evergreen
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2012
- Messages
- 667
I feel like I'm making the Pricescope topic rounds... first Rocky Talky, then CS, and meandered over to Pearls on a lazy afternoon... and we all know what trouble that starts. 
So, I dipped my toe in the Pearl waters with PP's sale baroque blue Akoya strand (justification: I wear my 9-10mm ringed FWP wedding pearls at least once a week and the string is stretching! Time to rest & restring!), which arrived a couple of days ago:
They're more baroque than I'd thought they would be -- which is EXCELLENT because I think you don't want to go halfway with baroque. Make it clear it's on purpose! And, whoa, never having seen Akoyas in person, the overtones, the variety from pearl to pearl, the luster (despite its ripples and baroquiness) all were a total (good!) surprise. Can't seem to get the color quite right in photos, except maybe in the obligatory neck shot.
WELL -- because PP takes a while to ship, in the meantime I ran into dkata's PP thread ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-first-order-from-pearlparadise.212532/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-first-order-from-pearlparadise.212532/[/URL]) and, kicking myself for not thinking of poaching a couple off the Akoya strand, started massively obsessing over earrings to match. Blue Akoya earrings are, like, $400. As much as I paid for the necklace. Hmph. But, as I read more, I learned about the "bargain" Sea of Cortez pearls Ebay's druzydesign sells, and sprung upon a 3-pearl set. (Justification: I was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas at the time. Like, practically IN the Sea of Cortez! I think they count as a souvenir even if I bought them on eBay...)
Vendor pic (incidentally, found her pics to be very accurate glamour shots):
The (fraternal) triplets, hanging out with a well-loved 14k RG ring:
And everybody together:
Even though the match isn't perfect, I think they're complementary enough (and definitely not $400) to make a pair of dangle earrings to play nicely with the Akoya strand. Similar overtones, reasonably close saturation, though the SoCs are darker (and will probably look even darker shaded by hair, but nothing's perfect!). And then, there's that 3rd, lumpier SoC for a simple necklace! In the style of - though far less fabulous than - pregcurious's ahmaaaazing souffle set: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/souffle-set.211680/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/souffle-set.211680/[/URL]
OK, so! Here's where I'm really hoping to get some advice, though it's not totally on-topic (but hey, pearl pictures above!). I used to do jewelrymaking, so I have the pliers and snippers, but it's been a while and I've always worked with sterling, not gold. The plan for earrings is little dangles on french hooks (so, need french hooks and head pin or similar) and a non-moving single pearl on a fine chain (so, need a chain and a head pin or piece of wire) in 14k rose gold.
Does anybody have a recommendation for jewelry components in (solid) 14k rose gold? They're devilishly hard to find on eBay, though RG chains are very available and I did find a place to buy 30g half-hard 14k RG wire. Anybody with better eBay-fu? Is 30g too fine for a pearl? Am I nuts to think about making my own french hooks from 30g wire? If you have fully drilled pearls, what do you do if you don't have a head pin - do you make a little squiggle at the bottom of the pearl dangle to keep it from falling off? Hoping to escape this new obsession without spending much more than $100, $120ish for RG components...! Thanks in advance for words of wisdom.
So, I dipped my toe in the Pearl waters with PP's sale baroque blue Akoya strand (justification: I wear my 9-10mm ringed FWP wedding pearls at least once a week and the string is stretching! Time to rest & restring!), which arrived a couple of days ago:
They're more baroque than I'd thought they would be -- which is EXCELLENT because I think you don't want to go halfway with baroque. Make it clear it's on purpose! And, whoa, never having seen Akoyas in person, the overtones, the variety from pearl to pearl, the luster (despite its ripples and baroquiness) all were a total (good!) surprise. Can't seem to get the color quite right in photos, except maybe in the obligatory neck shot.
WELL -- because PP takes a while to ship, in the meantime I ran into dkata's PP thread ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-first-order-from-pearlparadise.212532/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-first-order-from-pearlparadise.212532/[/URL]) and, kicking myself for not thinking of poaching a couple off the Akoya strand, started massively obsessing over earrings to match. Blue Akoya earrings are, like, $400.
As much as I paid for the necklace. Hmph. But, as I read more, I learned about the "bargain" Sea of Cortez pearls Ebay's druzydesign sells, and sprung upon a 3-pearl set. (Justification: I was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas at the time. Like, practically IN the Sea of Cortez! I think they count as a souvenir even if I bought them on eBay...)Vendor pic (incidentally, found her pics to be very accurate glamour shots):
The (fraternal) triplets, hanging out with a well-loved 14k RG ring:
And everybody together:
Even though the match isn't perfect, I think they're complementary enough (and definitely not $400) to make a pair of dangle earrings to play nicely with the Akoya strand. Similar overtones, reasonably close saturation, though the SoCs are darker (and will probably look even darker shaded by hair, but nothing's perfect!). And then, there's that 3rd, lumpier SoC for a simple necklace! In the style of - though far less fabulous than - pregcurious's ahmaaaazing souffle set: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/souffle-set.211680/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/souffle-set.211680/[/URL]
OK, so! Here's where I'm really hoping to get some advice, though it's not totally on-topic (but hey, pearl pictures above!). I used to do jewelrymaking, so I have the pliers and snippers, but it's been a while and I've always worked with sterling, not gold. The plan for earrings is little dangles on french hooks (so, need french hooks and head pin or similar) and a non-moving single pearl on a fine chain (so, need a chain and a head pin or piece of wire) in 14k rose gold.
Does anybody have a recommendation for jewelry components in (solid) 14k rose gold? They're devilishly hard to find on eBay, though RG chains are very available and I did find a place to buy 30g half-hard 14k RG wire. Anybody with better eBay-fu? Is 30g too fine for a pearl? Am I nuts to think about making my own french hooks from 30g wire? If you have fully drilled pearls, what do you do if you don't have a head pin - do you make a little squiggle at the bottom of the pearl dangle to keep it from falling off? Hoping to escape this new obsession without spending much more than $100, $120ish for RG components...! Thanks in advance for words of wisdom.
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