During this past winter, I have wanted a longer strand of Tahitians to wear with sweaters and turtlenecks. I had two 18-inch Tahitian baroque strands but I didn't like connecting them as they didn't really go together and were just too long for me. One of my early purchases was circled, multi-colored 8-10.5 mm strand that was nice but I didn't wear that much after purchasing a colorful baroque drop 9-11.5 mm necklace.
I took apart the smaller strand and sorted the pearls by color and size. The smallest, lightest-color pearls went into a bracelet using an orbit clasp that I purchased from Pattye. Then, I took 10 pearls that matched best to the colorful strand and added 5 on each end. Although they aren't a great match (circled vs drop), they are on the back of my neck so they don't really show. It makes the length about 23.5 inches which works out great and shows some of the pearls that I liked best that were mostly hidden before. With the remaining pearls, I used the original clasp to make an extender.
I'm mostly happy with the results but my stringing skills need much improvement. I've been using the 'Foolproof Pearl Knotting' YouTube video method which I really like....but I don't like the way that she finishes off with the big knots at all. I need to find a different end-knotting method! I made many mistakes...the biggest being that after I'd strung the long necklace, glued the knot and let it dry....I cut too close on the knot and had to re-do. Bad words ensued!
If you look at photo, you'll see that I didn't do a good job on the extender but it's good enough...especially as it's not going to show. I'll re-do it one of these days when I order some more thread. I made so many mistakes that I ran out of thread even though it's a very generous amount that Pattye sells on the Serafil cards.
Also, it seemed like the holes were too big for 30-weight Serafil for double-thread knots so I ended up using a triple thread which took me awhile to figure out. I think I'm just going to order some 20-weight thread for future Tahitians...lol. Pics below.
I took apart the smaller strand and sorted the pearls by color and size. The smallest, lightest-color pearls went into a bracelet using an orbit clasp that I purchased from Pattye. Then, I took 10 pearls that matched best to the colorful strand and added 5 on each end. Although they aren't a great match (circled vs drop), they are on the back of my neck so they don't really show. It makes the length about 23.5 inches which works out great and shows some of the pearls that I liked best that were mostly hidden before. With the remaining pearls, I used the original clasp to make an extender.
I'm mostly happy with the results but my stringing skills need much improvement. I've been using the 'Foolproof Pearl Knotting' YouTube video method which I really like....but I don't like the way that she finishes off with the big knots at all. I need to find a different end-knotting method! I made many mistakes...the biggest being that after I'd strung the long necklace, glued the knot and let it dry....I cut too close on the knot and had to re-do. Bad words ensued!
If you look at photo, you'll see that I didn't do a good job on the extender but it's good enough...especially as it's not going to show. I'll re-do it one of these days when I order some more thread. I made so many mistakes that I ran out of thread even though it's a very generous amount that Pattye sells on the Serafil cards. Also, it seemed like the holes were too big for 30-weight Serafil for double-thread knots so I ended up using a triple thread which took me awhile to figure out. I think I'm just going to order some 20-weight thread for future Tahitians...lol. Pics below.
