purple rounds

[aerinha]

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a round (or near round) strand of freshwaters in purple instead of lavender? Some of Pearl Paradise's multi-colored near round strands of freshwaters appear in the pix tohave pearls in them that are more purple then lavendar and some of the baroque untreated strands had intesly purple pearls with oil on water luster, but the full strands appear more pinky-lavender. I don't care so much about mm size, but would love a strand of truly purple, natural color pearls.

 

[KAC]

yup sure its possible, but it just depends on a dealers stock. Some strands will be light lavender and some will be dark, its best to just call and ask.

 

[purepearls]

The coloration is natural so there will be variation from strand to strand. Our Lavender strands vary from light (pinkish hue) to dark (purple hues). We often have customers request what hue they are looking for.

 

[Caitlin]

The dark ones are highly desirable and more rare than the lighter ones and thus should probably be worth more than the light ones.

I have a very dark strand of round Freshadamas which I can't photograph properly. It is my favorite-the necklace I wear most of all. Because of this necklace, I now am only interested in collecting the purple ones at the moment.

I wonder about the natural colors bleaching from the sun, when worn. I have had beads that did that and I know sunbleaching is/was done. I have been a little worried about this for a while. It may be a drawback down the line.

Any expert opinions on this?

 

[aerinha]

Caitlin, if you don't mind my asking, did you have to request the purple freshadamas or did you get a wonderful surprise when they arrived? I've heard the lavendar freshwaters have a different name once they cross a certain color barrier and are truly dark purple. Does anyone know what it is? And if it's "purple", then feel free to picture me slapping my own foreheard for such a stupid question

This sounds like a special order situation, correct?

 

[Caitlin]

Jeremy hand picked them for me last summer and I haven't seen any others that come close in color, except individual baroques, since.

 

[aerinha]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I managed to get a baroque strand of untreateds that are a bluish-lavender with some outstanding overtones so I guess I'll have to content myself with them for now. That strand has just turned me into a purple pearl obsessive. I once was a very dark tahitian with aqua/green obsessive (I own a baroque strand with that coloration), but now I want as much lavender/purple as possible. This can't be healthy...

 

[Caitlin]

This is exactly what my strand did to me--it must be catching! I used to love my 12+mm dyed black CFWP best, but this one has made it so I only want to collect natrual purple colors in all shapes and sizes!
Mine is also a blueish lavender with unbelievable overtones and soap bubble iridescence. I tried taking some photos but my friends said the photos don't do it justice.....

 

[knotty panda]

I have heard the color "eggplant".

 

[aerinha]

I have heard the color "eggplant".

I read that term on here, but wasn't sure if that was the offical color name or someone's best description. I think part of my obsession with the tahitians and these purples are that they look best with my coloring. There is usually a thread with a complexion debate, but I will say that I have porcelain skin with pink undertones and blue/green eyes (the hair is naturally a med-dark brown, but I've been blonde and am now Kate Walsh red) and the pearls that pop are my baroque lavenders that skew bluish and the dark tahitians with aqua/green. I love my untreated pinks and my freshadamas, but they can disappear into my skin. And yes when my hair is natural I do get Snow White jokes.

 

[pattye]

Well, here I am, also another member of Purple Pearl Obsession Anonymous. There is certainly a huge range of colors! I have been told the darker colors of bronze and purple in Kasumi can fade from exposure. Or did I read that??? Maybe it is related to thinner nacre than in fwp. This is the first I have heard the term "eggplant." Guess we will have to wait for the pros to comment.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[knotty panda]

It's from the Trigems Spice Pearls -- "Creamy Vanilla, peachy Allspice, orangey Cinnamon, and lavender Eggplant." Could I make that up? How they figure an eggplant is a spice, well, you'll have to ask them. But it's a very descriptive and isn't the least bit confusing when you're talking shades of purple.

 

[salem]

LOL, Knotty,

What, you have never used lavender Eggplant when cooking. It goes great in all my curry dishes. Yumm

But you are right, it does give an immediate sense of the color.

 

[knotty panda]

What I meant was, I didn't know why Trigems would name a spice pearl "eggplant" when egplant is a vegetable and not a spice. Why do all the threads which seem to go awry begin with me? Naughty Panda!

 

[salem]

LOL

Knotty, I could understand your post. I was just joking, of course it is an odd name for a spice pearl. Although looking at my post it does seem to imply I was talking about the vegtable. I meant the imaginary spice of lavender eggplant. The vanilla, allspice and cinnamon all sound so nice together, and then BAM! eggplant. It is rather the sore thumb of that name group. It makes the old Sesame Street song go through mymind"One of these things is not like the other. One of these things is doind it's own thing".. lol

 

[knotty panda]

LOL, yup, that's precisely what I was thinking when I saw how they named their pearls!

 

[aerinha]

Well my purple pearl addiction has added a new member to my jewelry box family. I bid on and won a strand of lavender drusy pearls on ebay. I loved the color. The seller had excellent feedback but they were under $30 so if they're junk it's not a big loss.

Next I need to look into how to string them as they are just on a temporary strand. For those who string, is it hard? I've done some bead work, but it was onto very thin wire to make watch bands and necklaces. No knot tying involved.

 

[aerinha]

Here is the photo used on ebay for them. Not my coveted dark rounds, but something to play with.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi aerinha
There are as many ways to strings as there are kinds of pearls. The use of soft flex or another coated wire is excellent for a first try.

Have you used crimp beads before? That is how you fasten the wire around the clasp loop and crimp the end beads. You really do need a pair of crimping pliers to do it right.(Less than $12)

So a clasp, the wire, the crimp beads. Maybe some crimp bead covers and if you really want to look good, put a bit of gimp or french wire over the end of the wire before passing it back through the crimping bead.......

Complete instructions are available where ever you buy the wire. Or you can ask here. I would buy all that stuff at Artbeads.com unless you find some place better.

If you want to knot with silk, we have several threads about that too....

 

[aerinha]

I have used crimp beads before and I love them. I actually have the pliers, crimps, wire (depending on the drill size in the pearls) and a silver-tone toggle clasp at home. I might also have a c-ring clasp floating about from my teenage forays into crafts. I could kick myself now, but when I made the watches I made 2 out of oval CFWP with fushia beads and didn't keep one for me.

My only concern with using the wire is that it might make the necklace kind of stiff. Does anyone think some separated out embroidery floss might do the trick for a start?