I have a pair of Tahitian pearl stud earrings that are about 12mm in
diameter. I don’t really like having something this large as a stud,
but they are a gift from my husband, so I don’t want to sell them.
Is there a way that these can be modified to dangle?
Thank you.
I would think you’ll need to unmount the pearls from their pearl
cups first. Soften the glue with hot water to remove. Make new dangle
earring settings, and re-set those beautiful pearls. I can’t imagine
a way of making dangle settings from studs, which will more than
likely involve soldering, without unmounting the pearls. Unless of
course you have access to a laser welder?
Helen
UK
I would use Attack! to soak the pearls in and remove the pearl cups
from the studs. After that you can look through your Rio/Stuller
catalog to get pre-made mounts for them which will allow you to use
to re-glue them in a “dangly” setting. All you really need is a mount
that has a loop on it to make it “dangly.” If you wanted to do a down
and dirty, you could just unsoak them from their existing cup and
then glue in a plain gold wire and curl it over to form the loop. R/
Kennedi
Another way to remove the fittings is to heat a pair of pliers or
tweezers with a torch (hot, but not red hot), and use them to grip
the stud fitting while you pull the pearl with your fingers. Be
super-careful if you do this, but as soon as the glue gets hot
enough, the pearl will come off, and I’ve not damaged one so far.
After that, you need to grind out any remaining glue or dirt before
attaching new fittings.
Hello JaneMarie, You don’t mention how long the post is, but have
you considered simply turning the straight post into a loop? Then you
can attach the loop to your favorite earring finding.
Just a thought, Judy in Kansas, who has put up 11 pints of salsa.
Cooler weather today, but heating up tomorrow.
Hello List,
I just have to put my 2cents into this forum.
Instead of removing the post, just bend it into a circle, attach it
to a chain or add several other stones to make a pair of drop
earrings.
To bend the post without damaging the pearl, is to grasp the post
near the pearl with needle nose pliers and with round nose pliers
grasping the very end of the post, slowly bend the post into a
circle. If this is done just once, the post doesn’t have to be heated
in order to make the metal pliable.
I have created many earring this way without breaking the pearls or
stones.
Veva