Pinocchio the Pearl

Have you ever seen a Pearl with a nose like Pinocchio? Well I hadn't, until I was searching through some beautiful naturally colored freshwater pearls I had purchased about a year ago at the Tucson Gem Show. The photo on the right is a few of the strands I purchased. As you can see by the photo, the pearls are baroque shaped and somewhat irregular. I was excited when I found them because the Chinese freshwater pearl farmers have begun to nucleate freshwater pearls with beads (similar to the culturing process used for Akoya and South Sea pearls). This creates larger pearls in a shorter period of time which ultimately results in a less expensive larger pearl.

The colors of these pearls also appealed to me, the beautiful array of gorgeous golden, cream and metallic colors where absolutely beautiful (it's hard to capture this beauty in a photo). Normally, these pearls would be bleached to remove the inconsistent colors however these pearls were left untreated making thing all the more unique.

So, one day I began to make some necklaces showcasing these new pearls. I thought it would be wonderful to find some of the most interesting pearls and create a simple pendant. I wanted each individual pearl to stand out so I added the pearl to a simple black cord. As I was searching through the strands, I found this unusual and unique pearl with a natural protruding blemish.



The first thought I had was "it has a nose as long as Pinocchio". So, I put a sterling silver bead cap on top for a hat and created this fun pendant. A pearl with personality! Although Pinocchio is no longer for sale, there are other beautiful pearl pendants available in my ETSY shop http://www.HTJewels.etsy.com. I hope you enjoy viewing these beauties as much as I enjoyed creating them.