about them a few weeks ago and there is some good info on that thread- along with some good photos.

hehe, I just come back from that thread
http://pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=724
and returned here to answer my question.
You've been quicker

 

[pattye]

Caitlin, Zeide and All,
Thanks for sharing the great pics and info! The glasses holders are gorgeous, too! May I ask what you use to string them on to make strong enough? And is it hard to find the little end pieces? I am getting my beading stuff together with all the info from you--and will hopefully have pics to share soon.

Patricia Saab

 

[susannahxu]

Hi Zeide
I had a unilateral moment there - no one else is responsible and it may come down at any time.

I was hoping someone would know something about it and give us a reference,but it is such a good teaching tool, and I thought no one will be able to tell us what it is without the picture.

If my caveats don't work, it it'll come down again. Meanwhile I hope a lot of folks get a look.........

Hi Caitlin

Here I am. Your beautiful picture won't come down so long as I am here. . Although lots of royal designs of pearls I have enjoyed on line, including the oriental hair clasp in Qing Dynasty in China, and the crown of Princess Diana, I'v never seen this one before. It is a luxurious one which goes too far away from the common people. Royal items are usually overdesigned for overdesigned clothes. But they always are the inspiration for modern jewellery design. It is interesting that pearls often go with diamond to form a regular and abstract pattern in the western items, and are often highlighted in a necklace or crown. But the pearls are merely a small part of an item (see my attachment). And it is also interesting that Chinese were more likely to use pearls in clothes (stitched on a robe as an eye of bird and the like?), hair clasps, and earrings in ancient time. They rarely appeared in a necklace. Have a look at their special settings and amazing crafts.

 

[susannahxu]

more pictures

 

[susannahxu]

Here is photo of my necklace that is similar to Susanna's

They are very much alike as two peas in a pod at first sight! We truly have something in common. I’d like to show more here. But it is too bad that before I could take photo of those items, most of them were mercilessly taken by my friends as long as they saw them on my neck. Anyway I am so happy to be here to share the pictures from all of you. They taught me a lot. And I also like so much some amusing words of describing pearl necklaces in this thread. As Caitlin said, we might open another forum for jewelry design someday. That would be much more exciting!

 

[susannahxu]

Hi Caitlin,

Isn't it strange how hard it is to photograph the colors right. The B&B looks so lean and simple in person, but when you try to photograph the thing it is the most elusive thing ever.

Zeide

Hi,Zeide,

A vital step for catching the correct colors of an object is to put them under the sunlight lamp or, sunlight. In this way, you may, to great extent, get a true reflection of it with your camera. If it is a bit difficult for you, you have to adjust the WB function of your camera. In most cases, set it as AWB, Auto White Balance, which is very important to obtain a satisfied color. But it might not work for taking a very close object. So you shall set them according to the instructions on the booklet of your camera. It doesn?t sound that convenient, but it will be sure to bring you a surprise.
Another way is to adjust your pictures in Photoshop, a powerful software of making wonderful photos. Photoshop is a must for a good picture. The most useful functions for getting right color are as following: Curves, Brightness/Contrast, Color Balance and Hue/Saturation in the list of Image; and Sharpen in Filter. Of course the operation for a perfect photo is far more complicated than this, but these steps are basic for green hand. Try to learn them and you will find they help a lot for correcting colors.

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Susanna,

I find the Chinese designs a lot more appealing in their organic motifs than the western abominations with diamonds. I do not quite remember who came up with the idea of combining pearls with diamonds, but it was a wrong move in my opinion. They do not even look good together because of their very different way of reflecting and refracting light.

Zeide

 

[effisk]

these pearls are so red they look dyed.
You must have to wear it with a "natural color" label hanging on it.

 

[Caitlin]

Whoa down! I just go and hang with my family for a few hours and look what happens on this thread!
Those designs Susannah posted are incredibly beautiful. I just love the natural/abstract balance.

Susannah, Is that third or 4th one, a dragon fly? The ones with the leaves are stunning. I have never seen such pretty jewelry. Please tell us something about them- Are they yours? Or are they museum pieces? They look too special to be in any ordinary shop.

I was just lucky that my youngest just blew through town with her collection of pearls, so I got a few shots of her necklace which I have now dubbed- "The Susannah" ( I realize the "h" in your name is probably the first letter of your surname, but we can spell Susanna with or without and "h" in English.)

She likes to wear it with one piece of the strand drooping down her shoulder. I got a shot of it on her camera, so I have to wait till she sends me a copy to post it. But I dare say we will being seeing more of that style of wearing long strands. I equate wearing a long strand like that to wearing shoes untied and hats backward- some kind of hip hop thing.

 

[Caitlin]

And some photos from our special Satine de la Courcel aka Ash...
One is pearl embroidery on a bag. I believe this one is part of Satine's Elizabethan reenactment clothing?
A triple strand in a pattern of multicolor CFW pearls
A stand of round white CFWp with alternating Garnets and a drop pearl.

Thanks, Ash, These are lovely. Do you have any other pearl embroidery pieces? Those take us in a whole new directiion..... I used to embroider bags with seed beads...This one makes me want to do something with pearls. Good job!

 

[susannahxu]

Dear all:
Congratulations! The lower bead club is build at last!

 

[Caitlin]

Hi S
I think the interest in the designs in this thread had a lot to do with it. You started a popular thread and brought a lot to this club. Folks on this thread are all charter members of the club.

Everyone ..... Keep on posting pix! On this thread or a new one.

 

[susannahxu]

Susannah, Is that third or 4th one, a dragon fly? The ones with the leaves are stunning. I have never seen such pretty jewelry. Please tell us something about them- Are they yours? Or are they museum pieces? They look too special to be in any ordinary shop.

I realize the "h" in your name is probably the first letter of your surname, but we can spell Susanna with or without and "h" in English.
[/SIZE]

They are the museum pieces coming from the princesses and queens in the Qing dynasty. Most of them are made of gold, silver, jade, coral, quartz, sandal, and etc. Blue and yellow are the main colors for settings, for they are the exclusive colors for royal members. Because of the rareness of natual pearls, they were put more in the hairpins to show them than in the neck. Compared with the western style of pearl jewellery, Chinese versions have their own flavors, rich, colorful but cautious with complicated patterns.

My family teacher, an American from Chicago, gave me this name, Susannah, when i was in the university. She thought it was much more international than other names. I love it. Sue, Susan, Susanna, Susannah are all OK. But I always add " h" at the end of the name for the respect for this kindly teacher, because she always wrote it with"h".

 

[susannahxu]

One is pearl embroidery on a bag. I believe this one is part of Satine's Elizabethan reenactment clothing?

I love the embroidery on this bag. Some of the robes for Chinese emperors also have the pearl embroidery of this kind on them, gorgeous and brilliant! Today it looks much more feminine.

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

I love the embroidery on this bag. Some of the robes for Chinese emperors also have the pearl embroidery of this kind on them, gorgeous and brilliant! Today it looks much more feminine.

Thank you! I do hope to do a version of the entire dalmatic that inspired it someday! complete with FWP ( winks at caitlyn) and hopefully real semi precious gemstone cabs.... but that ia a long way off. still researching stuff...

oh really??? would you happen to know of any robes taht may still be arround from pre 1600 BCE???? I am currently researching all perl embrouidery for my hobby pre 1600 (since those are the years we deal with) from as many cultures that would have incorporated this kind of thing... I fell sometimes it is a long shot being pearls, and the chance of many surviving extant pieces that may be about I am looking everywhere I can and also hope to procure photographs for study as well...

I am exceptionally interested in any surviving pearl embroidered garments before the "era of pearls"

If anyone has any Ideas please throw them my way!!!!! I have many great leads just form my little collection of pearl books but I am going to exhaust every avenue if I can!


Thanks all

Ash

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Ash,

Could you possibly be looking for designs from pre 1600 CE (the era formerly known as AD)? In pre 1600 BCE fashion was rather ?tzi in Europe and the first raw silk fabrics were made in China. This was about a quarter after stoneage. We are talking early bronze age here, about Shang Dynasty (1766-1100 BCE).

Zeide

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

Thanks Zeide,

I will check it out! as always I thank you for sharing what you know

Ash

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Ash,

I think the Chinese dynasty for your relevant time period would be the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE) that largely corresponds to the European Renaissance. The Shang Dynasty was China's first true dynasty and began at around 1766 BCE, i.e. 3773 years ago.

Zeide