Blogging at Bagz n Jewelry - Handbags, clutch evening purses, stainless steel jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gemstone jewelry » Educational

Beauty, luster, smoothness of the Tahitian pearl

bagznjewelry — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:16:28 +0000

The beauty of the Tahitian pearl

Part four – The beauty of the black Tahitian pearls
The beauty of pearls. The luster, smoothness and roundness of Tahitian pearls. The luxury….The Tahitian pearl named after the island of Tahiti. The pearls are cultivated around the island of Tahiti and The French Polynesian Islands.

Tahitian pearls are produced in the black-lipped oyster Pinctada margaritifera. The oysters are quite large which will explain why their pearls are usually big. The Tahitian pearls are unique because of their dark colors, which makes it interesting when you hear the phrase Black Tahitian pearl; most of the black pearls are not actually black. While there is black Tahitian pearls, it is extremely rare.

The quality of a Tahitian pearl are determined by six factors – size, color, nacre, luster, smoothness and shape. Of course the bigger, the thicker the nacre, the smoother, the more expensive the pearl will be.

Myth
According to Polynesian mythology, Oro the god of war created the pearl and gave it the colors of the rainbow, in the hopes to present it to a beautiful maiden that he wanted to marry.

Classic Akoya Pearls – cultured in the Pinctada Fucata Martensii oyster

bagznjewelry — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:18:13 +0000

Part Three – Classic Akoya Pearls
Akoya pearls – Primarily cultivated in the saltwaters of Japan and China is Known as the classic pearl. Akoya pearls are cultured in the Pinctada fucata martensii, also known as the Akoya oyster. This is the smallest pearl producing pearl which may explain why the Akoya pearls are generally small in size. The typical size for an Akoya pearl usually range from 2mm – 10mm. The Japanese Akoya Pearls is still considered the creme de la creme of Akoya pearls, though in recent years the Chinese have started producing high quality Akoya pearls.

Classic Akoya pearls is now no longer just for the rich; quality cultured Akoya pearl jewelry can be found at very reasonable prices online and at retails stores.

Myth
The Chinese believed that pearls cam fom fire dragons; hence wearing pearls will protect against fire.

South Sea Pearls – Why so expensive?

bagznjewelry — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:40:36 +0000

Gold South Sea pearl necklace

Part Two – South Sea Pearls

For those people who know about pearls, you also know that South Sea pearls are really expensive. A graduated 16″ White South Sea pearl on Amazon.com is going for $4,900.00(Ouch). Why so expensive?

Cultured South Sea pearls are known for their larger size, smoothness and roundness are produced by one of the largest pearl cultivating oysters(Pinctada Maxima). Australia, Myanmar (Burma), Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Indonesia are the primary geographic regions for the cultivation of South Sea pearls. The larger the pearl that is produced by an oyster, the more valuable and more expensive. For those farmers that cultivate pearls, it is extremely rare for their entire crop to produce perfectly round pearls. Because the Pinctada Maxima oyster lives and grows its pearls in the wild, its hard to produce in larger quantity, which makes it rare. Once a mother of pearl bead is implanted into the shell of the oyster, the oyster continues to see this implant as a foreign object, that with the oysters environment makes it hard for the oyster to produce perfectly round pearl.

There are white, black, gold, silver white, cream and off white South Sea pearls. With their roundness, smoothness, high luster, the South Sea pearls is a beauty to behold.

Myth
Pearls were once viewed by ancient Arab legends to be the tears of the gods.
The Greeks believed that women that wore pearls would have marital bliss and it will also prevent newlywed women from crying.

What do you know about pearls – Freshwater, South sea, Akoya or Tahitian?

bagznjewelry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:17:17 +0000

Drape yourself with a dyed green pearl necklace!

Part One
Pearls have been around for centuries and are still considered timeless elegance – gracing the necks of icons like Jacqueline Kennedy, Louise Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and many more ladies that have been considered fashion icons.

Pearls are formed when a particle, irritant, or piece of an organic matter enters the shell of some oysters, mussels or shellfish. Nacre, which is secreted by the mussels in response forms on the foreign object to eventually produce a pearl. There are natural pearls, those that are formed as a accident of nature and there are cultured pearls, those that formed with human intervention.

Myth
According to the Roman writer Pliny, Cleopatra dissolved a priceless pearl earring in her wine and drank it as a testament of love for Antony(Pockets Gemstones – written by Emma Foa)

Freshwater cultured pearls
Freshwater cultured pearls are cultivated primarily in China, then Japan and the United states. Pearls that are cultured in non-saline fresh water, ponds and lakes by fresh water mussels are known as freshwater pearls. Production of freshwater cultured pearls started in Japan, but China has since become the biggest producer of freshwater pearls. Freshwater cultured pearls are cheap and readily available for everyday wear.

Sterling silver cleaning – How to keep your silver looking new

bagznjewelry — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:09:29 +0000

Highly polished sterling silver mariner link bracelet

Sterling silver combined with the hot sun, humidity, air pollution, skin lotion; what does that produce – tarnished silver. Its amazing what a little humidity can do to sterling silver. But no worries because there is a homemade solution right at your finger tips that will keep your sterling silver always looking brand new with a shine.

Please do not use this cleaning method on any of your gemstones and precious stones

Items needed

1. A deep glass bowl
2. Aluminium
3. 1 cup of boiling water
4. 2 tablespoon of Baking soda
5. 1 tablespoon of salt

Line the deep bowl with the shining part of the aluminium facing up (this is important for the cleaning – the shining part of the aluminium reacts with the water, baking soda and salt to do the cleaning).

Now put your silver in the bowl making sure that each item is touching the aluminium. Pour the hot water over the silver, add the baking soda and then the salt. You can see the fuzzy reaction of the baking soda.

Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes. Drain the baking soda water, then run the silver under cold water.

Make sure not to throw out any silver that may be at the bottom of the bowl. Wipe the silver with a soft cloth. Your sterling silver is shining like new again!