The goldfish pearls

Sarah

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Joined
Nov 11, 2012
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I wasn't going to post these, but I'm curious if they might be hollow? Today, I arranged them on wire and it's just temporary. I was expecting the strand to be heavy and it isn't. So, I thought maybe the nuclei are plastic. When passing the wire through, it gets lost in some of them. Could they be hollow? I removed a few from the strand and one is too misshapen to use so I'll probably break it to see inside. I'm such a wuss...it's so cold here I don't want to visit the garage to find a hammer.

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They're probably nuclated with mud. I've seen that mentioned before on this forum. It's supposed to have a very distinct smell when you drill them :)

- Karin
 
The mud nucleated, hollow (after drilling) pearls are called souffl? pearls, and yes, they are very light!

What a clever name-- your pearls do look like little goldfish!
 
Those are huge and interesting! Putting your pearl victim in a plastic bag before hammering keeps the pieces from flying all over. Starting gently, then slowly increase force as you hope to have some larger pieces to examine, not just powder. If the pearl is hollow, it may break quite easily.
 
Thank you, each of you for the comments and advice. I think they're really beautiful, not as pastel in real life but very eye catching. I'm not sure I'd ever have occasion to wear these in my every day life, but it's so fun playing with them and making them into something. Eventually, I'd love an Etsy shop like some of you have. I'm not fully prepared for that though so I'll just keep beading and setting things aside for now.

I smashed one of the pearls. It was SO hard, and thank goodness for the plastic baggie or I might have put an eye out with a nacre shard. Thank you pattye for sound advice! I didn't want to assume they were souffl? pearls. Aren't those really rare? They aren't souffl?s though. The one I broke was a 15mm coin pearl fused to an 11mm round pearl (both nucleated), and you could tell that's what they were going to be just by looking at them. I don't know what the beads are made of. I didn't want to pound that hard on the hearth inside so I haven't broken one yet. The section of nacre stretched between them was a bit long and tubular and it was hollow. So there were two pearls fused by a hollow section. Some of the others must have hollow sections too. I'll have to take some photos, but it won't be until the weekend. Mystery of the goldfish pearls solved!
 
Why did you say you wouldn't wear them much in everyday life? It is a wonderful "statement" piece to wear for business or casual or dressup.
 
Why did you say you wouldn't wear them much in everyday life? It is a wonderful "statement" piece to wear for business or casual or dressup.

I could see myself wearing them to an event at the museum, but that might be once. I'd absolutely adore them on someone else, but they're pretty wild for my style. If not home in the mountains, I'm at work in a very rough neighborhood. It would be insensitive and dangerous, so business wear is out. I could wear them in the barn, but I'd feel absolutely ridiculous if anyone saw!

Uhm, thanks for the compliments on my neck. Yes! You too can have one very similar. Start by leaning your head back and looking toward the sky. If that isn't quite enough, jut your chin out a bit. You'll look decades younger and thinner. I do at least. I'm sorry for misleading you, and more sorry that my neck doesn't really look like that. Seriously, it doesn't. But thanks.
 
I just bought some similar ones at my first bead show, he thought they were not nucleated, but I am guessing these are a similar process to the keshi that most people claim is "natural", but actually is made by taking a small keshi piece as the nucleus, producing a much larger keshi later? Only a guess. I LOVE the necklace, I would wear it in a heartbeat.

Daddys Little Pearl
 
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