My White Ripple Strand from Pearls of Joy

[Fly Girl]

My white ripples arrived yesterday from Pearls of Joy. I picked up the last strand from last week's offering of ripples purchased by Kevin Canning recently in Hong Kong.

I took the strand unstrung since I was sure that I want to make the strand longer. The pearls measure about 16 1/2 inches long, and I will want something closer to 20 inches.

These pearls are big, white, iridescent and gorgeous. Definitely keepers. My strand has a horn on every pearl, which the vendor photo hinted at. Fun, and just a bit punk!

 

[Fly Girl]

I'll try to show the pearls a bit better. Pictured here in the morning sunlight. These are gorgeous. I added a silver blue soufflé and a 14mm circled white South Sea pearl to the photos for comparison.

 

[Fly Girl]

I compared the white ripples to my light golden South Sea strand from Pearl Paradise. My goldens are not tiny pearls, but they look small next to the white ripples.

 

[Fly Girl]

I have one other small ripple strand with lots of bronze tones. It is beautiful, but blends into my skin too much, and I've never worn it. I am sure that I will be reaching for these white ripples much more. Now, to figure out a clasp and a way to lengthen the white strand. My first idea is to use a 14k white gold toggle clasp that I already own, along with a bit of chain.

Thanks for coming by.

 

[bsomlo]

Wow! I love how WHITE your new white ripples are! Wear them in health. I can hardly wait to get mine...

 

[Fly Girl]

Wow! I love how WHITE your new white ripples are! Wear them in health. I can hardly wait to get mine...

Thank you, bsomlo. Yes, they are white-white with gorgeous overtones. And so big. Kevin chose well. I have a hard time imagining that yours are even bigger!

 

[icy_jade]

Wow! I love how WHITE your new white ripples are! Wear them in health. I can hardly wait to get mine...

Love how white-white they are too! Wonderful lustre!
Please show us how they look after you add the clasp.

 

[LitGeek]

That is a really cool strand Fly Girl! I too love their whiteness, luster, and size Also love that beautiful blue souffle pendant

 

[bsomlo]

(BTW, I like your "bronze" ripples and think you should try wearing them some day, too.)

 

[YC]

Fly girl, when I see your white strand, I can't help but think 'pearls with an attitude'. The 'spikes' add a touch of eh..... rebellion to them. I think thewhites look way better than the bronze as the latter blends too much with your skin tone.

 

[Fly Girl]

Thank you bsomlo, icy_jade, LitGeek and YC.

I'm trying to decide if I should try to string it myself, or send it off. I'll try to decide soon, since I can wear it that much sooner.

I keep forgetting about my bronze ripples. They might go better with my fall and winter wardrobe, than during the summer.

YC - At first I worried with all those horns that it would look like I was wearing a studded dog collar. However, as you can see from my photos, most of the time they are turned so you really don't notice them.

 

[YC]

Fly Girl -LOL...... yes, the thought of someone with studded jewelry did cross my mind momentarily but the spikey bits r not obvious when u wore them. The overtones r really beautiful on you. The white really stands out.... very gorgeous. I bought the third last strand- it was the 11.5-15 mm white strand with the most purplish overtones. Still eagerly waiting for it to arrive.

 

[baby monster]

Gorgeous strand, Fly Girl. What are you thinking of adding to get to 20'?

 

[Fly Girl]

My order of Beaders Secret arrived quickly from PatriciaSaabDesigns on etsy. Thank you so much, Pattye!

It was fun holding up my pearls with the different colors of thread.

I quickly narrowed it down to ivory for these pearls. I also had a strand of keshi that was white and had the same pink and blue overtones. Putting them in the sun made it easy to pick out the best keshi. I eliminated the keshi that had more cream body colors.

 

[Fly Girl]

Gorgeous strand, Fly Girl. What are you thinking of adding to get to 20'?

baby monster - I wasn't sure at first, but when I played around a bit with these white keshi, I decided that adding a few might work to lengthen the strand.

I did a test strand on power pro without knotting, and decided that the look and the length were fine.

I looked over the clasps that I already had, and decided that this sterling silver and white quartz clasp looked nice.

I haven't knotted pearls in several years, and I have used both silk and power pro. I have to say that Beaders Secret is sooooo much easier to work with. I saw very little fraying, misplaced knots were easy to pick out and redo, it was easy to get the knots nice and tight, and the thread was strong. It remains to be seen how it wears, but I know that I will be using Beaders Secret for my next project.

I only had my cell phone camera along for the last picture. I'll try to get better photos of my new necklace in the next few days.

 

[icy_jade]

Wear them in good health Fly Girl! Did you make up matching earrings too?

 

[bsomlo]

Fly Girl -- Wow, now your white ripples from POJ don't even look related to my Yabadabadoos from POJ!

How fun that you can change things around by stringing.

Enjoy them and wear them in good health.

 

[LtypeI]

Those are beautiful, and the match the keshis perfectly! Will you be making a bracelet as well? Looks like you might have enough length with the keshis added.

And agreed re: Beader's Secret, it's a dream to work with. And the drape is beautful. It's very strong - I find the only times I've broken it from pulling too hard are when I go straight from knotting with PowerPro to Beader's Secret - my hands automatically pull the thread too hard, lol.

 

[LitGeek]

The keshis do match so well with the ripple pearls! Enjoy your lovely new strand!

 

[Fly Girl]

Wear them in good health Fly Girl! Did you make up matching earrings too?

Thank you, icy_jade. That's a "no" on the earrings. I'm not a fan of heavy dangles, and I already have white SS teardrops if I suddenly do want to wear heavy dangles. I own about 3 pair of various pearl studs (small akoyas, white freshies, and silver freshies) that should work with these.

 

[Fly Girl]

Fly Girl -- Wow, now your white ripples from POJ don't even look related to my Yabadabadoos from POJ!

How fun that you can change things around by stringing.

Enjoy them and wear them in good health.

Ha! I agree, they lose their power look of "big white pearls", don't they? I have some colored tourmaline rondelles that I'm looking to put onto a strand, but I finally decided that these pearls needed to stay white.

 

[Fly Girl]

Those are beautiful, and the match the keshis perfectly! Will you be making a bracelet as well? Looks like you might have enough length with the keshis added.

And agreed re: Beader's Secret, it's a dream to work with. And the drape is beautful. It's very strong - I find the only times I've broken it from pulling too hard are when I go straight from knotting with PowerPro to Beader's Secret - my hands automatically pull the thread too hard, lol.

Thank you, LtypeI. I thought about a bracelet, but the PoJ pearls are too darn big to be on my wrist. I wrapped the test strand about my wrist, and that killed the idea. I do already own a white keshi rope and matching bracelet that I strung up a couple of years ago. I liked them so much that I purchased three more strands of white keshi from Sarah at Kojima Pearls, and so that I why I had these on hand.

Yes, Beaders Secret is a winner. I'm posting some pictures of my strands that are waiting for the right inspiration.

 

[Fly Girl]

The keshis do match so well with the ripple pearls! Enjoy your lovely new strand!

Thank you, LitGeek.

 

[baby nurse]

Fly Girl, you did such an amazing job stringing your POJ ripples! I love the added length and the look with the smaller keshi.
I want to learn how to do that-- I know there are youtube videos that teach how to do it. Enjoy your new beauties!

 

[HHPmom]

Fly Girl, so gorgeous. Adding the keshi just brings the strand to a new dimension. It will be one of those double-take look from strangers. Very well done !!!

 

[Fly Girl]

Thank you baby nurse and HHPmom. baby nurse, be sure to purchase the necessary supplies and get some pearl strands that you love. Then give it a try. Shhh, but I haven't mastered fancy clasp work yet, so those look a bit amateurish on my strands, but you do need to look really, really close. I'll keep it hidden under my hair. If I decide to kick it up a notch, I'll learn to use gimp, or else have the strand restrung by a professional. This is just a quick way for me to try this pearl arrangement.

HHPmom - I'll be on the look out for double-takes. I appreciate your saying that this pearl arrangement works.

 

[LtypeI]

Fly_Girl, I know what you mean about inspiration! I just stare at my stuff until inspiration strikes (and sometimes that takes a while!). But you have some gorgeous pearls on hand, please do post when you've made them up!

 

[YC]

Fly girl, looks very good. The keshis and ripples are well matched! I tried using gimp and it is not that difficult to use. I thought the knotting was tougher.

 

[katbran]

I think you'll get a lot of wear out of those white ripples ! They look wonderful ! And those dyed 'party pearls' look quite pretty.

I am waiting for my Beaders Secret thread to arrive so I can give it a try !

 

[bsomlo]

Fly Girl -- thanks for the link! They looked familiar but I didn't remember the whole back story. I associate you with Tahitians a year later!!!

So this strand is not knotted?

And what happened to that lovely bronzier strand? It looks so pretty in your picture. Does it remain unworn? (Maybe future DIL has ripples in her future...?)