- Joined
- Jul 12, 2015
- Messages
- 1,080
Some progress pics and #LearningMoments...
I’m a lustre fiend. Lustre first. Lustre over everything else. Wanna see my favouritest pic? Those silvers are ball bearings. Actual, real, brand new steel ball bearings. These pearls hold their own against actual, real ball bearings. You can't beat this!!!!
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A comparison of three strands. The pearls in the innermost strand are almost all fully solid-bodied (the center pearl is the exception). This piece has since been rehomed, but I recall that it held its body colour amazingly well through various lighting types - much, much better than any of the pearls with stronger overtone regardless of other quality factors! I’ve learnt that I personally value a strong and contrasty overtone, and I'm willing to sacrifice colour stickiness and just save my Tahitians for dreary grey days. Certainly no dearth of those in New England
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Most multicoloured pearl strands balance both body colour and body tone - they repeat patterns of colour and light vs. dark body. Neither of my strands do either, really. The new strand from Andrew is largely the same body tone. The reworked Pearl Paradise strand has more tone variance, but the ends skew lighter than the middle. I turned both final lineups into B&W to show it better here - the Moline strand is on the top, Pearl Paradise below. Ideally I’d like a more organized pattern in the Pearl Paradise strand. I’ll find some pearls to adjust it one day… Far in the future - I’m seriously so done with Tahitians for such a long time
I had originally wanted to send the strand to PSL (yeah, I’ve got the American predilection for paperwork ) but I was advised not to. The reason is kind of interesting: Apparently PSL has four colour designations for strands - green, purple, multicolour, and grey. A strand that has even one pearl that isn’t green or purple is disqualified from earning those names. A strand that doesn’t have at least four distinct colours isn’t eligible for the multicolour specification. And any strand that isn’t green, purple, or multicolour is called grey. And oy, my strand is most certainly not grey!!
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These were my final candidates for both strands. Moline behind and Pearl Paradise in front.
I think these strands are actually an excellent real-world manifestation of that tried and tired 80/20 rule - that it takes 20% of the effort/time/money/valuable-whatever to get 80% of the way to perfect, and it’ll take 80% of the effort/time/money/etc. to get through that last 20%, all the way to 100% perfect. My Pearl Paradise strand took about a month, the Moline strand took six. The Moline strand will end up costing about 7x the Pearl Paradise strand. So is it worth it? That last photo I posted is true to what my eyes see - we really are talking 80% vs. 100% perfect here.
Me, I treasure the knowledge that I’m looking at some of the most magical pearls ever created. I personally put huge value on knowing that there’s nothing better to be had (other than bigger!), and that any comparisons I might make in the future will be against the best that an oyster can offer. This bracelet is such a special piece, I can’t envision ever not admiring it every time I see it
Fiiiine. I will just nibble with my mind-teeth. Hhhmrrmph.
A couple more photos from today - I wore it with one of my gemmy akoya bracelets to putter around I think these pics show how these pearls change personality rather well
First one is in the basement with (very very bright) overhead fluorescents. Most of my pearls have green bodies and this lighting really highlights that! Only the strongest overtones show through.
This is in the bedroom. The walls, ceiling, and floor are shades of beige, peach, and brown. We use only night lamps in here so it's pretty dark; I let the camera auto-ISO and it skyrocketed. The softer single-lamp lighting definitely greys body colour out, but it's actually - unexpectedly! - quite a bit more forgiving toward the overtones! I'm curious to see how the reworked Pearl Paradise bracelet behaves in comparison...
i know this doesn't sound anywhere glamorous enough but Ive always thought petrol in a puddle ( while not good for the environment) is very beautiful
This is what these pearls remind me of
But the luster is out of this world
.1% indeed !
Unless we meet in real life i never exspect to see a Tahitian like this in real life
@icy_jade I totally get you!! And I meant the PS Pearl Queen bit, no joke, you have such a vast and varied collection, and you’ve been so generous with your photos of it!!
So I know that you know… How do I say this? You are the sort of person who knows how the camera lies. Better phrasing - anyone who’s familiar with pearls knows that the camera’s truth doesn't necessarily match a real-world truth. So when someone who’s familiar with pearls looks at the first few pics that I posted in this thread, they’ll know that that’s the best that these pearls can look in that particular lighting environment… Of course, we also know that a phone in more flattering lighting could still take more engaging photos!
That’s what I’ve come to love most about pearls, I think. A diamond is a diamond in any light. It’s really predictable and it's always going to show one personality. Pearls are such little changelings
The top 1% of the top 1%. Good thing I’ve already told Andrew he isn’t allowed to fire me as a customer
I had the exact same thought when I first saw this pic!!
I will say that I've never got it to look quite like this, in photos or to my eyes. This is either a supplier's photo or the farm's photo, I'm not entirely sure, but I know that Andrew didn't take it. I gotta be honest, I've wondered if this photo wasn't tweaked a touch - the blue/violet "eye" inside the pink halo that's barely visible in this pic is much more prominent in-person (#Like!), and the wide yellow banding that this photo shows - I've never ever seen more than the barest hint of yellow, even in #SuperDuperFlatteringLighting (phooey).
I think the pearl itself is pretty seductively oil-slick-ey in-person though
Wow thanks. Never thought of myself that way as there were so many on PS with such vast collections when I first got started in pearls.
Your pics made me want to dig my Tahitians out to play!
Curious what you will be getting next... SSPs?
Phew
im so glad you got where i was seeing it from
(Sometimes over the internet its easy to misinterpret)
Apart from the oil slick i have no point of reference to judge the ultimate beauty of your pearl(s)
They have set an unattainable benchmark
I really hope you are 110% overjoyed with them in every way