I am curious if anyone has experimented or has knowledge of certain
pearl color treatment techniques. I plan to play around with some of
the treatments below but would appreciate any insight into any
processing techniques including proper dilutions, wavelengths, etc.
-
Freshwater pearl bleaching: Most FWP, as they are harvested, are
brownish orange. They are then soaked in a bleach bath under
intense flouresent lights for a period of time. -
Freshwater pearl irradiation: Apparently, irradiating pearls
essentially burns the inner nacreous layers of a pearl to form a
brownish color. This appears as a grey to peacock color on the
surface. -
Pearl dyeing: I have read that pearls are dyed with a silver
salt (silver nitrate, silver chloride, etc) and silver is deposited
on the surface of the pearl creating a gray to black color.
If anyone is familiar with any of these processes, I would
appreciate any specific you have–or even methods that
don’t work.
Thanks,
William