Photos from the Ruckus 2016

[Red]

I just took my own "Colors of Fiji" glamour shot, sitting in a small Fijian shell. I don't have any particular design in mind yet for these pearls. A shout out to Jennifer Heebner of JCK who was standing there at PP as I selected the pearls and approved. Her ruckus talk inspires me to look for a special design for these special pearls.

 

[Red]

Did any one look at the Gem Quality Metallics that Newberry posted about?

Are you referring to the glowing round white Edisons that Hisano wore to the Ruckus that looked like the best SS pearls ever? I'm not much of a white pearl girl, so I'm not serious about them, but they were beyond stunning.

Edited to note that Hisano is wearing the pearls in two of Jeremy's dropbox photos, where she is wearing white and standing next to her friend who is wearing hot pink.

 

[kalmen22]

Thank u all for the pictures. Looks like it was a fantastic pearl party. I love looking at everyone weating incredible pearls gathered together.

 

[kelluvpearls]

Beautiful pearls and photos, love the Fiji pearls.

 

[Katbran]

And more great photos !! Thanks Jeremy and Baby Love for the links to the great collection of pics!

 

[Bailey1856]

The photos are great! I'm loving seeing everybody with layers of pearls on. It's also fun trying to figure out who is who from the pearls they are wearing

 

[Justin Hunter]

Love seeing our pearls up there. Seeing well-informed, pearl-connoisseurs, positive feedback is very heartening for us farmers. It definitely fills us with a sense of pride.
In fact, Its kinda like sending your kids to their first day of school. Make sure they are all dressed up and well behaved, parents a bit nervous...
Love seeing the raw / real passion at the Rukus - no silly buyer vs seller games.

While everyone of our pearls is special - next year we will have a bit more time to select and send more up (Jeremy - asked on the last day I was in Hong Kong! Hisano I don't know how you put up with him!)
I will make sure these next Fiji Pearls are a little "tidier".... dressed up, - uniform nicely iorned, with a nice fresh haircut, combed and parted properly on the side, clean flip flops, teeth brushed, legs lathered up in virgin coconut oil - same as you would.

Thanks and have a wonderful time - love to see what you guys do with them.

JH

 

[Baby-Love]

It was a blast to see everyone and I learned so many things at Ruckus. Thank you Jeremy, Hisano for everything they did. I had a wonderful time there.

 

[juliebeth]

It truly was a treat, thank you Jeremy and Hisano! And Justin, that small batch of Fiji pearls and I got to know each other SO well...I appreciate your sending them for us to love on! I'd say these had amazing bed head, if they weren't the gussied-up pearls you normally send?

 

[Sea Urchin]

Sigh. On behalf of all of us who couldn't come, I vote for a Roadtrip Ruckus, where a giant and posh motor home full of pearls comes to us instead. Yes, I will have a glass of champagne while I peruse, dahhling!

 

[battah]

Sigh. On behalf of all of us who couldn't come, I vote for a Roadtrip Ruckus, where a giant and posh motor home full of pearls comes to us instead. Yes, I will have a glass of champagne while I peruse, dahhling!

Hear, hear!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Well, I happen to have a well loved, and well used vintage silver aluminum travel trailer, and Pack Mule and I are known to wander randomly around the US and Canada in it ... I do take, and wear many a Pearl around the campfire ... SO ... I volunteer to bring bags of pearls around on a Road Trip Ruckus! Champagne ... not a problem, dahhling ... posh, not really LOL. Comfy though, with great heat and AC, and wonderful snacks I could arrange

 

[CathyKeshi]

My great Thanks to everyone for the fantastic photos! We are in San Rafael, and headed out soon to visit Sarah and Kojima ... yippee!

Juliebeth spent HOURS studying every single Fuji Pearl in great detail ... she will be a fantastic PG representative and reporter in Fiji! In the midst of all that study, she somehow managed to help several of us put together "suites" of Fiji pearls for projects! Yes, me included, and I was the last ... and some of those photos are .... mine, mine, mine as the seagulls say LOL. My hugs of Thanks and gratitude to my Pearl angel Juliebeth! It will be a while till my projects are completed ... as I have a pack mule, I figure I can sell the extra car to raise funds for findings etc. ��

 

[CathyKeshi]

Most importantly, HUGE Hugs of Thanks to Jeremy and Hisano for hosting the Ruckus. The time, energy, love and integrity they put into the Ruckus is beyond measure, and Walter and I are ever so grateful and lucky to be a part of this wonderful event. Thank You Hugs to you both, as well as all the behind the scenes staff at Pearl Paradise who help make this possible!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Dear Justin, we shall protect, love and care for your babies as you would ... and do not fear, we will dress them up VERY finely Thank You for sending them around the world to meet their new families!

 

[Purranha]

What an EPIC weekend! Lots of ladies have already shared pictures, and I would like to add my experience and what it felt like to be there. After I had some time to sort through my entire batch of photos, I will also do a dropbox share.

Day 1
To begin with, our Ruckus name tags and a time lapse video of arriving at the mansion:
https://youtu.be/EVkJ8ilOAbo


Champagne reception upon arrival – boy it was an unseasonably hot weekend in LA – pearls check, fan check! I wore my newest creation of carved Lotus Jade beads and Dark Monster strand the first night. Even though it was the first time meeting everyone in person, it took no time to recognize each other (and their pearls) – it was so welcoming and so familiar – big hugs everywhere proceeding onto ogling at each other’s pearls.


There are types of behaviors that would be deal-breakers in a dating scenario such as the “hey-eyes-up-here” syndrome and the “rubber-neck whiplash” condition, but are accepted, expected, and encouraged at the Ruckus! Everyone’s collection was all just to-die-for I don’t even know where to begin. Can’t recount how many times I abruptly took off during the middle of a conversation to chase after someone else to take a closer look at their pearls. Dinner was delicious – the brisket melt in the mouth, was incredibly well flavored and very tender. Tummy happy, eyes happy. Off to bed.

 

[Purranha]

Day 2

Bfast was served bright and early - sipping coffee and enjoying waffles on the patio was a treat. I decided the one full day we have at the ruckus is the day to go ALL OUT with my pearls. #moreisstillnotenough! #canIhaveafewmoreropesplease?

I thought I woke up early, but heard some people say “oh Wendy was up early and already gathered & took out the trash from last night”. And everyone helped out moving couches and chairs to the Great Room for the presentation. Just made me love the Pearl-Guide peeps even more. <3

It was a FULL day of seminars - each seminar covered different aspect of the larger world of pearls (farming/environment, species, history, provenance, design, styling, buying, etc etc etc), and it was a treat to have some first-time/special-guest presenters this year. Won’t go into details here hoping Jeremy will post them online. The only time people were distracted was when this topless sun-kissed muscle diver hunk made a recurring appearance on Josh’s slides lol. I think I heard later that he’s Celeste’s brother? Not sure.

Anyhow. Seminars were completed, some more pearl ogling while the vendors set up. The Hippocampus siblings (Newberry and I) came out for a playdate! OctoMermaid also joined in. Look at the luster on them!!!


It was time to plop ourselves onto the various vendors’ pearls to roll-around, and that’s exactly what we did. With Victoria Grayson and Emily Thorne around my neck, I had trouble trying on necklaces. So instead of the usual “Brad, please hold my purse”, it’s “Brad, please wear my pearls”. He humored me and rocked it really well!


Brad rocked the ropes so well that I decided to have him wear one during the dinner party. The food was AMAZING – seafood buffet, endless caviar, champagne and scotch was flowing. Pearl ogling continues. It was so damn hot that towards the end of the night I change to my PJs and continued rocking on the night. See? Who said it’s hard to wear pearls with casual wear (or even PJs)? Pearls are appropriate for all type of wears.


That’s when Jeremy noted how different the rope looked on Brad and I (since I’m little) and asked to try on the rope. And that launched into this following picture which you have all seen already. #menwithpearlsarehot

 

[Sanippy]

Purranha you look gorgeous! Love the photos.

If anyone took close ups of the Kamoka & SoC pearls I would love love love to see!!

 

[Purranha]

Day3

We checked out of the mansion and continued onto PP office for more rolling around in pearls. I was on the last car out so the feeding frenzy was already well underway by the time I arrived. And like a few ladies have mentioned, there is no such thing as who got there first because we all looked at slightly different things.

So here is my loot.
I got a half strand of freshadama metallic to upgrade Emily Thorne. Since I made the ombre strand with old chopped up materials, the old akoya portion was too small and not very lustrous and transition of sizing was off balance. I told some ladies the current graduation/transition is a bit ghetto, and got some air-spanks lol! While shopping for metallic, I picked up another bracelet strand that is a buuuuutiful blush color and the size is nicely graduated.


Also got 2 “erotochromic” SoC mabe from Doug, one Japanese kasumi pearl from Sarah, soufflé for potential ring from PP, and the 4 Fiji pearls. Not sure what I will do with all the pearls yet.

The little pearls on top of the group shot are truly special. I was on the hunt for baby octo heads as I have more projects coming up with Sheri – big reveal to come later, stay tuned! Hisano kindly let me dig into her little h supplies to pick out those gssp keshies and the crazy intense blue Vietnamese bba.

My loot is a pretty small batch this time, but each one is special and I’m really happy with what I ended up with! Of course, after seeing everyone’s pearls at the ruckus, I’ve came up with a pretty big wishlist for PP’s future buying trips lol!

Last but not least – it was SSSOOO lovely meeting and getting to know everyone, and so difficult saying bye to the ruckus and to all the new/old friends. BIG thank you to all the vendors for sharing your knowledge, passion, and beautiful pearls with us. And a HUGE THANK YOU to Jeremy and Hisano for organizing the event. We are touched by your generosity and humility – we are so appreciative to have the opportunity to partake in such an awesome event! Can’t wait til next year…

 

[Red]

Wonderful report, Purranha, and it was such fun to finally meet you.

Baby octo head and two pairs of colorful keshi,..I suspect tiny earrings in the future.