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I use so many pearls in my designs that I decided to tell you a little about pearls and their care. First, the difference
between freshwater pearls and cultured pearls. Freshwater pearls are grown in freshwater beds in lakes and rivers. They
are rarely round, usually rice or potato shapes.
When pearls are cultured like the majority on the market
today, an irritant (ie: a culture) is introduced into the oyster to cause it to coat the irritant with nacre, the substance
that makes a pearl shiny. The irritant inserted is perfectly round and can be seen in an x-ray.
A natural
pearl will not have a round center in it under x-ray, and are therefore very valuable pearls. They are usually oval in shape.
The country of Bahrain still sells natural pearls, but I doubt that you can get them from anywhere else anymore.
Another thing worth noting, older pearls are usually better pearls; because of the pollution of pearl beds they
are harvesting the pearls after only one year, which makes the nacre on them thinner.
Care
1. Always use makeup and perfume before putting on your pearls.
2. Never apply hairspray
while wearing pearls.
3. Never use an ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning your pearls.
4. Never use abrasive cleaners or ones with ammonia.
5. I string my pearls on
wire, but most come on thread. When these are wet never hang to dry, it will stretch the thread.
6. Always store in a protective bag to prevent other gemstones from scratching the nacre.
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