This is a problem for all of us I suspect…In desperation I have talked
my dentist out of sereral of his catalogues and am trying to figure out
if some dental adhesves would work…Jury is still out on this…
In regards to your query about posts, this is what I do.
First if the pearl is predrilled I check the diameter of the hole and
then create a "screw " , essentialy a gold post with fairly wide threads,
slightly larger than the diameter of the pearl hole, then I inject some
hide glue ( which is what I currently use until the dental glues arrive)
into the pearl and some on the post and screw the pearl onto the post.
This condition then is one of the pearl must be unscrewed and the glue is
merely to keep it from coming unscrewed . I hope this helps…
Hi Terry and thanks for taking the time…
I had thought of the screw idea but hadn’t put it to work… Your
comments will now
stimulate me to do that in the future. I think that’s a good start, if
not the actual solution.
Do you notice how exposed and vulnerable the pearls are on some very high
end designs? I have seen big South Sea pearls sitting on their own in a
ring setting. Image that occurs is that pearl getting a hit and coming
loose, no matter what. Surmise that a lot of makers aren’t particularly
concerned what happens after the ring gets sold. There are a lot of
solitary pearl designs out there, and it just seemed to me that someone
had a better way of putting them on than I had figured out.
Another idea that I saw described in a book was to saw the post
vertically for a few mm with an 8/0 blade and then start a wedge shaped
piece of metal at the top of the slot. Insert the assembly into the hole
in the pearl and drive the wedge into the slot at the same time you push
the pearl onto the post. That method is feasible, but there is going to
be a lot of guessing about how long to make the wedge, etc.
Keep in touch about the dental glues. Sounds promising.
I’ve been drilling tahitian pearls with a .8mm or 1mm drill and
using 20 or 18 guage platinum iridium wire for the post. I use a
2 part epoxy and have had no problems with it so far. I have seen
people actually cut threads on the post and in the hole.
Rick Hamilton
Richard D. Hamilton
USA
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography http://www.rick-hamilton.com
I have the oppostie problem: I glued posts into a pair of baroque
pearls, then changed my mind about the design. The pearls are sitting in
a velvet bag, waiting for me to free them. Should I use Attack, or
straight acetone, or should I just resolve to plan better in the future?
I remember some posts about this six months or so ago, but my server
crashed and I don’t back up mile mail files.
Thanks for any advice -
Ann Dalrymple
Wellesley - Massachusetts’ faux Princeton
hot, humid, and cranky
I have the oppostie problem: I glued posts into a pair of
baroque pearls, then changed my mind about the design. The
pearls are sitting in a velvet bag, waiting for me to free them.
Should I use Attack, or straight acetone, or should I just
resolve to plan better in the future?
Ann,
I have the most luck using heat to remove pearls from posts. Put
your lit torch in it’s holder, hold the pearl in your fingers and
the post in tweezers or pliers. Hold the post over a small flame
as far from the pearl as possible, while lightly pulling on the
pearl. If your fingers get too warm, then it’s time to get the
pearl out of there. I think it was Rick Hamilton who told me this
technique and it tooks months before I got the nerve to try it, but
it does work. It’s usually my first choice now for removing
pearls, since once you get the hang of it, it is really easy.