Stabilizing dyed freshwater pearls

We made up a number of one of a kind necklaces this Christmas using
large baroque pearls that are dyed blue, pink and bronze. Although
this has never happened before, one of the blue strands has dye
rubbing off on the customer neck, not a lot but very faint. Wondering
if anyone has a procedure to stabilize the dye.

We have thought maybe a simple good rub down with a svelte cloth or
possibly a mild solution of dawn and water might work.

Any other suggestions would be most appreciated.

Many Thanks!!!
MAK.

The blue and purple seem to lose some of the dye when in contact
with alcohol in perfume. Doesnt seem to happen with other colours. A
wipe down with a weak detergent solution should limit the colour run.

Nic Royall

soak any dyed beads in distilled water before use- I would be
cautious about the detergent you use with pearl materials as its so
likely that you may inadvertently add acidic substances which may
dissolve or at least damage the pearl’s nacre layer, if not a total
"melt-down", or “fizz away” in this case. Garnet (pyrope and
almandine) beads, and cheapish lesser grade stones are notorious for
being dyed- always soak them in water to get as much dye out as is
possible before use. most material from shady dealers like Fire
Mountain and on line auction sites sell poor quality material that
is dyed to appear more consistent in colour and saturation. emeralds
are also frequently dyed but the oil treatment makes it harder to
both come off on skin as it takes a long while for the treatment to
wear off or break down (the stones feel “gummy” to the touch when
this begins to happen- a cleaning cloth will drag on the stone’s
table and the other surfaces as well, and the stone looks more cloudy
than it may be) in fact i wouldn’t remove the coating unless you have
examined the material carefully with a good loupe or microscope and
the stone has good, deep, colour and is minimally included or
fractured and ‘resin-ated’ even if you were to take it up a hue or
so lighter in colour. there are very few other stones that are
frequently dyed- but agates, howlite, jade substitutes(onyx’s),
garnets in the red range, quartzes,topaz, and pearls - regardless of
type of pearl ( biwa, shaped material, cultured pearls of all sorts,
mabe /blister pearls, etc.) are dyed and /or bleached. You can
usually read a key in catalogues from most vendors that will admit to
treatment but if none is mentioned, call the vendor and ask- Better
to know what you are using and counter it before releasing the piece
for sale than to have a client return to you with a necklace that has
bled onto their clothing after getting caught in a light drizzle or
even a downpour! Some people routinely soak beads of B-C or lesser
grades particularly if the colour is suspiciously even from bead to
bead or stone to stone. I recently bought some emerald beads that
were unusually vivid and inexpensive for calibrated machine cut and
faceted stone material. i got them into the studio and decided they
must be dyed- I soaked them in distilled water- and it had turned
pale green after about 10 hours- the stringing cord was decidedly
darker. I had some gradiated tourmaline material too which I thought
wouldn’t take dye but after experimenting the water had colour after
a 12 hour or more soak. I don’t know if all the colours that were on
the strand were dyed or some tones but it was a surprise nonetheless
and the beads were graded AA and were relatively evenly hand cut
rondelles. So I suppose any really good deal can be suspect! I have
never had a stone set work piece come back to me because it ‘ran’, It
seems to be more common in gemstone material that is abundant
(garnets are the perfect example) and stones that are rarer never
seem to be treated. I have never known an apatite or chrome diopside
to be treated in any way. I guess it takes a good eye and a thorough
knowledge of the vendors one uses as to the quality of any gem
material. rer

Hi

When will the ladies ever learn, Jewellery last thing to put on and
first thing to take off.

What perfume can do to jewellery can be quite destructive.

Richard