Pearls with 14K beads, fixing divits?

[c langston]

I've seen other photo's here of people who have pearls with 14K gold beads mixed together in a strand or used as spacers. One of my oldest strands, is showing the wear & tear of dings & divits to the gold beads. Is there any way to work out those without simply breaking up the strand to replace the damaged 14K beads? Maybe a tool of some sort to slip inside the bead between the silk & inner wall to lift the little crunch marks? In replacing, would 10K really be better suited (stronger) to use with pearls or a certain gauge I should request or look for? Going with corrigated might be wiser but I REALLY like the look of a gold polished bead with pearls, especially the metallic pearls matching the over all feel for the full strand.

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice you are willing to share with me.

 

[Pattye]

Do you have a bench jeweler you work with? They might be able to suggest something, but my thought is beads will just dent again. Often the karat gold spacer beads can be purchased in a choice of light, medium or heavy weight, good to know if at some point you decide to replace them in your necklace.

 

[c langston]

Pattye thanks yes having a trusted bench jeweler would be key. In the old days I had 2 places in the JAX area that were AWESOME and so very helpful for many years, we don't live there any longer. LOL we have moved to the deep woods FL boonies and there are no restaurants, retail shops much less trusted bench jewelers it takes 45 min to 1 hr. to just get to the basics (grocery, pharm., HomeDepot). Yes it was deliberate...moving out here, but very long story. The old necklaces can be reworked and new beads purchased. You all are always so full of great ideas that I thought I'd throw it out here to see if there were any potential tools or fixes.

 

[Pattye]

Well, still thinking about some sort of tool that could push out the dents. Perhaps some type of dentist's tool would be small enough and curved on the end, like a little hook. My dentist gave me some of his old tools for doing metal clay work, and told me they replace their implements fairly often.

Living in a remote place like you do will have lots of advantages, though, even though no bench nearby.

About what size are your gold beads? I'm curious, too, as I have a few dented beads myself, and at the moment, the tools are nowhere to be found to see if any of them would work.

 

[c langston]

Thanks for the ideas Pattye! I've tried slipping one arm/leg of a bobby-pin (the plastic coated tip) end so they don't hurt your head, slip one leg into the hole and lift against the dent. There is just enough room between the silk & edge of the bead hole to slip it inside. It never really gets back to being smooth, (better...but not smooth). I'll see if I can get my hands on some dental tools *chuckle* fear or no fear of them. The beads that are in the worst shape and in need of fixing are smooth wall 8mm 14k (from Rio Grande over 15 years ago). Ever watch a body shop take dents out of a car fender or body, they have a suction cup 'thing' that they lock down & lift against the dent? Just gets a gal to thinking.

 

[pearlsngems]

I use polished gold-filled balls as spacers and find they are sturdy. I haven't had any get dented yet.

Consider restringing using gf ball beads. Odds are the thread could use replacing by now anyway.