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June's Gemstone Pearl Beads & The Bead Queen
Scroll down, or click one of the links below.
Thanks to all those who visited us in Luton and
Newcastle. If you're in the UK, you still have a chance to see us Sunday 2nd
June at Nantwich, Sunday 9th June in Norwich with The Bead Queen, or over the
weekend 14th-16th June at Middlewich Folk & Boat Fair. Details of all our 2013
fairs here. Make yourself
know for a MrBead bag & a free gift!
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The Secrets of Pearls
What are
Cultured Pearls?
What is
Mother-of-Pearl?
Matching Pearls
Knotting a Pearl Necklace
How to Tell Real from Fake Pearls
How to sell Bead Jewellery
– The Bead Queen
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Pearls
Sell!
If you want to make quality, impressive jewelry that
everyone appreciates, then go for pearls.
The reason is that people understand pearls are
natural.
However, since the 1950s,
natural pearls have been cultivated
by man – making them much cheaper to buy.
This means that including them in jewelry, you will make you even more
profit!
What are Cultured Pearls?
The
least expensive cultured pearls today rival the most expensive natural pearls
ever found. Cultured freshwater pearls occur in mussels for the same reason
saltwater pearls occur in oysters.
Foreign
material inside a mussel can't be expelled.
To
reduce irritation, the mollusk coats the intruder with the same secretion it
uses for shell-building, nacre. To cultivate a pearl, farmers slit the mussel
and insert small pieces of live tissue from another mussel.
The
ancient Chinese practiced this technique, but the first real cultured freshwater
pearls originated from Japan in the 1930's.
Japanese farmers by Lake Biwa achieved natural colors previously unseen
in saltwater pearls. However, water
pollution today has virtually destroyed pearl production there.
China now has the resources that Japan
lacks: many large lakes, rivers, and a low-cost work force.
China has now revolutionized pearling - shapes, luster, and
colors of Chinese pearls now surpass Biwa quality. Copying the Japanese to
improve off-white and mottling, China uses a mild bleach, bright lights, and
heat. Natural freshwater pearls are usually odd shapes. So for more roundness,
they reshape rejected pearls into spheres, and then nucleate mussels with them.
Color Pearls
Freshwater pearls are
popular for their colors: white, silvery-white, pink, red, copper, brown,
lavender, purple, green, blue, and yellow. The most desirable are the pastel
pinks, roses, lavenders, and purples.
Natural
color comes from the mussel species and water quality – with pearls taking the
color of the shell in which they form.
However, permanent dyes are used today for most saturated colors.
The Best Pearls
Good
pearls have thick overlapping layers of nacre. This can be tested by viewing its
"luster". Roll the pearl with a pen in
good light - the best pearls will reflect the pen the most. A large pearl is
only more valuable if it's the same quality as a smaller one - the rounder the
better. Being an organic gem, grooves, pits, or dents are expected. top of page
What is Mother-of-Pearl?
The
shining, playful, reflected light of mother-of-pearl has attracted attention
since ancient times. From then,
different technology has turned mother-of-pearl into many uses, apart from
jewelry. Today, it’s dyed every color under the sun - creating attractive
jewelry at affordable prices.
The mollusk forms mother-of-pearl
as a protective shell. Like the pearl
it’s a secretion of the mantle, composed of alternate layers of calcium
carbonate and conchiolin. Among the chief sources are pearl oysters from the
tropical seas.
Matching Pearls
Matching pearls isn’t
easy, but is important when planning jewelry.
It’s an art in itself, requiring a sharp eye, excellent judgment, and
experience. Try to buy all the pearls for a project at the same time, as later
batches may not match your original purchase.
When balancing pearls for jewelry, you need to consider:
·
How the pearls blend together in color, shape, luster, size and surface
perfection.
·
How centered the drill holes.
·
How smooth the size increase is of pearls in graduated strands.
·
If
a necklace is part of a set, all of its pearls on earrings, bracelets or
whatever, must match. However, don’t put too much attention perfectly matching
against other factors.
Knotting a Pearl Necklace
If
you look closely, you’ll see tiny knots in between each pearl on a good
necklace. This prevents the pearls rubbing against each other - and if the
necklace breaks, beads won’t go flying. Knotting also makes the necklace drape
nicely and adds length so you need less pearls.
Pearls should be
restrung every few years, depending on the amount of wear and exposure to hair
spray, perfume, body oils, lotions, moisture, and perspiration they receive.
These elements can weaken the silk and cause a potential break point for the
strand.
There are a few ways to knot a beaded necklace, but I’ll
only tell you the easiest for beginners. First, you’ll need to choose a type of
cord to use. There are two types that are usually used for knotting: silk and
nylon. Silk is traditional, however many complain that it snags and frays. Nylon
cord can also be used. Both come in a variety of colors. They can be purchased
on small cards with about 6 feet of cord and a needle attached or, for the
serious knotter, larger spools can be purchased with separate needles.
They also
come in different sizes. The thicker cord is used for the larger beads since the
holes in the beads are larger. For the beginner’s technique, two strands are put
through each bead, so a thinner size is needed. For 6mm beads, use size 2 for
this technique, and try to match the color of the cord with the color of the
beads.
A very-popular way to start any beaded necklace is with bead tips (clamp shells). The only difference here is that two strands of the cord are inserted through the bead tip instead of one. Once the necklace is started, string on a bead, and make an over hand knot. Make the knot tight so it’s snug up against the bead. Continue to do this: string a bead, make an over hand knot, string a bead, make an over hand knot. That’s it. Finish the necklace as you would any beaded necklace whether it’s knotted or not. This beginner’s way is a lot easier than using one strand of cord, and the results look almost the same.
How to Tell Real from Fake Pearls top of page
Name
You can identify fake
pearls by what they’re called: simulated, faux, glass, plastic, resin,
artificial, manmade. Genuine pearls will be called natural, cultured,
freshwater, or sea.
Natural
Real
pearls may come from either freshwater or saltwater, and it’s very difficult to
tell which - both form in a variety of molluscs (not just oysters).
However, all grow the same way in
baroque shapes as well as round. There are also shell pearls and genuine pearls
which have been artificially coated or dyed. Before
you deal in pearls, you need to know if they’re natural or not.
Professional testing
If you want to buy
expensive pearls that are perfectly matched, a gemologist certificate (from one
of your choice) is essential. It costs
about $150 to have pearls tested, as opposed to several-thousands for the type
that warrant the test. An x-ray will show variations in density the inside of
the pearl, a parasite that might have caused the formation of a natural pearl,
and the characteristic shapes of drill holes.
The tooth test
Rub
the surface of the pearl over your teeth - a real pearl feels gritty, while a
faux pearl feels smooth. Real pearls are
made up of layers of nacre that are deposited like sand on a beach. The slight
waves in the nacre give a bumpy feeling against the teeth.
However, if the pearls are dyed, the dye
can fill in natural depressions.
Close
inspection
Look
at the pearls in bright light. Unless they’re very expensive, genuine pearls
won't look perfectly matched. There
will be slight variations in shape, size and color - along with grooves in their
nacre, bumps, ridges, or pits. Otherwise,
or if any are a perfect sphere or have a grainy smoothness: they’re suspect.
Cutting a pearl open will reveal
its true nature. Natural pearls are comprised of many layers of nacre. Cultured
pearls have a mother-of-pearl shell core covered with a thin layer of nacre.
Fake pearls have a core with one or more layers of coating which tends to flake
away on cutting.
Pearl
holes
Examine drill holes to see the
nacre layers and what lies beneath. Real
pearls are usually drilled from both sides to meet in the middle - making the
hole appear wider at the outside edge of the pearl.
Holes of fake pearls are usually strait and are more likely to be larger
all the way through. The nacre of
fake pearls near the drill holes, flakes away easier than on a natural pearls.
And cheap real pearls may not be drilled straight, making a necklace hang badly,
unless it’s knotted.
Other clues
Sometimes
fakes are made to look irregular, and glass pearls often have flattened ends.
Genuine pearls warm to the skin faster
than glass pearls - while plastic pearls tend to feel warm right away. And real
pearls are usually heavier for their size than any fakes.
Other
signs are in the pearl’s surroundings.
A
genuine pearl necklace is more likely to be knotted and set in gold, silver, or
platinum. You can examine clasps for stamps in the metal or for magnetism
(indicating iron as opposed to a precious metal). The clasp should have a safety
mechanism, like a fish hook. No one would use insecure clasps on good pearls.
Faux
pearls
Faux pearls,
although manmade, are not necessarily a cheap substitute to the real thing.
They have genuine beauty of their own, looking “almost” the same as
natural pearls costing thousands of dollars. They’re created by coating
the outside of glass or plastic beads with
essence d’orient or pearl powder.
This is then dipped into various solutions of pearl film to simulate the
luster of a natural pearl.
Pearl folk lore
There are an almost infinite number of myths and folk lore
associated with pearls. Many pearl web sites included their own version of pearl
myths. Here are a few that I found:
• Pearls have the powers of love, money, protection, and luck.
• Pearls were dedicated by the Romans to Isis and they
were worn to obtain her favor.
• In early Chinese myths, pearls fell from the sky when
dragons fought among the clouds.
Pearl
care
Special
care is needed for pearls. Since they are naturally porous, it’s important to
make sure they do not absorb cologne, hair spray, lotions, or make up. Although
oils from your skin help keep the pearls from drying out. Pearl jewelry is
often purchased in a silk or felt pouch. You should keep the pearls in this to
prevent scratches. To clean pearls, don’t use any jewelry cleaners – wipe gently
with a damp cloth.
To see all our pearls click either MrBead.com or MrBead.co.uk
See us in the UK for a Free Gift!
After being shut away in a little office reading and sending e-mails, we love to see customers!
Visit
us in the UK and say you're a MrBead Newsletter reader, and we'll give you a
MrBead bag & a free gift!
Sunday 2nd June 2013 - Cheshire Bead Fair
- Nantwich Civic Hall, CW5 5DG
Sunday 9th June
2013 - Norwich MrBead Bead Show with The Bead Queen - George Hotel, Arlington
Lane, Norwich, NR2 2DA
Fri, Sat & Sunday 14th, 15th
& 16th June - Middlewich Folk & Boat Fair, Cheshire, CW10 9AS.
A fabulous
weekend of folk & roots music. We will be in the craft tent, canalside.
We will
also be calling at many beading groups. If you would like us to call on your
group, please e-mail or tweet or phone Nigel on
07576134264.
For details of all our 2013 bead fairs click
here
See a video of our September & October
bead fairs here
One
of our top UK customers is prospering the recession by selling heaps of bead
jewellery at local craft fairs.
Lorraine Cannell, “The Bead Queen” from Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England, is
overwhelmed by the demand for her originally-designed hand-crafted jewellery.
It just goes to show it can be done in these difficult times! You can make a lot of money selling handcrafted jeweller. There will always be a market for quality, limited-edition creations. The problem facing most crafters is finding paying customers among increasing competition.
However,
like any business: some do well, while others fail.
And the failure rate of new business is appalling. To succeed you need to
carefully plan everything. Work long
hours, minimize your costs, maximize your selling price, and market like
hell.
Lorraine succeeds because she “lives and breathes” beading to the extent where she’s even making pieces while travelling on a train or watching TV. She never misses the chance to sell - attending all her local fairs as well as organizing her own when no other outlet is available. And potential customers are infected with her beading enthusiasm, resulting in excitement and trust bringing extra sales.
For inspiration and to get an idea of future trends, she studies the fashion magazines and analyzes colors and styles in high street boutiques. This ensures she stays ahead of the game and her designs don’t go out of style before they’re sold.
Lorraine understands that presentation is everything. A neat box adds to the perceived value of her jewelry, and little labels explain what her beads are made from. She also knows that customers prefer sets of a necklace with matching earrings – because these are ideal for them to give away as gifts. Price too is important - she prides herself on competitive charges. Too expensive and sales will slow, too cheap and there’s not enough profit for marketing.
YOU too can be like Lorraine. Don’t hesitate booking a fair or making jewelry – Go For It right away! Offer a wide selection of different priced jewelry to attract the most buyers. The more diverse the range, the better chance you’ll have to sell. However, ensure you have a few very-expensive items that will make your other jewelry look more affordable.
Don’t just lay your designs on a cloth. Use your creativity to arrange differently to other sellers. We have another customer who hangs her jewellery from the branches of a curly hazel tree trunk fixed to a plank of rough wood. She says it “catches people’s eye - and the more unusual the display, the better”. She lives by the sea and also uses large shells and goat horns to show her designs.
A website or online store is a must these days. If you don’t already have one – you’re losing sales. Customers that don’t buy from you right away may go online to purchase at a later date. Lorraine’s son built here a splendid internet shop with an attractive front page that changing display of all here latest designs.
See
The Bead Queen in person in Norwich on 9th June - details
here
To see The Bead Queen Shop go
to
TheBeadQueen.co.uk
Or her US Store at
TheBeadQueen.com
These beautiful necklaces were crafted by The Bead
Queen using MrBead's rainbow blister pearls, rainbow mother-of-pearl, and our
millefiori.
These necklaces use MrBead's calsilica, freshwater pearls and garnets.
To see The Bead Queen Store go
to
TheBeadQueen.co.uk
Or US Store at
TheBeadQueen.com
$10 or
£6
Discount Coupon
For $10 or
£6
off anything in our bead stores, key code
PEARLBEADS in the box at checkout, and click "Redeem Coupon". Act NOW as
offer only valid until Friday 31st
May 2013.
Only for use in our main bead stores at the below links, NOT for eBay or our MarketWorks store.
To see all our beads at MrBead click http://www.mrbead.com or http://www.mrbead.co.uk
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