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[Yet more] akoya coming from Takahashi... I'm so excited!!

yssie

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Gasp, how could he lack such interest?!! Just who are you with?!! :lol: I would have been ripping into that package right away. Would you drive home already, please!

Right? I feel validated. Thank you. :lol:

I’m back next week!! Thank god. I haven’t been this angsty about getting to my pearls in a very long time… :shock:
 

Catmom

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Right? I feel validated. Thank you. :lol:

I’m back next week!! Thank god. I haven’t been this angsty about getting to my pearls in a very long time… :shock:

Well damn, you are not back soon enough, lol. No wonder you are angsty! I'm angsty to see them and they are not even mine. I will live vicariously.
 

CSpan

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Well I'm glad you have fallen off the wagon because now you have me totally pearl curious and I need more beauties to peruse!
 

yssie

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I’M GOING BACK NOW.

Just had to announce that. In all caps. Another few hours…
 

icy_jade

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Saw you posted and thought u had pics! Sigh
 

dk168

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yssie

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Work is my life. My life is work. ;(

I missed daylight today. Literally - I was indoors in a room without windows from sunrise to sunset. A couple teaser pics of the current akoya stash - managed some stringing tonight.


These pearls…

The blues are beautiful. Really beautiful. But my old Pearl Paradise Madama are (to my eyes) equally beautiful. I was surprised by that, I was sort of expecting the Takahashi to be lighter-bodied but infinitely more lustrous. Somehow? I suppose?

But now that I think about it - that doesn’t even make sense. The Pearl Paradise Madama have always been about as lustrous as my gemmy whites. So where did the expectation of “more” even come from?

I mean, I know where it came from - I expect anything I buy now to be nicer than anything I bought #before, just on principle. But apparently I’ve always had pretty good pearls eyes, I just didn’t know it. I don’t even know what the proper emoticon for that statement is :lol:

So the blues - beautiful but no moreso than what I’ve already got and gotten used to. Both my older Pearl Paradise Madama and these new Takahashi Madama are *way* nicer than the other Madama strand I bought for MIL a few weeks ago… I’ve got oodles of blue akoya here at the moment :bigsmile:

And the whites. H*ly f***ing cr*p these whites. Suffice to say that this is definitely my new favourite white bracelet. But I need to do a proper review of these, the colour and luster are SO interesting. Not exactly what I expected to see, and not exactly how I’d have expected to react to what I’m seeing.

On that note - it’s now 2am. Sigh. Work is my life, my life is work, did I mention? This is the absolute worst lighting, and I’m not going to label or explain anything just yet, I want to do that properly. But I have to share something!!


B1E07884-4254-4462-8140-C25F7F48FA2D.jpeg

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Ann

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That's a whole lotta gorgeous! wow. - you have the best!
 

empliau

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Wonderful, beautiful. Your job sounds grueling! But your pearls are divine.

More pictures, I hope, after you have rested and recovered ...
 

yssie

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Couple more late night pics that I fell asleep before uploading :lol:

Not all Madama are created equal!! Leftmost is a Madama strand that I bought from a US vendor. Middle is the new Takahashi Madama. And rightmost is my old Pearl Paradise Madama.

The left strand is just so clearly outclassed by the other two - in both glossiness and contrast *and* depth of colour. Although colour is admittedly personal!! The luster difference is even more visible in-person actually.

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yssie

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Some daytime photos of those same three Madama strands. In daylight the Pearl Paradise out-iridesces both of the others. Non-trivially. All Madama!

Full disclaimer here: I can keep either a bracelet made from the Takahashi leftovers or my old Pearl Paradise, so I listed my old Pearl Paradise last night. Because the pearls are smaller, and looking at them last night colour seemed very similar. In daylight the Pearl Paradise is actually the more impressive strand. If I'm honest. Which I endeavour to be here LOL.

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Catmom

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I’M GOING BACK NOW.

Just had to announce that. In all caps. Another few hours…

ABOUT TIME! [all caps as well]
 

Catmom

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Work is my life. My life is work. ;(

I missed daylight today. Literally - I was indoors in a room without windows from sunrise to sunset. A couple teaser pics of the current akoya stash - managed some stringing tonight.


These pearls…

The blues are beautiful. Really beautiful. But my old Pearl Paradise Madama are (to my eyes) equally beautiful. I was surprised by that, I was sort of expecting the Takahashi to be lighter-bodied but infinitely more lustrous. Somehow? I suppose?

But now that I think about it - that doesn’t even make sense. The Pearl Paradise Madama have always been about as lustrous as my gemmy whites. So where did the expectation of “more” even come from?

I mean, I know where it came from - I expect anything I buy now to be nicer than anything I bought #before, just on principle. But apparently I’ve always had pretty good pearls eyes, I just didn’t know it. I don’t even know what the proper emoticon for that statement is :lol:

So the blues - beautiful but no moreso than what I’ve already got and gotten used to. Both my older Pearl Paradise Madama and these new Takahashi Madama are *way* nicer than the other Madama strand I bought for MIL a few weeks ago… I’ve got oodles of blue akoya here at the moment :bigsmile:

And the whites. H*ly f***ing cr*p these whites. Suffice to say that this is definitely my new favourite white bracelet. But I need to do a proper review of these, the colour and luster are SO interesting. Not exactly what I expected to see, and not exactly how I’d have expected to react to what I’m seeing.

On that note - it’s now 2am. Sigh. Work is my life, my life is work, did I mention? This is the absolute worst lighting, and I’m not going to label or explain anything just yet, I want to do that properly. But I have to share something!!


B1E07884-4254-4462-8140-C25F7F48FA2D.jpeg

BE4D24CD-0D1A-4F95-983C-5D7D83356937.jpeg

6223EE66-88AE-45AD-BD3A-AB70FE8B0001.jpeg

200572F8-7D07-4600-BD72-A42797CD2669.jpeg

Woah, I can't even begin to tell you the words that came out of my mouth. If these are the bad pics I just can't even imagine good pics. You are just so bad for my pearl desires!
 

Ann

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Woah, I can't even begin to tell you the words that came out of my mouth. If these are the bad pics I just can't even imagine good pics. You are just so bad for my pearl desires!

I took deep dive into Madama pearls after seeing those pictures! :) I wasn't really sure what to expect. But now I want them.
 

yssie

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6-6.5mm gem akoya from Andrew Moline (originally sourced from Takahashi)
8-8.5mm gem akoya from Andrew Moline
9-9.5mm #1- akoya from Takahashi

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yssie

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Takahashi 9-9.5 babies all strung up (but the glue was still curing so string tails not cut) ::)


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yssie

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The Takahashi 9-9.5 are just the dreamiest little soap bubbles :love:

They're so well matched. Better matched than any of my other pearl bracelets, in body colour and overtone colour and strength of overtone. Skins are laquer-smooth - also the smoothest-skinned amongst all my bracelets!! And I've found exactly six (count 'em, six!) blemishes on all seventeen pearls. Seriously, holy grail strand right here :bigsmile:


The way they behave is really interesting - in a lot of ways they feel like WSS actually.

As soon as I opened my parcel I knew they weren't quite as contrasty as some of my other akoya. That was my first surprise - my own confidence regarding what I was seeing. I'd have guessed I'd need to compare strands side-by-side to be that certain. But I knew, and I was right. That slight contrast differential is visible in my pics, I think - it's slight. My photos are true to what I see in-person.

This paper - I first read it a while ago and it's one of my go-tos - differentiates between "types" of luster. Actually maybe a better description would be "individual components of luster".

So the glossiness on these 9-9.5 is out of this world. They reflect the contours of their environs with impeccable precision. Better than all my other akoya strands. As precisely as my akoya studs.


WSS and akoya have always puzzled me. It seemed that with akoya there was always a clear 1-1 mapping between contrastiness and overtone strength, assuming the same body tone. Whereas with WSS you can have incredibly strong overtone in less-contrasty pearls... Well, at *first* I thought I'd found the akoya that break my #rule, but after playing with them more - I don't think so. I think the #rule still holds.

I'm thinking that for pearls which have the same glossiness and the same strength of overtone, contrast must basically come down to body lightness. I mean, I know tone makes a difference. I know human eyes interpret the same amount of contrast differently in lighter and darker objects, I wrote a treatise about exactly that in another thread here. But I think I've been underestimating just how much of a difference body lightness makes to contrast!

My newest akoya are my lightest-bodied whites. They're also the most cool in tone, silver and blue and pink and far less creaminess than all the other akoya I've got. (Turns out I love this colour on me!!) And yup, they're less contrasty than my darker-bodied white akoya. Just like my WSS, which are also lighter-bodied than my other akoya. The WSS and these new white akoya, turns out they're really really really similar in body colour and tone. I mean, I can't prove anything, but...


I feel SO ridiculously LUCKY to have these in my collection. Between budget and availability - it feels like the sort of opportunity I'd have had exactly once. Akoya nirvana. These babies will get allllllll the love :love: :appl: :bigsmile: :read: :kiss2:



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Full disclosure: Blue Madama strand second-from-palm-side will be going to a loving new home soon ::)

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yssie

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Woah, I can't even begin to tell you the words that came out of my mouth. If these are the bad pics I just can't even imagine good pics. You are just so bad for my pearl desires!
Being bad for other PSers’ purses feels kinda good, not gonna lie :lol:

I haven’t even been able to play with them #properly until this weekend… The more I look at them the nicer they get and the warmer and fuzzier I’m feeling :bigsmile: Last week I was thinking about getting a strand of oval GSSs, but honestly, right now I’m pretty happy just basking in these beauties ::)
 

ItsMainelyYou

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Me, over here, still not truly understanding all the nuance of the minutiae...
I'm just feeling lucky to even get to see what actual quality of this caliber looks like.
885347
Eyeballs out, everybody!
 

yssie

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I took deep dive into Madama pearls after seeing those pictures! :) I wasn't really sure what to expect. But now I want them.

I think they’re a lovely “cool neutral”!! Would be perfect for someone who doesn’t love the warmth/creaminess that white akoya usually have. If someone likes a stronger blue - they do look more saturated when stacked with white pearls, IMO… And thread colour can make a big difference, too - since the pearl bodies reflect the colour of the knots between them a slightly more blue thread would lend that extra touch of blue to the whole strand :love:

These are the five large blue akoya strands I’ve got right now. The new Madama strand that I’m not impressed with, my latest from Takahashi, Pearl Paradise Madama that now belongs to another PSer, baroques from Takahashi, and baby blues from Cees. I assume the four biggers are all Japanese akoya and the babies are probably mostly vietnamese ::)
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Left - unawesome Madama
Second from left - Takahashi Madama
Right from right - Pearl Paradise Madama
Right - baroques from Takahashi

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Left - unawesome Madama
Second from left - Takahashi Madama
Middle - Pearl Paradise Madama
Second from right - baroques from Takahashi
Right - baby blues from Cees

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NY_Resonant

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What my untrained eyes sees:
Leftmost strand: Great size, Very beautiful, creamy well-rounded pearls but they are just missing something — appears muted and a little dead to me.

Takahashi Madama: Great size, creamy, perfectly rounded shapes, with a complex look full of depth given off by the great lustre and reflections. Very vibrant.

Pearl Palace Strand (Mine! So happy): Good size, less creamy than the others but that is made up by it having an amazing vibrancy and lustre. Has most complexity of color to my eyes due to the green tone showing up a bit more in this strand compared to the two above? Yssie, I definitely saw the difference on this one when you used the blue string this time, it brought out the blue very nicely. Super happy with it.

I know my mother will love it… but i’m hoping that when I show it to my partner that she may start liking pearls more! She is chinese, 43, and has never been into pearls at all — but i’m hoping these beautiful blue akoyas are different enough from what she has seen to pique her interest
 

NY_Resonant

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Maybe what I am calling creaminess is the pink overtone that is a bit more present on the first two strands? Hmmm…

Between the amazing Takashani madama, the colorful unique baroque and the spiteful little Cee bracelet — Yssie has the blue akoya genra fully covered for sure!

I’m love to see a side by side picture of those 3 with the crazy beautiful Andrew Molini gem quality tahini set that Yssie has in her forever-pile. That bracelet made me go GaGa when I saw it!!!
 

NY_Resonant

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I can't believe I missed the chance to buy Yssie pearls AGAIN!!! :eek-2::shock:

Congrats to you @NY_Resonant !

Thank you. For a pearl newbie like me, using the Yssie-Eye filter made it a no-brainer so I jumped on it when she listed the item.

Who needs a mikimoto when you can get a Yssie original.

i’ve been reading about her journey into the pearl rabbit hole and her pursuit of pearl heavenly perfection over the last 4+ years since she started in 2018. Funny enough, I feel like buying this piece — one of her first pearl purchases in 2018 — makes me a part of her epic journey.

Jewelry with a story attached is even better!
 

yssie

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What my untrained eyes sees:
Leftmost strand: Great size, Very beautiful, creamy well-rounded pearls but they are just missing something — appears muted and a little dead to me.

Takahashi Madama: Great size, creamy, perfectly rounded shapes, with a complex look full of depth given off by the great lustre and reflections. Very vibrant.

Pearl Palace Strand (Mine! So happy): Good size, less creamy than the others but that is made up by it having an amazing vibrancy and lustre. Has most complexity of color to my eyes due to the green tone showing up a bit more in this strand compared to the two above? Yssie, I definitely saw the difference on this one when you used the blue string this time, it brought out the blue very nicely. Super happy with it.

I know my mother will love it… but i’m hoping that when I show it to my partner that she may start liking pearls more! She is chinese, 43, and has never been into pearls at all — but i’m hoping these beautiful blue akoyas are different enough from what she has seen to pique her interest

Yours has the strongest overtones and the deepest colour of all of the Japanese rounds!

The pink overtone is actually about equally strong in all three Japanese round strands, to my eyes, but in the unawesome Madama that’s *all* there is - pink overtone. In yours the pink has competition - the teal overtone is really bright! In-person you’ll definitely see both when the lighting is favourable!! ::) The Takahashi Madama is kind of in-between on overtone colour and strength - same amount of pink, more teal than the unawesome but less than yours.

But the body on yours is darker. Ignoring overtones altogether. So yours looks more contrasty. The pics are totally true to life. IMO yet more proof that small differences in body tone can make significant differences to contrastiness :geek: Because gloss luster is really the same on both Takahashi and Pearl Paradise Madama. (The unawesome is slightly less glossy in-person…)

I’m still surprised by the variance in what qualifies as Madama. I suspect the unawesome strand might be a “just barely made the grade” sort of deal. But still, y’know. It made the grade. Sometimes I wonder just how many people have bought this grade of pearl and are confident they’ve got The Best There Can Be because their strand has the Madama/Hanadama designation… But I try not to wonder too much because I just get annoyed by all of it :lol: I will be forever grateful to Andrew Moline for introducing me to these truly high grades of pearls ❤️

Not going to lie, when I compared in daylight I was really tempted to pull my listing and other projects be damned :twisted2: But I’m really glad I didn’t. Because she’s obviously going to a home where she will be loved and appreciated and treasured, by someone who’s genuinely interested in all the things that make pearls so special :love: That makes me so happy. This is a very mind-clean rehome for me. Thank you ❤️

And I might restring the Takahashi with cyan thread to try and bring out more teal, actually :bigsmile:

I haven’t even started on my MIL’s necklace. That’s going to be a much much much bigger project :shock:
 

Cinders

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No worries about ever rehoming your pearls since I'm pretty sure there are about 20-30 seriously pearl-loving possible adopters just on this forum. :D
 

yssie

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Well… Here was my first attempt at MIL’s strand.

The thread colour switching was much easier than I expected. A whole lot of worry over nothing there.

But the differing hole sizes between pearls and onyx, that’s a big problem, turns out. The unevenness of knot width that’s required to separate all the beads was driving me nuts. I took it apart, going to have to rethink that. It didn’t look nearly as bad in the short sample I strung beforehand to test ;(

And the Tenara thread really doesn’t behave like ”normal” thread… I get the impression that it’s much stronger than regular thread in sheer pull capacity, but it likes to break when you pull knots tight. So - super strong straight, doesn’t like to be kinked, is my takehome. Vs. normal thread, that - yank when straight or yank when knotted, seems about the same strength either way. If that makes any sense.

Oh, and those Nittel interchangeable clasp ends. OMFG. Those things are a right Pain In The A$$. I settled on epoxy to get them to grip tight to the interiors of the end-pearls’ drill holes, the beading cement I normally use is much too weak.

FIL wants a more symmetric design, and I think it’ll look better a touch longer. So all the glued bits are soaking in Attack and I’ll try again in a few days when my patience has recovered :wall:

The things I do for my MIL… Good thing I like her :lol:

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Catmom

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Well… Here was my first attempt at MIL’s strand.

The thread colour switching was much easier than I expected. A whole lot of worry over nothing there.

But the differing hole sizes between pearls and onyx, that’s a big problem, turns out. The unevenness of knot width that’s required to separate all the beads was driving me nuts. I took it apart, going to have to rethink that. It didn’t look nearly as bad in the short sample I strung beforehand to test ;(

And the Tenara thread really doesn’t behave like ”normal” thread… I get the impression that it’s much stronger than regular thread in sheer pull capacity, but it likes to break when you pull knots tight. So - super strong straight, doesn’t like to be kinked, is my takehome. Vs. normal thread, that - yank when straight or yank when knotted, seems about the same strength either way. If that makes any sense.

Oh, and those Nittel interchangeable clasp ends. OMFG. Those things are a right Pain In The A$$. I settled on epoxy to get them to grip tight to the interiors of the end-pearls’ drill holes, the beading cement I normally use is much too weak.

FIL wants a more symmetric design, and I think it’ll look better a touch longer. So all the glued bits are soaking in Attack and I’ll try again in a few days when my patience has recovered :wall:

The things I do for my MIL… Good thing I like her :lol:

AE02FEED-4907-4B4F-BEEB-190E4DA94D88.jpeg

2238DCA2-1527-4B10-B86E-BE1B5CC8E70D.jpeg

I can see it either way. Which ever, it will be gorgeous and you have a very lucky MIL!
 
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