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Thread: A South Sea Bauble.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    Default A South Sea Bauble.

    When Wendy of Pearlescense managed to charm one of her suppliers into parting with this large Hawaiian pearl, even though it belonged to another lot, it seemed fated to end up in my collection.

    So here it has been since last autumn, working at my subconscious on how to turn it into a pendant necklace.

    First I made a handmade chain, a slimmed down version of an antique pocket watch chain, with a matching adjustment section. It is finished with a small freshwater pearl as a charm. On the other end is a hook fastener in similar stile.

    The long links were made by stretching large O-rings with the contraption shown in my first picture.

    The bell for the pendant is like the calix of a mini-aubergine and the whole is a bit like regalia, but it is going overseas, where they are not shy about a bit of power dressing.

    There is one question I had meant to ask Wendy. When she is in Hong Kong shopping for pearls, does she have to sort them with chop sticks? Dennis.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Stretching A Link.jpg   hp1 Hawaiian Pearl Necklace.jpg   hp2 Deatail Of Front.jpg   hp3 Detail Of Back.jpg  

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    London
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    Default

    hehehe, I'd like to see that! When I shopped for pearls in HK I used what looked like a pair of standard stone tongs but instead of the tips being pointed, they had small cups on the end, so you could pick pearls up easily.

    http://www.rubin-and-son.com/product...ategory_id=144 is the link if you fancy some?

    Interesting Hawaiian pearl.....it looks like a Tahitian one....maybe Wendy could tell us the difference?
    Beautiful colour though.....and beautiful necklace too

  3. #3
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    Jul 2009
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    Romsey
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    Wow. That's fantastic, Dennis. Love the sepals around the pearl, and having the smaller one as an accent really balances it.

  4. #4
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    Default

    Beautiful

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    Wow, that's beautiful! I really love the chain. How big is the pearl?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Brighton, United Kingdom
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    Default

    That is really lovely! What an amazing pearl and I really like the chain.

  7. #7
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    Sep 2011
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    Default

    It's lovely to see that pearl has such a beautiful new home. The piece is stunning.
    (btw it is Tahitian, from French Polynesia and the black lipped oyster)

    No, mostly I use my fingers! The chopsticks tweezers aren't chopsticks, they are bamboo tweezers from Japan. A bit like two chopsticks with a bar across the top joining them. I tried very hard to drop hints to get given a pair when I was there last (those tweezers...nah) The advantage of using the tweezers would show more in my workshop than in HK - when you pick up the pearls in fingers here the pearls are cool and immediately get a cloud of condensation on them, so if I am trying to match a pair, for eg, I have to wait for them to warm up before I can see the colour and lustre properly. Tweezers get round this. But I would not bother with those metal ones.
    Last edited by pearlescence; 10-02-2014 at 01:42 PM.
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  8. #8
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    I have some bamboo tweezers somewhere in my electronics tools - from memory, they're conventional looking tweezers; just made from bamboo. Good for handling surface mount devices without risking damage.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    The Weirdly Wonderful Isle and Royal Manor of Portland
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    That's stunning Dennis ... way to make the most of such a beautiful pearl.

  10. #10
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    Slightly OT, but bamboo tweezers are excellent for pickle, but even more excellent for handling gold leaf or foil as they're completely antistatic and save all that faff with the horrid stuff sticking to your fingers, workbench, tools, in fact everywhere except where it's meant to be!

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