Natural And Cultured Pearl Jewelry Varieties
Some of the most elegant and simple jewelry pieces are a single pearl pendant or drop pearl earrings. Jewelry buyers are often choosing more uncomplicated pearl jewelry these days rather than lavish and gaudy pieces. The pearl jewelry buyer has a choice between natural and cultured pearls, however, and in the cultures variety they have a choice between saltwater and freshwater. Most pearl jewelry is made form cultured pearls these days, since the natural ones have been largely over-fished. Culture pearl earrings or necklaces will look pretty identical to the natural variety, but they are much more readily available and thus less expensive. Cultured pearl jewelry also comes about the same way as the natural stuff, but the process is started deliberately by people.
Skilled technicians produce the little gems that turn into a pearl pendant or ring by placing an irritant, a mother-of-pearl bead and a piece of mantle tissue into a mollusk. The animal is then placed back into the water, monitored and cleaned, until the piece is ready to for use as pearl earrings or necklaces. Among cultured pearl jewelry, there is saltwater and freshwater to choose from. Freshwater pearl rings and pendants are equally as beautiful to the saltwater variety according to many people, but some prefer one over the other. Freshwater pearl jewelry culturing techniques have improved vastly in recent years, though they used to produce more wrinkly pearl jewelry. Freshwater pearls are mainly produced in China often nucleated, or implanted, with mantle tissue only, giving a freshwater pearl pendant a beautiful luster and durable surface. Freshwater cultured pearl jewelry comes in many lovely pastel colors including cream, white, yellow, orange, pink and lavender. White pearl earrings are often bleached to enhance their natural shine.
Black freshwater cultured pearl earrings or pendants are treated with dye or heat to produce their inky color. A freshwater pearl pendant will generally be less expansive than a saltwater one, because they are more abundant. Natural pearl jewelry comes from a process when an irritant such as a parasite enters a pearl-producing animal such as an oyster or mollusk, which coats the irritant in nacre, which is a substance that also makes up what we call mother-of pearl. Natural pearls earrings, pendants and necklaces can be very beautiful, but due to over-fishing, pollution and other factors, they are very rare. Any pearl pendant or pair of pearl earrings sold today is probably cultured pearl. South Sea pearl, Tahitian pearl and akoya pearl are all types of saltwater cultured pearls. Cultured pearl earrings, pendants, pins, necklaces and rings of all types can be found in jewelry stores worldwide.
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