Pearls

Pearls are natural precious gems, made up natural organic substances and as a result they can occur in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours. Many of which are individual and unique. Most people assume pearls are the round ones on a string, but there are soooooo much more to them in shape, colour and amazing individual factors.

How Pearls are Formed

Some believed pearls to be the tears of the gods. Others thought them dewdrops filled with moonlight that fell into the ocean and were swallowed by oysters.
A pearl is a natural gem created by a living organism. When a foreign object is introduced into a mussel or oyster the animal coats the irritant with a substance called nacre, the same material with which it builds its shell. Over time, the layers of nacre build up to form the pearl. The longer the irritant remains in the mollusk, the more layers of nacre and (usually), the better the pearl
Living in the sea, oysters are constantly ingesting and expelling sand and irritants. Only when something becomes lodged - like a piece of shell, bone, coral or parasite does the oyster start nacre production.
Most wild, natural pearl producing oyster beds have vanished due to over-fishing and pollution. Today, the world's most beautiful pearls are cultivated or cultured.
Cultured pearls share the same properties as natural pearls. The only difference is that a technician opens the shell and inserts the irritant. Nature then takes over.
Seawater oysters are suspended in the water from rafts above and are subject to tides, typhoons, parasites, predators and even barnacles.
Freshwater mussels are cultivated in the same manner but in inland lakes and rivers.
Harvesting pearls is a time consuming process. Of the millions of oysters and mussels 'seeded' each year, only a proportion (maybe just 50%) will survive to bear pearls. Of these, many will not produce pearls of a marketable quality.  Each pearl must be sorted by size, shape, colour, lustre and blemish. Then they need to be drilled and matched for stringing - a skilled task. To find 50 perfectly matched high-quality pearls for a 16 inch necklace a pearl processor may have to sort 10,000 pearls.
Seawater Pearls have a small round shell bead inserted as the irritant. This is referred to as 'nucleating'.
Freshwater Pearls have a piece of mantle tissue (nacre producing tissue from another mussel) introduced as the irritant. Freshwater pearls are non-nucleated.

What to look out for when selecting pearls

The following criteria is important to assess the quality of a pearl:

1. Size:
The size of a pearl is measured in millimetres. There are pearls measuring a few millimetres only while South Sea pearls can reach a size of 20 millimetres diameter. Generally speaking, a larger pearl is more precious than a smaller one if all the other factors are the same.

2. Shape:

Pearls come in a wonderful range of shapes and colours.  Shapes include round, drop, and oval, button, semi-round and baroque. Round and drop pearls are usually the most expensive. Some breeds of mollusk tend to produce particular pearl colours. Black and Gold South Sea pearls are highly prized.
The shape of cultured pearls is generally divided into round, symmetric and baroque.
Round : almost and perfectly round
Symmetric: Oval, button, drop
Baroque: Semi baroque, baroque
A perfectly round pearl is extremely difficult to find hence, the closer the pearl’s shape is to a perfect round, the more valuable it is. There is no right or wrong shape, just what you like.
 
3. Colour

To judge the colour of pearls, a basic tone, luminosity and colour depth is considered. There are also an amazing array that goes with this too. From gorgeous black to natural pink, to mysterious lavender to innocent and pure white, pearls come in a variety of colors, by itself or process by human for jewelry designing purpose.

4. Lustre

The Iridescence of pearls is called luster. Pearls show this glamorous play of colours in delicate nuances due to the bow in their surface, enabling us to perceive their brilliance from every angle. The interaction of light rays and surface creates the iridescence, the so called ‘surface colour’ visible as a small circle on the pearl’s outer layer of nacre. The luster depends on the thickness of nacre, numerous layers encasing the nucleus.  Nacre is not just a soothing protection for the mollusk. It's made of tiny crystals of calcium carbonate, perfectly aligned with each other, so that light passing along the axis of one is reflected and refracted by the other to produce a rainbow of light and colour. The luster is most important to asses the value of pearls. Intense luster increases the value.
            

5. Surface

Since pearls are the product of a biological process, their surface often shows small imperfections. An immaculate surface is very hard to find. Microscopic dents and exaltations are normal. When choosing a necklace, for example, one has to consider amount, size and visibility of these irregularities. As a result, the quality is described from ‘immaculate’ down to ‘visible imperfections’.
             
 

Pearl care

The joy of owning these beautiful soft gems stones is something that should last for years to come if you follow some simple guideline in looking after them.  Here are a few tips to help with that ☺
1.    Remeber that pearls are soft and are made of calcium carbonate.  
2.    Because it is soft keep apart from other jewellery.  Keep it in the box or pouche that it comes in or provide your own avoid scratches and other possible damage.
2.    Again as softies, try not to expose to heat and chemicals or direct sunlight for too long. The outer shell may dry up, causing a change of colour or a loss of luster.
3.    Do not wear your pearls during showering, bathing, swimming pools or in the sea.  A lot has to do with the prescence of chemicals and the silk string wi;; get wet.
4.    Basically, your pearl jewellery should add a finishing touch to your appearance AFTER applying make-up and doing your hair. Don’t wear pearls on your skin just after using body lotion. Cosmetics and pearls don’t go well together. Deodorants, sprays, perfumes and creams contain oily or bleaching substances.
5.    No need to wear your pearl jewellery when you are busy with household jobs. Detergents contain chloride or whitener.
6.    After wearing your pearl jewellery wipe the pearls gently with soft tissue, cloth or chamois leather, dipped in alcohol. Alcohol removes the remains of sweat, dust and dirt..
7.    The easiest pearl care is this: place in lukewarm water for 15-20 minutes, 3-4 times a year. A mild dishwashing detergent helps to remove dust and dirt. Rinse with clear water afterwards.
8.    After washing your pearls, leave them to dry on a soft cloth for 24 hours. Room temperature is sufficient.
9.   If you wear your pearls often you may need to consider getting them restrung, so keep a good visual on the silk.
10.    Every 2-3 years, pearls can enjoy a gentle rub with olive oil to preserve luster.
 

Types of Pearls

Mother of Pearl

Mother-of-pearl is the basic substance which is secreted by oysters and molluscs to form the inside of their shells.
Mother-of-pearl is now used extensively as the nucleus in pearl cultivation. The shell of a mussel is cut into squares and then run through a process which rounds the pieces into beads. These beads are then implanted into the oysters which will respond to the irritation by secreting nacre upon the mother-of-pearl beads to form the cultured pearl.

Keshi pearls

Keshi pearls, also called cornflake pearls or petal pearls, those are the hottest pearls in fashion for this season. These unique pearls are “accidental” in that they are natural byproducts of the traditional pearl cultivation process. Tiny organisms or fragments are accidentally inserted with the nucleus. These intruders detach and result in the creation of pearls without a man-made nucleus. They generally measure 4 to 15 millimeters, and come in an array of interesting shapes (though almost never round) and colours. Keshi pearls are prized by pearl lovers for their unique origin and distinctive shapes. They make a fresh addition to any pearl collection

   
Biwa pearls

Biwa pearls are cultured freshwater pearls originally grown in Lake Biwa in western Japan. Biwa pearls are renowned for their high luster, brilliant colors and beautiful irregular shapes.

Coin pearls

Coins pearls are used to describe pearls that are flat, like a coin.

Baroque, nugget or potato pearls

Baroque pearls is basically a specific type of pearls that is unlike their perfectly round counterparts, does not have an axis of symmetry. In other words, the left half of the pearl can be completely different in shape to its right half. They are neither round nor symmetrical, but very distorted and irregular in shape. Often the surface is very uneven and they occasionally resemble such objects as teeth, cacti, tadpoles, mushrooms, or snails.
With free forms or distorted shapes, many people prefer the natural
 look and feel of these baroque pearls. When worn around the neck, their irregularities add to their natural beauty without any constraints. These pearls have very high luster, very thick nacre and exhibit clean surfaces even though there shapes are free form. Almost all free shaped pearls can be called baroque pearls, however  
to distinguish different types of pearls, we use nugget pearls to describe one type of baroque pearls that has one side flat, and we use potato pearls to describe the type of baroque pearls that are round in all sides without any sharp corners.

Button pearls

 Button shaped pearls are relatively flat on both sides.

Rice pearls and teardrop

Oval shaped pearls are perfect to make pearl necklaces, Half drilled drop pearls are usually called teardrop pearls.
 
Round Pears

Round pearls strands are the most common type of pearls.
 
Mabe pearls 

Mabe pearls are known as button or blister pearls, mabe are a half-spherical cultured pearl which is grown on the inside shell of the same type of oyster that grows the South Sea pearls inside the mollusk's body. The pearl is cut away from the inner shell, and then backed with mother-of-pearl.