First of all we need to talk about pearl farming. It’s kind of funny to actually say those words together: “pearl farming.” When I think of a farm, I see a big red barn with chickens running around the yard, spotted, black and white cows scattered out in the field and the sweet smell of hay mixed with manure lingering in the air. Quite a different picture with pearl farming indeed! First of all, a pearl farm needs water. I guess that means a waterfront farm… I really like that!

Although both types of farming are very different in structure and content, they are both very similar in that they’re a very risky and unpredictable business. Many factors such as bad weather, water pollution, excessive heat or cold and disease are only some of the problems pearl farmers are challenged with.

At this point it is important to establish the difference between the expressions: “Freshwater Pearls” and “Saltwater Pearls”. Although both are cultured, meaning that they both are grown under human influence and intervention, they demand different farming techniques. I will try to explain each one beginning with the Freshwater Pearls.

Freshwater Pearls are formed in freshwater mollusks. A technician will carefully remove a piece of mantle (the membrane between the two shells of a mussel), cut it into small pieces and surgically graft it to another mussels mantle. One mollusk can accept approximately between 24-36 grafts per cycle. It’s in fact a very delicate procedure. The mollusk will then react to the irritants and begin covering them with nacre. Nacre is a combination of crystalline and organic substances. Day after day for many years (2-6 years), this mollusk, like a faithful little factory worker, will keep producing nacre and cover the multiple irritants until the many layers miraculously form pearls. Talk about multi-tasking!

In their natural state, freshwater pearls vary in an array of soothing colors such as pink to mauve to gray to rich cream to peach. You probably think I forgot to add “white”. Actually I didn’t. Mollusks never produce white pearls. White pearls are actually the result of cream-colored pearls that have been bleached. Are you shocked? I was when I first learned about it. The thing is, I never much liked the white pearls; I always preferred the cream-colored pearls and now I know why.

Because a freshwater pearl is the product of a small piece of membrane, it’s very difficult to achieve a perfectly round pearl, thus freshwater pearls are rarely round. The interesting thing, though, is that the technician does have a certain amount of control over the shape of the pearl.

It’s a miracle indeed, that such a seemingly insignificant creature could produce such a beautiful gem as a pearl!

You really need to see and hold them for yourself to appreciate the cool, silky feel of pearls.

Watch for the third part on “The Amazing Story of Pearls - Part III” where we will talk about “salt water pearls.”

I repaired a very pretty, freshwater pearl necklace for a client last night and it reminded me why I love pearls so much. There is that certain "je ne sais quoi" about them that draws you in where you just need to touch them and slide them through your fingers.

When I first got interested in Jewelry making, I took the time to do a lot of reading and research on stones, pearls, amber and whatever else I would be using in my craft. I wanted to be able to offer the best product to my customers and I couldn't achieve that if I didn't know my own product. During that time, I came accross much information about pearls, their history and their production.

At one time, pearls were not cultured. People would go through great lengths, even risking their lives to find them in the sea "a la naturel". That's one of the reasons they were only accessible to the rich and royal. Of course, just as one would evaluate the price of a gemstone by its quality, a strand of pearls would only be worth as much as the quality of the pearls. For a strand to be very valuable, all pearls must be matching in color, shape, size and luster. It's easy to find natural sea pearls in mollusques, but it doesn't mean they're worth anything.

I remember, we use to go to the beach and look for wild sea mussels (we would boil and eat them as a tasty treat). While chewing our juicy, salty-sweet treats, we would sometimes crunch what felt very much like large grains of sand. It was in fact small, baroque-shaped pearls ranging from the size of large sand grains up to small barley grain.

While visiting our neighbours house one day, I was proudly showing off my new found little treasures (about a dozen or so of small pearls). To my surprise, my neighbour wanted them. She offered me money for them. I was only 9 years old, but I was smart enough to know that they were not worth anything really, and I just could not figure out why a fancy lady such as herself would want worthless mussel pearls, but I sold them to her. I really felt I was the winner in this one.

To this day I do not know what her plans were with those wortheless pearls. I just figured she wanted to accumulate them to make a delicate pearl necklace. Perhaps for her it wasn't about the monetary value. Perhaps it was the romance of it all.

That certainly isn't everyone's point of view, for example in 1917 a strand of matching, natural sea pearls was worth $1 Million (You can only imagine what it would be worth today). For some, it is about the monetary value!

Because 99% of pearls today are cultured, the pearl farmer has control over the shape. I was really
surprised to learn about the different shapes of pearls produced for the jewelry making industry. They range from our regular round shaped (the ones we saw most of our lives), the coin-shaped, the stick pearl, the keishi pearl, the potato pearl, the blister pearl, the button pearl and I'm sure there are more.

The pearls used in the Necklace design below is "Mabe Pearl" and round pearls.

Please come often to see part II of "The Amazing Story of Pearls".

I will be explaining how the pearl farmer achieves different shapes and I'll be unveiling the biggest myth ever told about pearls. Come back soon to read the rest of the fascinating story of pearls.

As I mentioned before, I will add different project ideas in this blog.  Among these projects, you'll find projects from what I call the "Go-Green" collection.  These projects will be made from some kind of recycled material.  Whenever I can I will use only recycled materials.

The first project I would like to present is:  Fire Starters.  First of all, you're probably wondering what on earth are Fire Starters.  As the words suggest, they're your fire starting buddies.  They'll help you with starting fires in your woodstove, your fireplace, outside firepits or even campfires.  I just love them! 

With these little Fire Starters you cannot fail in building a strong fire.  They're sooo easy to use:  You place small kindling wood (no paper) in your woodstove or fireplace, add your Fire Starter under the kindling being careful to leave enough air flow, light the Fire Starter as you would a candle and let it work its magic.  Once the kindling is really enflamed, add your heavier wood, being careful not to smother the fire (leaving enough air to circulate).

These Fire Starters are made from 100% recycled materials.   We've used old candle wax, wicks, old pot-pourri and cardboard pieces to make these.  We sell them in our store 2/$1.50 or 10/$7.

If you want to make Fire Starters, go to the "Projects page" under Fire Starters.

Please let us know how they turned out.

This is our dog Sammy.  He's our faithful, beach-combing companion.  We've made a real "Rock-Hound" out of him.