Show Us Your Pearls In Action!!!

[SurfnSci]

Love everyone's gorgeous pearls and thank you for posting them!!!

@jeg That pistachio keshi in your Collins strand always makes my heart sing

Today I'm wearing a bracelet that I assembled from reworking some of my Kamoka pearls.... June Gloom in San Diego remains in full effect, so it's hard to find decent light for pics. (Also trying to ignore the Kojima sale since I need to stay on Ban Island for at least the next 6 months!)

 

[heartofawareness]

Love everyone's gorgeous pearls and thank you for posting them!!!

@jeg That pistachio keshi in your Collins strand always makes my heart sing

Today I'm wearing a bracelet that I assembled from reworking some of my Kamoka pearls.... June Gloom in San Diego remains in full effect, so it's hard to find decent light for pics. (Also trying to ignore the Kojima sale since I need to stay on Ban Island for at least the next 6 months!)
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Your bracelet is gorgeous @SurfnSci ...even tho you say the lighting isn't the best the picture is great! Your bracelet looks beautiful. Your pearls are gorgeous...enjoy! You have great discipline....good for you!

 

[StevieBoy]

Love that bracelet @SurfnSci are those tahitians? Akoyas? They are such a beautiful play of aqua colors!

I just got my 36 inch strand of baroque bead nucleated FWP from etsy! I saw that the vendor had a good price on them, and i saw that the pearls werent all perfectly round, and some had some fishbites, but overall the price & luster did not disappoint!

I had been hesitant to try out a strand in these colors because the lilac/lavender/peachy colors arent the most masculine—- so i felt like it would be a mitigated risk if i got a moderately priced strand to test the waters!

Overall, im pleased, but i think in the future i might add another 12 inches to this rope, and swap out some of the pearls i’m not in love with

 

[heartofawareness]

View attachment 464555
Love that bracelet @SurfnSci are those tahitians? Akoyas? They are such a beautiful play of aqua colors!

I just got my 36 inch strand of baroque bead nucleated FWP from etsy! I saw that the vendor had a good price on them, and i saw that the pearls werent all perfectly round, and some had some fishbites, but overall the price & luster did not disappoint!

I had been hesitant to try out a strand in these colors because the lilac/lavender/peachy colors arent the most masculine—- so i felt like it would be a mitigated risk if i got a moderately priced strand to test the waters!

Overall, im pleased, but i think in the future i might add another 12 inches to this rope, and swap out some of the pearls i’m not in love with

That is a very nice strand @ste

View attachment 464555
Love that bracelet @SurfnSci are those tahitians? Akoyas? They are such a beautiful play of aqua colors!

I just got my 36 inch strand of baroque bead nucleated FWP from etsy! I saw that the vendor had a good price on them, and i saw that the pearls werent all perfectly round, and some had some fishbites, but overall the price & luster did not disappoint!

I had been hesitant to try out a strand in these colors because the lilac/lavender/peachy colors arent the most masculine—- so i felt like it would be a mitigated risk if i got a moderately priced strand to test the waters!

Overall, im pleased, but i think in the future i might add another 12 inches to this rope, and swap out some of the pearls i’m not in love with

That's a very nice strand @StevieBoy you'll have to show us a picture of you wearing it. Which pearls would you swap out? you can always add some pearls. Maybe the vendor would add some pearls for you if you contact them.

 

[BWeaves]

StevieBoy. I really like the clasp. And swapping pearls out and changing them around is always an option when you know how to restring them yourself.

Just as a note. It always takes me three tries whenever I restring a pearl necklace. The first time, I'm too tight or too loose, or I screw up going back through the last 3 pearls and decide that maybe 3 different pearls have better, bigger holes for that last bit. The second time I string is acceptable, but I'm always feeling I could do better. Third time's the charm. If I strung every day, I'd be better at it, but it's always a couple of years between stringing, so it takes me a few tries to get it right.

 

[CatMom]

Love everyone's gorgeous pearls and thank you for posting them!!!

@jeg That pistachio keshi in your Collins strand always makes my heart sing

Today I'm wearing a bracelet that I assembled from reworking some of my Kamoka pearls.... June Gloom in San Diego remains in full effect, so it's hard to find decent light for pics. (Also trying to ignore the Kojima sale since I need to stay on Ban Island for at least the next 6 months!)
View attachment 464550 View attachment 464551

What a gorgeous bracelet!

 

[CatMom]

View attachment 464555
Love that bracelet @SurfnSci are those tahitians? Akoyas? They are such a beautiful play of aqua colors!

I just got my 36 inch strand of baroque bead nucleated FWP from etsy! I saw that the vendor had a good price on them, and i saw that the pearls werent all perfectly round, and some had some fishbites, but overall the price & luster did not disappoint!

I had been hesitant to try out a strand in these colors because the lilac/lavender/peachy colors arent the most masculine—- so i felt like it would be a mitigated risk if i got a moderately priced strand to test the waters!

Overall, im pleased, but i think in the future i might add another 12 inches to this rope, and swap out some of the pearls i’m not in love with

Love the strand and clasp StevieBoy. I agree, we need pics of you wearing it.

 

[CatMom]

Every morning, i love checking in and seeing everyone’s pearls!

My mom has been staying with me for the past few months, so every weekend i take her to run errands.

Last night for dinner, i wore my two Jewlemer GSS pearls on leather, and my mom is wearing a casual pair of MOP shell dangle earrings with a champagne SSP ring in white gold ring

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Aww I love the photo of you and your Mom and of course I love the pearls too, lol.

 

[jeg]

Thanks SurfnSci! It’s good to see you, and your re-work of those pearls turned out beautifully! It’s like having all new pieces when you re-work your pearls. Yes- that keshi is an unreal lime green- thank you!

StevieBoy, you are a great son, taking care of your mom and helping her with her errands! Have fun playing with your new pearls! Is it long enough for you to double around your neck?

Bubbles Tahitian strand and sister strand from Kojima, with Tahitian studs from Takahashi. The studs are really well matched, but doesn’t appear so in the pic.

 

[BWeaves]

JEG, I love your Bubbles strands!

OOOOOH, and now Kamoka is having a 15% off sale on "men's" pearls, but I like them, too.

 

[heartofawareness]

JEG, I love your Bubbles strands!

OOOOOH, and now Kamoka is having a 15% off sale on "men's" pearls, but I like them, too.

I love the carved one!! You can use some of the money you saved from the Bath Tub necklace at Kamokas @BWeaves , LOL...

 

[heartofawareness]

@jeg and @BWeaves how do you take such nice pictures where all the details show? I've tried to take pictures in a gazillion places and the pearls come out either washed out or too dark... Thank you!

 

[BWeaves]

I think JEG has a proper Lightbox. I just take lots of photos in different parts of my house at different times of day. The one great thing about phone cameras, is that I can see the results immediately and retake the picture if needed.

Currently in Florida, I'm taking my photos mid morning in my all white, east facing bathroom. It has lots of windows which are covered with white sheer curtains. I put a white towel on the white floor next to the tub, which has white tile on the side. I drape a white towel over my knees to reflect more white light back onto the pearls laying on the towel. If I put the floor towel next to the tub, the pearls are in slight shadow. If I move the floor towel more towards the center of the bathroom, they are in brighter light coming from the window over the tub. I take photos in both positions because the small change in shadow vs. direct lighting makes a huge difference in how the pearls look.

Then I upload the photos to my Mac laptop and play with the Photos application. I crop the photos to make the pearls bigger. I change the color saturation and light brightness so the photo mimics what my eye saw when I took the photo. Because the background is white and the pearls are light, the camera wants to make everything grey, so I do have to up the brightness to make the white towel look white. Also, I find when I post photos in Pearl-Guide, they lose some color, so I up the color saturation just a bit in Photos so that when I post the photos here, the pearls look like they look to my eye. It's still not perfect. Sometimes I just cannot capture the pearl luster and color that my eye sees.

When wearing pearls, I try to take the photos in natural light, but in the shade. So either in the bathroom, or on my south facing covered back porch.

 

[jeg]

No, I don’t have a light box. I only use natural light and I have big windows and high ceilings in the back of my house. Closer to the window shows more luster and further from the window shows more color. The full pics by the window never show the pearls properly. They are just for how I’m wearing them. It really depends on the natural light, time of day, time of season, but I find my big windows make the difference. Some people say that overcast days are the best, but I find sunny days in indirect sunlight work best for me.

 

[heartofawareness]

I think JEG has a proper Lightbox. I just take lots of photos in different parts of my house at different times of day. The one great thing about phone cameras, is that I can see the results immediately and retake the picture if needed.

Currently in Florida, I'm taking my photos mid morning in my all white, east facing bathroom. It has lots of windows which are covered with white sheer curtains. I put a white towel on the white floor next to the tub, which has white tile on the side. I drape a white towel over my knees to reflect more white light back onto the pearls laying on the towel. If I put the floor towel next to the tub, the pearls are in slight shadow. If I move the floor towel more towards the center of the bathroom, they are in brighter light coming from the window over the tub. I take photos in both positions because the small change in shadow vs. direct lighting makes a huge difference in how the pearls look.

Then I upload the photos to my Mac laptop and play with the Photos application. I crop the photos to make the pearls bigger. I change the color saturation and light brightness so the photo mimics what my eye saw when I took the photo. Because the background is white and the pearls are light, the camera wants to make everything grey, so I do have to up the brightness to make the white towel look white. Also, I find when I post photos in Pearl-Guide, they lose some color, so I up the color saturation just a bit in Photos so that when I post the photos here, the pearls look like they look to my eye. It's still not perfect. Sometimes I just cannot capture the pearl luster and color that my eye sees.

When wearing pearls, I try to take the photos in natural light, but in the shade. So either in the bathroom, or on my south facing covered back porch.

Wow! B - That's a lot of work, so by the time we get to see your pearls it may not be the same day....

 

[StevieBoy]

That is a very nice strand @ste

That's a very nice strand @StevieBoy you'll have to show us a picture of you wearing it. Which pearls would you swap out? you can always add some pearls. Maybe the vendor would add some pearls for you if you contact them.

on wednesdays I dont go to the gym in the morning, so i usually dress better/wear jewelry on that day to the office since i dont have to lug around my gym bag! Will for sure post pics!

I ordered it from an etsy vendor in china, so it might be a hassel going back and forth, so i might just replace them locally here. There’s one or two that have lackluster color & lustre?

@jeg at 36 inches, sadly its still not long enough to double i think when i replace the pearls im not in love with, i will extend it to at least 42 inches total!

 

[heartofawareness]

on wednesdays I dont go to the gym in the morning, so i usually dress better/wear jewelry on that day to the office since i dont have to lug around my gym bag! Will for sure post pics!

I ordered it from an etsy vendor in china, so it might be a hassel going back and forth, so i might just replace them locally here. There’s one or two that have lackluster color & lustre?

@jeg at 36 inches, sadly its still not long enough to double i think when i replace the pearls im not in love with, i will extend it to at least 42 inches total!

Awesome @StevieBoy! Was meaning to ask you if it's easy to buy Golden SSP in the Phillipines since they're farmed there. I seem to recall seeing a video of someone on vacation and the markets were selling them. Is it really like that and what quality are they?

 

[StevieBoy]

Awesome @StevieBoy! Was meaning to ask you if it's easy to buy Golden SSP in the Phillipines since they're farmed there. I seem to recall seeing a video of someone on vacation and the markets were selling them. Is it really like that and what quality are they?

there are quite a few Jewelmer stores in the country, and the best pearl farms in Palawan produce primarily for Jewelmer. If I am not mistaken, the family that owns Jewelmer is married to a family that owns one of the largest pawnshop/remittance chains in the country.

I've been to Palawan before, and I also live near Greenhills Mall, which has a pretty famous pearl bazaar.

I think that SSPs are pretty plentiful here, and have everywhere from low to gem quality available. I think that culturally, you can definitely bargain with the vendors to get a better price.

There are also alot of low quality/color treated pearls here? There are alot of pearls that are marketed as tahitian SSP, and whereas they are gray/black... they just dont seem to have the orient and play of color that I have seen in true tahitian pearls.

I think that before you come to buy SSPs out here, people should be versed in how to spot for quality and what market value is in the west so that way you are equipped with the tools to bargain successfully.

 

[BWeaves]

Wow! B - That's a lot of work, so by the time we get to see your pearls it may not be the same day....

No, it only takes a couple of minutes. Writing it out makes it sound more complicated than it is. I just throw a white towel down and snap a pic and then look to see if it looks good or not. And uploading to the computer and playing with the Photo app is also quick. There's only a couple of "sliders" that slide back and forth to see if it improves the photo or not.

 

[jshepherd]

Ha! Jeremy, you're the reason I started buying pearls online to start with! Some of my very best pieces are from Pearl Paradise. I think my natural white Hanadama rope needs to come out to play tomorrow when I go visit my dad.

And I've also been having the same issues with the website like JEG. I wasn't sure if it was on my end or not.

So many years and so many pearls ago!!!

The first set of speed optimizations have been implemented, so hopefully the issues with the site are getting resolved!