The Blue Nine - Sketch to the Real Thing

We were contacted last October about building a very special pendant that has since been named The Blue Nine.

Consisting of solid 14K yellow gold, three Akoya pearls (1 black 6.5-7.0mm and 2 white 6.0-6.5mm pearls) and a single .01ct diamond accent, this little treasure measures about 1 1/4-inches long by 1/3-inches wide, and is a true one of a kind design from the sketch to cast to mounting.

If you’re thinking of creating a completely one of a kind jewelry design for yourself or a special someone, contact us anytime!

2011 was a great year for us at Pure- we continue to build and improve on our site and our pearls at a steady and strong pace, and all of us are looking forward to the coming year with anticipation and excitement. We thought we’d set down a few of our 2012 Resolutions for you all to go over- let us know what you think!

1) Continue to maintain our high standards for pearl quality and customer care.

2) Continue to expand our pearl jewelry lines- from diamond accents to colorful gemstones and intricate gold work, you can be sure we’ll continue to focus on bringing you all the best- a gorgeous mix of classic style and exciting new designs to choose from.

3) Continue to focus on our social media platforms- we’d really like our Facebook page to be as fun and interactive as possible- filled with contests, deals and most of all, you!

Magic New Year 2012

Last but definitely not least, we’d like to extend a very special Thank You to each and every one of you! We’ve been honored to work with you- each pearl necklace and every pair of pearl earrings we sent out has a story and a lifetime to build upon; we hope our lovely pearls are treasured in their new homes, and that they provide many years of memories and enjoyment with you and your loved ones. 2011 was an excellent year- we’re positive that 2012 will bring new opportunities, new designs and many new relationships that are going to be simply amazing.

For blondes, or women with fair complexions featuring pink or reddish undertones it’s recommended to stick with lighter golden and champagne pearls. Champagne goldens feature a diffuse tawny/gold body color with lighter hints of rose and/or bronze overtones; the lighter colors attract and reflect light at a higher rate, making the pearls appear brighter and larger than they really are, while the muted hues counteract the warmer elements in your complexion and create a flattering glow. Some lightGoldenSouthSeapearls range the other way- cold! Their sparkling overtones can range from sunshine to lemon yellow and Aquamarine tones. Fair complexions with yellow or green undertones will do well with these bright and cheerful pearls.

Medium Golden pearls range from 14K to 18K hues and look stunning on nearly everyone. Ladies with tan or olive complexions as well as African American women can flaunt these pearls with impunity. Overtones typically range from subtle Rose to Green to Aquamarine as well as a deeper, neutral Gold over the natural body colors; if you have yellow undertones, liven up your pearls by selecting Rose and Golden overtones which will enhance their sparkle and depth.

Deep Golden South Seas can best be described as the 22K to 24K range of gold colors; their richness and depth make these pearls among the most rare and coveted of all cultured pearls, with true 24K tones fetching premium prices consistently. Very deep golden pearls can be enjoyed by ladies of all complexions, but for the fairer skin tones the trick is sticking to the warmer overtones of Rose and Gold. Greens, Aquas and Bronzes can easily tip these pearls into the cooler spectrum

Overview of Golden South Sea Colors

, and are more suitable for cooler complexions of olive, deep tan and dark browns. African American women in particular can carry off these sumptuous colors easily; the contrasts between the rich golden hues and their dark skin tones is often visually stunning.

Black Pearls Sample

We’ve seen a lot of confusion lately over the web regarding black pearls- which are which, which to choose  and how much to spend on them, so we thought we’d jump into the hubbub and provide some quick and easy to understand explanations and photos to clear up any lingering questions…

We posted this picture on Facebook yesterday for a quick and fun contest – the first person to correctly identify each pearl type in order would be the winner of a pair of 7.0-8.0mm Freshwater pearl studs, and there were a lot of interesting entries, and the winner did get very close indeed! The correct order is: Black Akoya, Black Tahitian, Black Freshwater, Black Freshwater and Black Tahitian. Yes, we threw a trick pearl in there to throw everyone off, but also to show everyone the range of hues black Freshwater pearls are commonly found in.

Black Akoya pearls are most often dyed; their surface colors tend to range from blackish-blue to blackish-green, and are almost always very dark in tone. The dye process saturates the nacre from the outside in, and tends to strip away iridescence leaving the surface a uniform color and an almost plastic-looking shine. Their most common sizes range from 5.0mm up through 9.5mm.

Black Freshwater pearls can either be dyed or irradiated; PurePearls.com offers the irradiated pearls almost exclusively as they’re more colorful. Irradiated black Freshwater pearls can be intensely multi-hued peacock to denim-blue and violet/purplish colors to the intense blue-green colors with shifting iridescence on the surfaces. The two Freshwater pearls in the middle (intense blue-green and peacock/green-rose) are the ones that did such a great job tricking our contestants. Often, there will be little black “specks” visible on the surface of the pearl where the irradiation treatment did not completely cover the surface. Dyed black Freshwater pearls look strikingly similar to dyed black Akoya in terms of color, size and luster- the easiest way to tell the two apart is differences in the shape: Akoya pearls are perfectly round, while the Freshwater pearls will feature slight off-round to oval-ish shapes.

Black Tahitian pearls are the two largest pearls in the photo. Known for their naturally occurring dark shades and big sizes (8.0mm up through 15.0/16.0mm or so), Tahitian pearls are the only cultured naturally-black pearls available on the jewelry market with any regularity. Their body colors range from light Dove Greys all the way through Jet Black, however their most common tones are Dark Charcoal Greys with overtones that are typically Silver or Steel, classic Peacock Green, Aquamarine, Rose and Aubergine. Their lack of any color enhancing treatments means that their surfaces shimmer with subtle to intense rainbow iridescence and display a beautiful, touchable luster.

For more tips, advice or answers to your questions relating to pearls, feel free to visit our Pearl Education Center, or contact the experts at PurePearls.com.

Akoya Overtones

Customer Question:

Hey Ashley,

As for pearl selection,…do you have any advice regarding the selection of silver, rose, or cream?

Her wedding dress is white, not ivory or off-white.  She has brown hair, and a moderate complexion. Is rose typically most preferred?  Would silver match the best with her wedding dresss?  Is cream more versitile? Any advice would be appreaciated.

Thanks again, Eric

Answer:

Selecting the perfect pearl overtone isn’t all that complicated, but let’s quickly run down the attributes of each to familiarize you with them, and then I’ll give you a recommendation or two.

Rose overtones are sublime! The pinkish hue over the white body color of the pearl has traditionally been the favorite of ladies all around the world since pearl culturing began; in fact- Mikimoto Pearl Company is known for their Rose-toned Akoya pearls. The shimmering pink colors add depth and complexity to the surface of the pearls, and the tone is flattering for women with light hair and pale or fair complexions. The warmth and sparkle of the pearls is greatly enhanced with a traditional yellow gold clasp, which can literally light up the complexion of the wearer.

Silver overtones are easily the second most popular of the three due to their brilliance. Silver sparkles with hints of cool blue in the pearls’ surfaces and is the closest to a bright or pure white color. Medium-tone, olive through tan and darker complexions, or even ladies with fair skin but very dark brunette to black hair benefit from the brightness of these pearls. The whiteness of the pearl contrasts beautifully with the deeper skin and hair colors and optically magnifies to make the pearls appear brighter and larger than they really are. Tiffany’s is renowned for their Silver Akoya, and it is a lasting popular favorite. Both white and yellow gold do well with Silver, however I do like to play up the ‘coolness’ of the pearls with white gold accents.

Cream or Ivory looks lovely on everyone, but perhaps most especially red heads and strawberry blondes. With just a touch of French Vanilla, the natural-looking creamy tones are complimentary to a variety of complexions, and they are a classic choice that nearly anyone can fall in love with. Just as with Rose, the Ivory overtone adds depth to the crystal and brings out the luminous glow from within that pearls have traditionally been famous for. I would caution against choosing pearls that are too deeply cream for those that prefer white gold accents, as the clash between cool and warm palettes can be a bit visually jarring, even if the clasp or the posts in the case of earrings will not be seen, the overall effect will be to damp down on the innate warmth of the pearls and mute them a bit.

Of course, there are some lovely hybrid overtones to consider as well- namely Silver-Rose (my absolute favorite!) and Ivory-Rose. Silver-Rose has all of the benefits of Silver – the bright, crisp finish with some added sparkle and colorful iridescence thrown in for added visual complexity in the surface- they are very hard to stop looking at! Ivory-Rose is a gorgeous vintage combination that shimmers with a subtle warmth and color play that looks amazing on a variety of complexions, and retains a very elegant, classic appeal.

For a medium-tone complexion in a bright white wedding dress, I’d definitely recommend both Silver and Silver-Rose as the overtones of choice, possibly with a white gold clasp to continue to enhance the cool palette that will be worn, however yellow gold will work nicely as well- especially if all her other jewelry for the day will be in traditional yellow gold. My professional opinion is that both Ivory and Rose will contrast too much with the dress and look slightly off, color-wise.

I hope this little run-down’s been helpful! Please let me know if you have any further questions- I’m always happy to help! I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon, and have an excellent day!

Sincerely,

Ashley McNamara

General Manager

All the images are original- meaning that all the pearls you see pictured come directly from our inventory- I even got images of the ugly pearls too, and considering our gorgeous inventory, it was quite the hunt!! Check it out: http://www.purepearls.com/pearl-education/pearl-grading/akoya-pearls.html

 

Thanks again! I really do appreciate all of your help.   

When you say that the pearl is “rather intense”, do you mean that in a good way? It doesn’t matter because I’m “all in” with this one. I’m just curious what a “pro” thinks.

I’m excited about the wedding and will let you know what she thinks! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

-RT

 

Dear RT,

The thing about pearls is that they usually remain within the pastel ranges of any color chart- that is, their coloration is naturally diffused due to the way that the gem is created i.e. layers upon thousands of layers of microscopic aragonite platelets (measuring in the microns- they are very tiny!) which are basically crystallized calcium (CaCo3), bonded together with a brownish organic “glue”, properly named conchiolin- the resulting structure is similar to that of a very dense onion, although the aragonite platelets are all staggered- like a brick wall. 

The inner “glow” and the visual phenomena of luster and orient are all effects that are caused by the construction of the pearl- how these layers were secreted by the mollusk (which include various factors like the health of the animal, the timing of the harvest, environmental concerns, and water temperature, etc.- it gets extremely involved as I am sure you can tell!), and how light interacts with not only the surface of the pearl, but how it penetrates all these layers, plays and bounces around inside the prismatic chamber of the pearl and bounces right back out again at the viewer. How you perceive these various aspects of the pearl- the sharpness of the luster, the intensity of color saturation, the intensity of orient, etc., dictates how you can talk about them, and review their qualities individually. 

From the attributes that are visually accessible on your pearl, we can deduce that your pearl has a very “tight” formation of crystalline layers- this might be due to the relative age of the oyster, or due to the water temperature during the last few months before harvest… Colder temps will slow down an oyster’s metabolism, which has a direct effect on how quickly nacre deposition happens over the nucleus of the pearl- the slower the rate, the tighter the crystal layers. Japanese Akoya pearls are famous for their razor sharp reflections- the waters are colder than their Chinese counterparts, and it’s also part of the reason that most of the “exotics” like your Tahitian pearl, or the larger White and Golden South Sea pearls are typically described as “satiny”- visually they are pastel(ish), with a slightly fuzzy luster- light sources reflected in their surfaces will be somewhat to definitely blurred for the majority of pearls that are harvested. Very thick nacre layers also play a part here, but that’s another story… 

So, to answer your question, yes- Intense Is Good!! And actually, rather rare when you consider the vast amount of pearls that usually are described in pastel terminology. The pearl you are getting is highly saturated with an intense greenish-blue overtone with a nearly black body color (in itself pretty rare- most Tahitians reside in the charcoal grey to dove grey ranges), with highly reflective luster- what we usually call metallic. 

When you get the pendant, I would highly recommend setting the pearl against a stark white background under in-direct sunlight: mid-morning is usually the best time for a “true” white light from the sun, and take a few minutes to let your eyes soak in the various colors that are playing on the surface- there’s a lot more there than meets the eye! The stark white paper background will enhance some of the more subtle colors not usually picked up by the human eye, and really, just take a moment or two to let the pearl “wake up” and start to sparkle. I think you’ll be extremely pleased with what you begin to see, and sharing this pearl’s secrets with your fiancé will be yet one more wonderful, natural thing you two can share over the years. J 

I hope that this pearl will find a home today! Good luck on your wedding day, and do keep us in mind for the future- I am always happy to hear from returning clients and will do my best to offer you the very finest pearls along with the very best service 8 days a week! 

Have an excellent day, and if I can be of further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me at anytime. 

Very Sincerely, 

Ashley McNamara

General Manager & Gal Friday

PurePearls.com