My freshwater pearl drops from China!

Your pearls look nice, especially given their price point! Don't get me wrong, the new Tahitians are really pretty...but what they lack is that pop of color. The visual interest of their texture though, adds a delightful element to the strand. And they sure do look nice on your neck!

Oh, and I love that necklace with the Tahitians and keshi....delicious!
 
Thanks, guys! JP, I think I'm learning that I prefer lighter-colored Tahitians so the color play shows better. With my batch from PP I just bought a batch by weight, I think they called it a harvest batch or something like that, that was just assorted sizes and colors. In my head I always thought I liked darker colors, but now that I'm paying more attention, I think the lighter Tahitians appeal to me more because of the color play. I'm definitely not going to mix them up - I had planned on taking apart the Tahitian/keshi strand at some point when I had collected enough Tahitians to make a harvest rope, but I might keep it as it is. And I'm loving how the multicolored Intergem guys look together, maybe I'll start collecting along those lines. I don't know anymore, I just want alllll the Tahitians.
 
Battah, pretty new pearls! I also love your PP Tahitian and akoya tin cup. I didn't realise PP sells pearls in 'harvest batches'. The Tahitians from intergem are gorgeous.

Pareltje - I bought some tiny Tahitian keshi from Aloha pearls on etsy. They are really nice! Here is a photo from my office, so not the best light for showing the overtones but you get the idea.

image.jpeg

image.jpeg
 
Handama , those look very very nice ! Nice lustre ! I looked at those the other day and thought they seemed very pretty. Did you get the Dark or medium dark ?

Battah - thanks for the photos ! those T's look fine though I agree that the Akoya are a bit of a disappointment but then for the price ...I think you have done well overall.
 
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I've ordered from Alohoa pearls once and was disappointed. Their pearls did nothing for me... and quite honestly, I thought some were fugly. Their keshi do look attractive and I have often thought about giving them a second chance, but I'm still a bit reluctant. One major drawback on the keshi is that they are drilled through the short side, and not lengthwise (which I prefer).

Here are pictures of what I got from them.
Rikis 11mm,
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light multicolor,
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rikis with light mix,
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11mm buy one get one free sale pearls (these were really cheap and you definitely got what you paid for, or imho, I still paid too much for them).
DSC06264.jpg
The pearls on the top row of the last two pictures are my Tahitians and not from Aloha. The pearls on the bottom row of the last two pictures are from Aloha (all B1G1 free pearls 10-12mm).
DSC06228.jpg
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Granted my photos aren't that great but hopefully, you get an idea. My favorite pearls from Aloha were the surprise b1g1free 10mm pearls at the very end of the row. They were clean and nice colors for the price. I still have not used any of these pearls for any thing. If the pearls are not nice, there's just no motivation.
 
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Kalmen, the necklace and earrings you made for your mum are lovely! She looks great in them and I bet she is thrilled!

Hanadama, your keshi are very pretty! At first, I thought they were a strand of baroques until I read they were small keshi. How big are they?

Battah, can I see a picture of the akoya keshi and T strand, please? It looks lovely!!! Your Intergem pearls have great color too! I love the way the colors are strong and bold. I think the T you got from Wen are nice and they are so uniform in size and shape! I love it when they have a lot of rings.
 
Battah thanks for all the photos. Agree think the green Tahitian are great for the price but those intergem ones look amazing.
Thanks for the akoya photos. Just a fun rope is probably what it can be, it was my wishful thinking it can be cheap and great quality. Hahhaha.
 
Minasa thank you the earring findings are from Beads maker on etsy.

Amti thank you. I'm just so glad she likes it. The worse is making a present and the person is too polite to say they don't like it. Luckily my mom has no issue. I made the teardrop rope for her and she passed it on to my sister the next day.. coz she felt it was too small. So yeah to her keeping this set.

I have also ordered from aloha pearls. And we had an issue with mailing. Long story short the postoffice delivered wrongly to another address so it showed up as delivered on tracking but I got nothing. The owner wasn't helpful though Pegah his stuff was incredibly sweet. But in the end I was so exasperated by the owner that I think I'll just not order from them anymore. I did finally receive my package but the quality was 50-50. The free Tahitians were not very pretty so now they are just sitting there. I'll try and post some photos soon.
 
I have no experience with the other pearls but I like my keshi! They are a tiny 2.5-4mm and are drilled long ways which I prefer. No other vendor offers keshi this size and I needed some tiny pearls to finish pieces.

This was my only experience ordering from Aloha but communication was great and the pearls shipped problem free.

Last photo shows the keshi with a 9mm pearl from Jac.

image.jpeg

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image.jpeg
 
Katbran said:
Handama , those look very very nice ! Nice lustre ! I looked at those the other day and thought they seemed very pretty. Did you get the Dark or medium dark ?

Battah - thanks for the photos ! those T's look fine though I agree that the Akoya are a bit of a disappointment but then for the price ...I think you have done well overall.
Click to expand...

Katbran I have no idea! I messaged them and Pegah took some photos of strands for me to choose from!
 
Thanks, guys! Hanadama, I misspoke, PP doesn't call them harvest batches, I guess that's what I called it in my head! I went back to look at my email exchange with Jeremy to check the details. I had contacted him about getting a number of Tahitians in a range of sizes, all baroque, and he put together a couple of lots for me to choose from. It was a great way to put together a harvest strand, because though the pearls were all different, they looked good together. Jeremy is a dream to work with.

amti, sure! I'll dig up a pic for you. kalmen, wishful thinking re: the akoyas, right? I mean I'll still make something with them, they're pretty, but I'm sure they don't compare to the real deal.
 
hanadama said:
Battah, pretty new pearls! I also love your PP Tahitian and akoya tin cup. I didn't realise PP sells pearls in 'harvest batches'. The Tahitians from intergem are gorgeous.

Pareltje - I bought some tiny Tahitian keshi from Aloha pearls on etsy. They are really nice! Here is a photo from my office, so not the best light for showing the overtones but you get the idea.

View attachment 45030

View attachment 45031
Click to expand...

Hanadama, those keshis are so yummy, I love the dark peacock color. You chose a great strand!
 
Amti, I have a few pearls from Aloha. They have some blemishes but the color is nice so I keep them. I would like to know if the pearls from Jacques are better in terms of surface quality and color. I have been wanting to buy some pearls from him but somebody said the drill holes were off center. I don't want to get off center drilled pearls which I can't return.
These are from Aloha IMG_20160718_165446.jpg
 
IMG_20160723_180458.jpg
These are AA gssp from Aloha, button shape. A little blemish on the surface.
 
Based on photos and reviews I'd say the pearls form Jac are overall better quality than Aloha especially in terms of colour.

However I've found with my pearls from Jac, there is some variation in quality. I've received a few so so pearls but most have great colour and sharp luster and rival my Kamokas in terms of overall quality. Also some lots are cleaner than others even if they are graded the same. Some of the AA+ have quite a few blemishes but I'll be interested to compare my AA+ Tahitians from PP when they arrive.
 
hanadama said:
Based on photos and reviews I'd say the pearls form Jac are overall better quality than Aloha especially in terms of colour.

However I've found with my pearls from Jac, there is some variation in quality. I've received a few so so pearls but most have great colour and sharp luster and rival my Kamokas in terms of overall quality. Also some lots are cleaner than others even if they are graded the same. Some of the AA+ have quite a few blemishes but I'll be interested to compare my AA+ Tahitians from PP when they arrive.
Click to expand...

Hanadama, that's really interesting. It confirms that there is no standard grade for pearls yet. I'd like to see the pearls from Jac in person but it isn't possible. I've been eyeing the multi color strand of Jac but wonder if I shouldn't save up for a Kamoka or one Fijian pearl instead... I'm a color junkie lol.
P.S. my keshi strand from Manapearl is graded AA... FYI
 
Pareltje if you're a colour junkie and happy with just one single pearl over strands I would buy a Fiji pearl.
 
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