Shell Pearls

Well, I am totally writing this at the crack of dawn as my kids get ready for school.   And, I have not had enough coffee, so who knows how it will turn out.

I am pretty sure I have talked about this before, but yesterday I had a customer ask about Shell Pearls.  After I am sure I bored her to tears with my lengthy rendition on pearls and shell pearls--I am pretty sure I bored her anyhow--I said I would write a blog post about it.

Shell Pearls are not real pearls, nor were they ever.   Shell pearls are made from Mother of Pearl (when they are good) and Made to have a look and feel of a real pearl.  And when you get the good ones, they really do.  Unlike glass or plastic pearls, used in costume jewelry for ages now--shell pearls are sort of new, and really come in any size--from about 4mm all the way up to about 24mm.  Yes they can be huge.

I see a lot of people wearing them, even still a few years after they became really really popular.  There was a time I could not keep shell pearls in stock in any way shape or form.  But, they are still popular.

I am thinking I should probably talk about pearls for a couple of days here--or  maybe get some coffee in me ASAP.

For Further Information, I found this neat article (it's short) on the manufacturing of shell pearls: http://www.ebeadshop.com/faonshpe.html

Personally I like them for the price, for the quality, and for the look and feel.  My sister likes to call the feel "substantial"  because they have a weight to them very much like a real pearl would.   I buy my shell pearls almost exclusively at shows--except for the strands I have bought at The Bead Factory  (Tacoma, Washington). 

Because I have to feel the pearl to know the quality--it's not something you can just look at a picture of and know what you are getting

Here's a pic of Shell Pearls, you can almost see how wonderfully full the luster is, and the perfect uniform shape: