I have a weird problem- I bought a lovely strand of south sea pearls
last week for myself, tied them temporarily around my neck so I
choose a length before I had them properly strung, and then wore it
in the shower. After it had been wet, some organic substance in the
pearl was obviously reactivated, and the smell is disgusting. What’s
worse is I thought my new boyfriend had a really bad hygiene problem.
I soaked them in water, and then used a syringe to try and flush them
out with more water. It has helped a little , but not nearly enough.
I’ve had this problem happen once before when I was drilling a
tahitian pearl and out came some foul smelling brown black liquid.
Pearls are oyster tumours after all . I’ve still got that pearl
becasue ive never been able to get glue to adhere, and I havent been
able to clean it out. Any advice about appropriate ways of cleaning
pearls would be appreciated. I’m not sure what to do- I’m committed
to the pearls, at least a stinky boyfriend is still on appro. Victoria
Buckley
Victoria asked about stinking pearls…
Victoria, I asked someone with extensive experience drilling Tahitian
pearls, and this is the response I got:
“We have that problem with baroque pearls. What we have done in the
past, was to flush it out with water and let it dry in the sun. This
may take several attempts. The inside of the pearl needs to be
completely dry before any of epoxy or glue can be applied.”
Hope this helps!
Kat