Jan 6, 2010

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Tahitian Pearls Black

Are wholly Tahitian pearls black? What is the divergence between a natural pearl and a cultured pearl? Are freshwater pearls inferior to saltwater pearls? Are South Sea pearls genuinely golden?

Good inquiries. With all the different pearl colors and characters out there, it can be hard to know just what you are looking at. For those concerned in purchasing pearls, or for gem enthusiasts who care to find out more, here are responses to some of the most generally asked questions about pearls.

Are All Tahitian Pearls Black?
Not only are Tahitian cultured pearls not exclusively black, they’re also not grown in Tahiti. Called “black” because of their exotic dark colors, Tahitian cultured pearls can also be gray, blue, green and brown. And they’re grown in the lagoons of small islands that are part of a group known as French Polynesia. Tahiti, the largest island, serves as the group’s center of commerce, and not as a pearl growing mecca.

Tahitian pearls are cultivated for about two years in Pinctada margaritifera cumingi, a large mollusk native to French Polynesia. One of the ways this unique oyster differs from other species is its interior shell color, which is dark. This so-called “black lipped” oyster also has black mantle edges—the “lips” that give this animal its descriptive name.

Today, the most sought-after Tahitian cultured pearls are dark green-gray to blue gray with rosé or purple overtones. Pearl colors are determined by several factors, including variations in the host oyster, color variation of the implanted donor mussel tissue, the number and thickness of nacre layers, and variations in growing environment such as temperature and water quality.

Tahitians are most often variations of gray, black, green and blue, but other colors exist.

At an average size of 8mm-14mm, Tahitian cultured pearls—especially those specimens that are gem-quality and round—are very expensive. According to the latest information from the Gemological Institute of America, up to 40 percent of implanted black-lipped oysters produce a gem-quality cultured pearl, but only about 5 percent of the pearls they produce are round. And only 1-2 percent of the entire crop will result in round cultured pearls of the finest quality. No wonder a Tahitian pearl strand is so costly! If you want to wear Tahitian cultured pearls, one way to do so without breaking the bank is to choose a pendant-style necklace with a single pearl, pearl stud earrings, a single pearl ring, or baroque (non-symmetrical) pearls.

These designs are every bit as exotic and a lot more affordable than a matched strand.

What’s the difference between a cultured pearl and a natural pearl?
Natural pearls are formed when an irritant, such as a parasite, makes its way into a pearl-producing animal such as an oyster or mollusk. To protect itself, the animal coats the irritant in nacre—a combination of organic substances that also makes up what we call mother-of pearl. Over time, the layers of nacre build up around the intruder and eventually form the organic gem we all know as the pearl.

Cultured pearls are formed in the same way as natural pearls, with one big difference: they get their start not by chance, but deliberately, when man intervenes with nature. To produce cultured pearls, a skilled technician, called a nucleator, induces the pearl-growing process by surgically placing an irritant—a mother-of-pearl bead and a piece of mantle tissue, usually—into a mollusk.

The animal is then placed back into the water and monitored, cleaned, etc. until the pearl is ready to be harvested.

The Chinese have been culturing freshwater blister pearls (pearls that grow underneath the mantle on the inside of the animal’s shell) since the 13th century, but Kokichi Mikimoto, a Japanese man, is credited with developing modern pearl culturing techniques. By the early 1920s, Mikimoto was selling his cultured pearls worldwide.

Natural pearls can be very beautiful, but due to overfishing, pollution and other factors, they are a rare find indeed.  Thus, nearly all pearls sold today are cultured pearls. There are two main types: freshwater and saltwater. South Sea cultured pearls, Tahitian cultured pearls and akoya cultured pearls are all types of saltwater pearls.

Cultured pearls of all types can be found in jewelry stores worldwide.

Are saltwater pearls better than freshwater pearls?
It depends on who you ask, but many pearl experts today agree that freshwater cultured pearls can rival the beauty of their saltwater cousins. Due to improvements in culturing techniques, freshwater pearl farmers are producing beautiful, round, lustrous pearls that are a vast improvement over the wrinkled, rice-krispie-shaped gems that typified the freshwater pearl crop of the not-so-distant past.

Produced mainly in China, freshwater pearls are often nucleated, or implanted, with mantle tissue only (rather than a mother-of-pearl bead). Because they do not contain a starter bead, tissue-nucleated freshwater pearls are 100% nacre. This gives them a beautiful luster and a durable surface that won’t easily flake or peel to reveal the inner bead. By contrast, pearls that are bead-nucleated and harvested too soon often have only a thin coating of nacre that will flake or peel. This is a major problem: Unlike many other gemstones, pearls cannot be polished back to perfection.

Freshwater cultured pearls come in many beautiful natural pastel colors including cream, white, yellow, orange, pink and lavender. (Universally flattering lavender pearls are very popular right now.) White pearls are bleached to enhance their natural shine. Black freshwater cultured pearls are treated with dye or heat to produce their inky color.

Overall, freshwater pearls are more plentiful than other pearl types, thus they are generally more affordable.

Are South Sea pearls really golden?
Yes. Pearls produced in the aptly named “gold-lipped” oyster (P. maxima) can be a gorgeous creamy yellow, referred to as “golden” in the trade. (The silver-lipped variety of P. maxima produces beautiful silver or white pearls.) Grown in the South Seas—which stretch from the southern coast of Southeast Asia to the northern coast of Australia—these pearls are grown in one of the biggest oysters used in pearl culturing. Because they can accept a larger bead and secrete nacre faster than their smaller counterparts, these big oysters produce large pearls of exceptional luster and beauty. South Sea pearls’ thick coating of nacre gives the gems a wonderful luster, or glow, that appears to come from deep within the pearl. The warm waters, abundant food supply and low pollution levels of the South Seas also help these oysters produce beautiful cultured pearls.

Although Australia produces 60% of the world’s South Sea cultured pearls, Indonesian farmers work more with the gold-lipped oyster, and thus produce more golden pearls. The silver-lipped variety produces equally beautiful pearls that come in white to silver and often have rosé, blue or green overtones. Aside from giving them a light wash, pearl farmers do not treat South Sea pearls after harvest.

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Nov 15, 2009

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Perfumes DIY

Who says good quality perfumes has to be store bought? The truth is you can make your own perfume and have fun in the process. More than fun however, making your own perfume allows you to create unique scents that are just right for you. Furthermore, you have control over what goes into your perfume so if you won’t have to contend with the harshly unnatural ingredients that may be present in commercially available perfumes that you can get at the department store.

The process of getting started in making your own perfume is quite simple. If you are not all versed in the production of perfume, don’t worry because you don’t have to be. To get you started, you can browse online on the many free perfume recipes on the Net to help you make your own perfume. Choosing the right perfume recipe to follow will depend on what type of scent you want to create.

If you are worried about not being able to predict how a perfume recipe will turn out based simply by looking at the ingredients, don’t worry. Most perfume recipes online will give a brief description of the type of fragrance you can expect from a given recipe. Although, at the end of the day, you will really have to get your hands dirty and actually try out a recipe to be able to experience for yourself how it will turn out.

Remember also that you will need to try out the perfume on your skin because it will certainly smell different as you sniff it from the container and as you allow it to react to your body chemistry through your skin.

To help you further, below are various free perfume recipes from pioneerthinking.com. Don’t be afraid to try it out and make your own adjustments in the recipes so that the fragrances produced will suit your preferences better. Perfume Recipe 101 You can’t go wrong with this one. This is easy, simple and you have complete control over the types of fragrances you will be using. This is a good way to start your self on making your own perfume.

You will need two cups of distilled water and one cup of fresh chopped flower blossoms of your choice. You can opt to choose just one type of flower blossoms or mix several kinds that you feel will blend well together. After you have chosen your scents and have your ingredients with you, get a bowl and place a cheese cloth inside it. Make sure that the edges of the cloth hang over the outside of the bowl. Pour in your flower blossoms followed by the water. Cover your bowl and leave it like that overnight.

On the next day, pull out the cheesecloth by the edges and squeeze the fragrant water into a pot for heating. Simmer the liquid until only around a teaspoon is left. Store this then in a small dark bottle that you must keep tightly closed when not used. Make sure also that you store this away from light and heat.

Want a fragrant perfume that’s sure to inspire your dreams? Try this celestial blend of soothing flower scents that will relax and inspire you. Ingredients:    * 2 cups distilled water    * 3 tablespoons vodka    * 5 drops lavender essential/fragrance oil    * 10 drops chamomile essential/fragrance oil    * 10 drops valerian essential oil

Directions: Mix all the ingredients together and shake well. Place in a dark color bottle. Then allow the perfume to settle for at least 12 hours. Store in a cool dry area.

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Jun 25, 2009

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Palaeolithic age

As a species, we love to adorn ourselves with jewelry, makeup, hair accessories. We do it now to enhance our looks, to attract a mate and because it just makes us feel good about ourselves. Some forms of adornment are symbolic – like wedding rings. Or they’re used to make a statement about our lifestyle, like multiple piercings and earrings.

Have you ever wondered what the origins are of such self-decoration? Was there a meaning behind it? Or did we just start wearing beads, necklaces and earrings as our awareness of self increased and as we evolved?

We know that the earliest jewelry of bits of bones, shells and other personal adornments appeared in graves about 40,000 years ago. The idea that there was an afterlife, and the belief in spirits both good and bad, gave rise to the means to attract the good spirits and ward off the bad ones.

People protected themselves from evil spirits with adornments in the form of necklaces or bracelets, and pierced themselves with the same bones and shells to have these amulets on their persons at all times. At this time people also started painting their bodies with red ochre, which can be considered the earliest form of makeup. They also started lining their eyes with kohl to protect themselves against the force known as the “Evil Eye.”

Even today, much jewelry takes the form of amulets. People wear crosses around their necks, or the Star of David, or wear a claddagh ring – all to attract good fortune or ward off bad luck. There are even more throwbacks to this earliest form of magic, such as a lucky rabbit’s foot, or a lucky penny. Or we often have less well known, more personal amulets that have a meaning to us alone, but are still worn as good luck charms and amulets.

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