New jewelry headed to Oklahoma
Posted by Leah on Dec 30, 2007
I just sent off a few new pieces to Exhibit One Gallery in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Here is one of the necklaces, a one of a kind piece that will be for sale there in January:
It is made from Argentium sterling silver, a type of sterling silver formulated to resist tarnishing longer than regular sterling silver. It is accented with natural colored freshwater pearls, one on a handmade fine silver head pin, and a pale pink rose quartz.
Lead in Jewelry
Posted by Leah on Dec 11, 2007
A new law is going into effect very soon in California to protect consumers from lead poisoning in jewelry. Many base metal and plated or painted products contain lead, so to be safe, when purchasing jewelry *ask* what it is made of and if any materials contain lead. Once the new law goes into effect, jewelry containing lead will have to be labeled as such & have a warning about the effects of lead.
Silver, copper, and gold do not contain lead. Some metals that may contain lead are silver plated, gold plated, and pewter.
Pearls and gemstones do not contain lead.
Most glass beads do not contain lead, but many crystal beads such as Swarovski crystal, are made with lead. Unlike plated metal, however, the lead in Swarovski crystal is not ingestible, according to this notice on the Rings and Things website about lead in jewelry products. In other words, it appears that Swarovski crystal is safe despite being made with lead, because it is impossible to ingest the lead. I recommend reading the entire article on the Rings and Things site about lead - it is very informative.
When purchasing jewelry or other gifts this holiday season, use common sense, and never put something in your mouth if you think it might contain lead - and don’t give jewelry to young children if any of the materials could contain lead.
Scrap Pendant
Posted by Leah on Jun 14, 2007
I made this pendant from scrap sterling silver, with a few freshwater pearls added. One thing that is really nice about working with metal is that it is easy to reuse scraps. In this case, I had some half-round sterling silver wire in a size that I just don’t use. I’m not really sure why I bought it originally, but it had been sitting around my studio for quite a while. So, I sculpted it & fused it with my torch until I was mostly happy with the look, then added pearls to contrast with the rough look of the semi-melted silver.
This piece took a while to complete because there wasn’t an obvious place to attach a bail, but with some small alterations, I was able to add the wire bezel shown in the picture.
Care for your jewelry
Posted by Leah on May 13, 2007
It’s been a while since I last wrote about caring for jewelry - and since I use a lot of silver and pearls in my work, it seems appropriate to mention how to care for these materials.
The key to preventing tarnish on silver is keeping it clean, and storing it sealed off from air, humidity, and chemicals. Anti-tarnish cloth lining in jewelry boxes also helps.
The key to caring for pearls is to avoid contact with chemicals and anything acidic. Pearls are beautiful, but delicate, and can be damaged by seemingly innocent things like hairspray, so keep pearls clean, but avoid using chemical cleaners on them.
My favorite way to store silver jewelry is in plastic zip-lock baggies. Since I have a lot of jewelry - most of it stock that I take to art and craft shows or deliver to the stores and galleries that sell my work - I need a solution that keeps my jewelry from tarnishing but also doesn’t take up much space. Plastic bags are the perfect solution. Tupperware-style containers also work well. Pearl jewelry should be cushioned, so I recommend anti-tarnish cloth pouches for silver and pearl jewelry, especially if it is stored in a box with other jewelry items that could scratch the surface of the pearls.
Another thing that helps, and don’t ask me why, is to put a small piece of aluminum foil inside the container you use to store your silver.
It might work for the same reasons this simple recipe helps to remove light tarnish from silver jewelry (and is one of the *only* safe cleaning methods for pearl jewelry):
In a bowl, place a piece of aluminum foil. Put your jewelry on top of the foil so that the silver is touching the foil. Sprinkle baking soda on top, and add hot water. Swish the water around for a few minutes, then remove the jewelry and dry with a soft cloth.
Another useful cleaning tip: wipe silver with a polishing cloth after wearing it, and if your jewelry comes in contact with sweat, perfume, hair products, or other cosmetics, it doesn’t hurt to rinse it in lukewarm water and dry with a soft cloth. Then don’t forget to store it away from air and moisture to keep it looking shiny and new!
Some don’ts:
*don’t put on your jewelry until you are finished styling your hair, doing your make-up, etc. Chemicals in beauty products can accelerate tarnishing, and damage pearls and some gemstones
*don’t get salad dressing on your pearls. Seriously - vinegar, which is a common ingredient in salad dressing, will damage pearls. If you do spill on your pearls, rinse them in warm water and dry with a soft cloth.
*don’t keep jewelry in the bathroom - it’s the most humid part of your house, and an area that usually has the most chemicals (in the form of cosmetic products and household cleaning products, which can damage jewelry).
*remove silver and pearls before cleaning your house - again, the chemicals can damage pearls and accelerate tarnish on silver.
*don’t use a silver dip on jewelry that contains pearls, shell, stones, and other non-metal materials. Silver dips are really intended only for silver - try the baking soda and hot water rinse for jewelry that combines silver and other materials - it’s much safer, if not quite as instant.
I’m gradually transitioning from using standard sterling silver to Argentium sterling silver and fine silver, both of which are less prone (though not immune) to tarnish. I hope that by using these alloys, my jewelry will be easier to care for, so although Argentium and fine silver are slightly more expensive than sterling silver, I think it’s worth it for jewelry that resists tarnish and therefore looks new much longer.
The Pearl Book
Posted by Leah on Jan 24, 2007
The Pearl Book, 3rd Edition: The Definitive Buying Guide: How to Select, Buy Care for & Enjoy Pearls
By Antoinette L. Matlins
This book is the most informative guide to pearls I have read. If you love pearls, this book will give you lots of information on how to determine pearl quality, the kinds of treatments commonly used on pearls, and the difference between natural and cultured pearls, and freshwater and saltwater pearls. It’s not a quick read - there is a ton of information - but it’s very useful for anyone wanting to educate themselves about pearls and the pearl industry. That goes for jewelry makers as well as consumers.
Stone Treatments: Dying
Posted by Leah on Oct 31, 2006
Stones (and pearls) are often dyed to enhance or change their natural color to one that is deemed more desirable.
Some dyes stones will retain the color permanently, but some won’t. If you suspect that your pearls or stones are dyed, and you want to check to see how permanent the dye is, soaking them overnight in water with a *mild* soap should remove excess dye, and the color that remains is likely fairly stable and shouldn’t come off on skin or clothes. This won’t prevent fading, however, as some dyes will fade when exposed to sunlight.
Another way to preserve the color of dyed stones and pearls semi-permanently is to spray them with a varnish or laquer. There are many products out there; one affordable and easy to find option is Krylon clear in matte or shiny. This can be found in the spray paint aisle at hardware stores. Use in a well ventilated area (or outside) and be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. I wear a respirator when I use sprays to protect my lungs from the fumes.
Great Pearl Article
Posted by Leah on Aug 23, 2006
I found this great article about pearls while checking my RSS reader this morning.
I’ve written about pearls and explained much of the same material before, but I really like the way this article is written. The analogies really help it make sense, even if you didn’t know anything about cultured vs. natural and saltwater vs. freshwater pearls before.
Caring for pearl jewelry
Posted by Leah on Jan 27, 2006
Caring for pearl jewelry is a little bit harder than caring for all metal, or even metal and stone jewelry, because pearls are more easily damaged. Here are a few things to remember:
- Pearls are softer than most stones - so they can be scratched more easily. I advise storing pearls wrapped in a soft cloth, so that other jewelry in your jewelry box doesn’t scratch them.
- Pearls can be damaged by almost anything acidic - this includes salad dressing that contains vinegar, for example. After wearing pearls close to your skin, or if they may have come in contact with salad dressing or other mildly acidic food products, wipe them with a damp soft cloth. If the pearls are strung on silk, you don’t want to get the silk wet because it may stretch, but pearls that are set in metal or strung on wire can actually be rinsed off and cleaned with a very mild liquid soap.
- Because pearls can be damaged by chemicals in hair and cosmetic products, don’t use hairspray or spray perfume, deoderants, etc. while wearing your pearls. Ideally, pearls are the last thing you put on before leaving the house, and the first thing you take off when you return home.
- Don’t use a silver dip to clean jewelry containing both pearls and silver. In a recent post, I described a safer method of removing tarnish from silver jewelry containing pearls, using aluminum foil, baking soda, and hot water.
Pearl Colors
Posted by Leah on Jan 2, 2006
It used to be that pearls were (usually) white or off-white, but today, pearls come in just about any color you can think of. However, most of the colors - even some whites and off-whites - are not natural. Many of the new pearl colors are obtained by dying pearls after they are harvested. Freshwater pearls in particular are often dyed. Many of the dyes being used are very stable - they won’t wash off or fade - so in general, it is perfectly safe to purchase pearls and/or pearl jewelry in dyed colors. I’ve heard of people’s pearls fading with exposure to sunlight, or from being rinsed in water, but so far this has never happened to me personally.
Besides dying pearls, there are a few other methods used to color pearls. Heating them can produce desirable colors, as can irradiation. I don’t know very much about these processes, but I do know that these processes are used to turn freshwater pearls into darker, tahitian-like hues. I’ve never had problems with heated or irradiated pearls losing their color.
Another common process for changing the color of a pearl is bleaching. A lot of people believe that most pearls are white when they come out of the oyster, but this is not really true. It is more common for pearls to have a peachy or beigy color naturally, and they are then bleached if a bright white color is desired. I should point out here, though, that naturally white pearls do exist - they just aren’t as common as many people believe, based on the large quantities of white pearls on the market.
So, which colors are natural, and how can you tell if your pearls are natural in color? Often, you won’t be able to tell, but a few things to consider:
- Natural colors include white, pale pink, pale peach, off-white, beige, gold, grey, and black. Any color that is a ‘classic’ pearl color is probably a color that does occur in nature - but these colors are also produced using dyes, bleach, heat, and irradiation treatments (and probably other treatments that I’m not aware of yet).
- Colors that are likely dyed include very bright colors and very unnatural looking colors, and any pearls where you can see spots where the dye pooled a little and left spots on the pearl that are darker than the rest of the pearl. Sometimes you can see the dye near the holes of drilled pearls. However, it is not always possible to tell so easily whether a pearl has been dyed. Very expensive pearl jewelry should probably be checked by a gemologist for possible treatments, since they are not always visible to the naked eye.
- Colors that are likely to be either heated or irradiated include golds, blacks, purplish blacks, and greenish blacks. As I said before, I don’t know a lot about these treatments other than the fact that they are used to color pearls. Because black pearls and gold toned pearls are very popular today, freshwater pearls are often treated to obtain these desirable colors. It would be very hard to tell just by looking at a strand of pearls if they had been treated with heat or irradiation, so if it is important to know, I recommend getting advice from a certified gemologist. There is specialized equipment to detect these kinds of treatments.
- White pearls are often bleached. Not all white pearls have been bleached, so again, if you aren’t sure and you want to be sure, get them analyzed by a professional.
Those are the common treatments I know of to change the color of a pearl. I personally don’t have a problem with color treatments for pearls. The resulting colors are often very beautiful, and the colors seem to be very stable, in general. What I do have a problem with is misrepresentation - a dealer (or jeweler) should not claim that their pearls are natural colors unless they are absolutely sure that the pearls have not been treated. So many pearls these days are treated in some way to improve their appearance, and color treatments are very common. I never assume that pearls are natural colors, even if the color is one that could be natural, because you really never know unless you can afford to have them tested. My advice to people considering purchasing very expensive pearl jewelry is to have it tested, or buy it from a trustworthy and knowledgable source. My advice to people buying less expensive pearl jewelry is to simply understand that the pearls may have been treated in some way to improve their appearance. Sometimes the cost of having pearls tested is more than the cost of the pearls themselves, so it is not always practical.
What are cultured pearls?
Posted by Leah on Dec 6, 2005
People often ask me if the pearls I use in my jewelry are ‘real’ pearls. Many people, however, are not aware that nearly all real pearls on the market today are cultured pearls. Natural pearls - pearls that form in an oyster without any assistance from humans - are extremely rare today. Chances are, if you own a strand of pearls purchased in the last 20 years, you own cultured pearls.
Cultured pearls, often also referred to as farmed pearls, are grown by an oyster around an implanted object put there by pearl farmers. In nature, pearls are formed around a natural object that is lodged inside the shell of an oyster, which irritates the oyster, causing it to excrete nacre, which coats the object to form a pearl. Cultured pearls are formed basically the same way by the oyster, but the object being coated with nacre is placed there for the purpose of forming a pearl by humans.
Once the bead or other object is implanted into the oyster, the pearl farmers wait months or years before removing the formed pearl from the oyster. The longer the wait, the more nacre will form on the pearl, which results in a better quality pearl. Many cultured pearls today are left in the oyster less than a year, resulting in a thin nacre and often a pearl that lacks luster. A pearl that is left in the oyster longer will usually have a more beautiful luster, resulting from the thicker layer of nacre that has formed around the implant.
Consumers who are considering puchasing very expensive pearls, such as Tahitian pearls, may want to have a gemologist test the pearls to see how thick the nacre is. With less expensive pearls, the cost of having pearls tested may be prohibitively expensive compared to the cost of the jewelry. In this case, the things to look for visually are: a rich luster, lack of blemishes on the surface of the pearl, the size of the pearl (larger pearls are usually more expensive than smaller pearls or similar quality), and the shape. Perfectly round pearls are often much more expensive than baroque (non-round) pearls of similar quality, and some people prefer the interesting shapes of baroque pearls. Some non-round shapes are in such high demand that pearl farmers actually implant their oysters with specific shapes in order to create pearls in these new, non-traditional shapes, such as coin and stick shapes.
