i did a major boo boo, and used a jewelry cleaner on a beautiful
necklace i had made, using fine silver 28ga wire and some wonderful
fresh water pearls, large…
needless to say, it didn’t stay beautiful, the silver looked great,
the pearls looked like pieces of chalk. ok, my bad, we just got a
puppy, we thought it was a rhodesian ridgeback mix, we already had
Karat, our ridgie(110lbs) and sid-spot our pure black schipperke (has
one black spot on his pink tongue.) anyway, brutus was tiny, at
about 4 lbs… so i fitted the now trashed necklace on his neck, he
looked lovely. jon growled… about 2 days later i noticed that
the pearls were once again beautiful, all the luster came back,
course by then the silver was trashed… super pup did a number on
it so i took it off him, and was amazed…
so, are there self healing pearls is it possible i was just really
lucky and the luster came back does the pup possess magical powers and
we should register a website under “pearl healer” and wait for the
bucks to roll in… or was it something in his coat…i hope it
wasn’t anything that boaring…
The luster of your pearls was restored by rubbing against your dog’s
fur. You can restore the luster by buffing the pearls lightly with
rouge and then cleaning with mild soap and water. Steve.
Pat, I cannot explain the puppy’s polishing power, but I do know that
if that happens again that you can just lightly buff your dull pearls
with zam and they will be good as new. Mark
Pat: What you’ve got here is a riddle; wrapped in an enigma;
surrounded by a mystery; encased in a fog. It’s either this, or your
dog is a magical healer (kin to a blue heeler).
Tim
so, are there self healing pearls is it possible i was just really
lucky and the luster came back does the pup possess magical powers
and we should register a website under "pearl healer" and wait for
the bucks to roll in.... or was it something in his coat....
Not being a ‘pearl person’, I can’t supply a definitive explanation,
but it reminds me of something from my childhood. One of my
teachers had this beautiful pearl necklace that she always wore…
When asked if they were real, she would reply indignantly, “Of course
they are!” You know how kids ask all sorts of questions…so one boy
asked if she ever took them off and she said “Pearls must be worn
next to the skin every day or they will lose their lustre .Girls,
remember that!” Naturally we thought she was a bit off the wall,
but years later I heard the same thing from a colleague. I dismissed
it as an old wives’ tale. Now you write that your beast has restored
luminosity to pearls by wearing them. So to the ‘pearl people’ out
theRe: Is it true that wearing pearls improves and restores their
lustre? Dee
I am truly dismayed that my fellow Orchidians have given you such a
bum steer on polishing pearls. The classical method is to feed them
to chickens wherein the pearls become part of the gizzards’ grinding
equipment. For larger jobs you might want to employ a turkey. For
still larger jobs an Ostrich will do nicely. Commercial processors
might want to consider using a crocodile. Naturally, any of the
foregoing options would have to take into consideration the local
availability of the required animals. Furthermore, you might want to
consider which animal employee you would prefer to eat after
recovering the pearls. All of them are quite delicious, but the value
of Ostrich meat has been quite high lately ( We have a number of
processors in our region) Crocodiles do a great job and are quite
delicious, but you want to exercise extreme caution in retrieving the
pearls. You can sample crocodile meat at the Carnivore Restaurant in
Nairobi Kenya. ( The tenderest croc meat is rumoured to have been
raised on…on second thought, maybe we had better not go into
that…)\
All kidding aside…the foregoing are all perfectly feasible options
with the chicken gizzard trick being the traditional favorite of the
Chinese. In Africa, Crocodiles frequently have agates in their
gizzards and they are very often highly polished. ( Obviously they
were the precursor of the modern rockhound) With pearls of wisdom in
my cheek…Ron at Mills Gem Gem, Los Osos, CA.
Another possibility could be the oils in the dog’s fur transferred
onto the pearls giving the appearance they have been polished. Just a
thought. Ken Sanders
Ron, I think polishing pearls in the manner you describe is sort of
the “CHEAP” way of going about it. However it probably does work
EGGactly as you describe it. (sorry :-)) NET
i have decided to assign Brutus the title of “magnificant pearl
luster-restorer” and will make him available on a per hour basis. he
is thrilled.
i can tell…i expected that out of all the dogs that should have
power over gemstone, it should have been Karat, who is the daughte of
the mascot and head dog at Fire Mountain Gems, in Cave Junction.
Karat should have come to it naturally, however she seems content to
let brutus do all the pearl work. pc would have been soooooo proud.
chuckle. If you’d gotton a tad of tarnish on the silver, you’d think
nothing about just buffing it up again with a silver cloth or just a
polishing motor. Your silver cleaner is likely slightly corrosive, and
slightly etched the pearls. Nothing special to the puppy other than
continuous movement causing some light abrasive action against his
coat. A brisk rub on your blue jeans or other cloth would likely have
done the same thing, especially if they were a little bit dirty. Or
use any decent mild polishing compound. Or some cosmetics with a
light flesh tone (which will contain some cerium oxide or rouge, both
of which are fine polishing agents.) Pearl is soft. It’s fairly easy
to polish out small scratches or a bit of surface haze caused by
inadvertant exposure to some unfortunate chemical. Note, though, that
pearls are usually cultured, and that means the layer of good stuff,
the nacre, on the pearl, is thin. Usually around a half millimeter or
so, sometimes thicker or thinner. So you cannot expect to buff off
very much, or do it frequently, before your buffing will have trashed
the pearl permanently.
No this is absolutely untrue. The acids in most people's skins
erode the surface and hence the luster of a pearl.---
At the same time, pearls need moisture. Pearls should be worn often,
and wiped gently wiped clean of oils and other residue after each
wearing (and restrung on a regular basis!) and they should be put on last, after perfume and hairspray, etc., but they should be worn,
and wearing any pearl with good nacre shouldn’t be an issue.
… i agree Peter, and I like to mention something about pearls.
Pearls are a living thing,and do not have an eternal live !! A good
saltwater pearl has a lifetime of about 150 years more or
less,dependig on the nacre as you already mentioned.The mother of
pearl is build up in layers by the oister as a prevention against a
the intruding foreign object (sand,shell or whatever).Those very thin
layers will be attacked by parfums,deodorants and other cosmetic
creams.the best condition of a pearl would be where it is born,but
since nobody wants to run around with a moister around his neck or
finger …The next best way of keeping the pearl in a good
condition would be in a clean state.A mild non agresive soap is
perfect to clean of the dirt (read skingrease)or smoke from
sigarets.Store you pearl in a small plastic box with some dampened
cotton and away from harder stones and …most of all …respect
it! This is not derived from a book,it’s been giving me
from a pearlcultivator of Thailand which has more then 35 years of
expereince in his branch. Regards Pedro Palonso@t-online.de
pearls are usually cultured, and that means the layer of good stuff,
the nacre, on the pearl, is thin. Usually around a half millimeter or
so, sometimes thicker or thinner. So you cannot expect to buff off
very much, or do it frequently, before your buffing will have trashed
the pearl permanently.
Caution, Peter…
While that’s true for many pearls, Tahitians (and white South Seas)
are much thicker than .5 mm.
Kat