Pearls: String theory

I was in a train's toilet last fall. You know the fixtures in those cabines: what drops in is not retrievable. As I was rising, I glanced down at my keshi pearl "chain" with its 12mm Tahitian pendant and saw that the orbit clasp was completely open because one side had sheared off. Only a slight movement would have sent the necklace down the hole. 

A  close call!

Literally a lucky break! It is now home from Kojima Pearl with a new orbit clasp. 

I do not agree with the standard advice that you need to take your pearls to a jeweller for inspection once a year. Use your 10x loupe. Look for frayed or stretched thread and tarnished, dull French wire.  

How often to restring?

Here's a good summary by jeweller Calla Gold, "Top Ten Reasons to Restring Your Pearls". One reason Ms Gold does not list is that nicely-knotted stringing makes a necklace look better-quality.

If you wear the same pearls most days, you should still get two or three years out of the stringing; if you wear it less, longer. I have some in fine shape at five or six years in. How silk (the common material for gem-quality pearls) wears also depends on the weight of the necklace; larger pearls are heavier so place more stress on the silk. (For this reason, big pearls, aka "clonks", are are drilled with larger holes to accommodate heavier silk thread, or stronger synthetics like Serafil and Beader's Secret.)  

Cleaning pearls, on the string and off

Sometimes the the condition of the thread is fine but the pearls need more than the post-wearing wipe; clean the necklace first and see how that looks. Do not use dish detergent made to cut grease; use a mild castile soap, such as Dr. Bronner's. I use baby shampoo. If you have hard or heavily-chlorinated water, use distilled water.

If the cleaned pearls make the thread look dingy, it's time to restring even if the thread is in good shape.  

When it's time to restring, the artisan can clean the pearls more throughly. Some pearl specialists clean the pearls loose, others restring temporarily on cotton, without knots. They gently air-dry before restringing. 

Material and knot size

Silk string is the traditional choice, but many stringers also offer synthetic products that are made in more colours. Besides being good for big pearls, synthetics don't stretch. Serafil, a poly thread that's supple and drapes well, comes in gorgeous saturated hues. 

This example, a swimming-pool cyan, is from the Etsy shop of Patricia Saab, a deeply knowledgeable pearl person. Patttye, based in Oregon, is someone I'd send pearls to for restringing. She has astonishing colours and also sells the terrific "orbit" clasps. Her fee is $US 35 for a 16-20 in. necklace, plus shipping.

Knot size: A skilled stringer will assess the piece for the most pleasing knot proportion, but you may also have a personal preference. The drill hole of the pearl will determine maximum thread thickness; one of a stringer's challenges is handling a necklace composed of inconsistently-drilled pearls. 

Signs of superior stringing

The overall impression is of fluidity and consistency. I like the use of extra thread (imperceptible) at the last few pearls near both sides of the clasp, which get tugged more. There are no blobs of glue or singe marks where the thread was cut and finished at the clasp. The knots are even and snug against the holes and there's no lonely space between pearls.

When the necklace is restrung, it will be shorter because it's not stretched out anymore—sometimes the client's first thought is that pearls are missing. (Jewellers count and note the number of pearls on the work order; many photograph the piece to document the condition in which it was given.) 

Gradually, if strung on silk, the necklace will lengthen again, but you want to wear it right away! If you could use a bit more length, now is the time to add pearls or other elements.

What to pay

This depends on where you have it done, as well as the piece. Your intuitive choice is to take pearls to the shop where they were bought, but not all jewellers string pearls, so they will send them out to a specialist and add a markup. 

If you want to change the clasp, replace damaged pearls, or alter the design, talk with a pearl-specialist jeweller who offers stringing in-house, such as Pearl Paradise, based in Los Angeles. PP serve clients worldwide and have a form online to submit for a quote. You can even upload a photo.

I recently paid $CDN 40 to have an 18-inch 10mm necklace restrung on silk. My first stop was a posh boutique in my neighbourhood who quoted $75, which means they are sending them out. I took them to the jewellery trade building at 620 Rue Cathcart, where I found a woman working alone in a small room piled with boxes sent by jewellers from all over Quebec. She turned the job around in a few days instead of the two weeks quoted by the boutique.  

Stringers are part of the community of jewellery-industry craftspersons such as setters, mould makers, and gem dealers who work in offices and studios, usually near one another.

Price depends on the labour involved, not solely the length of the piece or number of knots. The stringer will carefully disassemble the item pearl by pearl. (Even if you are only changing the clasp, all pearls must be restrung.) Some clean the pearls as part of the price, others offer it as an option.  

Many stringers, like that Rue Cathcart lady, use only traditional silk in white, cream or grey, but the more creative ones offer colour, too. Restringing with colour, whether bold or subtle, feels almost like a new piece! Here's a Tahitian bracelet on green neon knots from Kojima Pearl. Sarah Canizzaro is a deft, inspired stringer, she was born with what the French call "des doigts de fée"—fairy fingers.

photo: KojimaPearl.com

A quick word about clasps: Stringers usually offer only generic styles. Hunting attractive, solid, off-the-shelf clasps is a whole other post—if you have sources, please share them. I'm currently having a clasp made by my longtime jeweller Don Collins at Artworks Gallery, Toronto. If you have a filagree fish-hook clasp, I suggest you update it. Even a simple toggle or s-hook will look better.

Be wary of taking your piece to a bead store with a name like Pink Unicorn, where a staff person might quote an appealingly low price. I am going to take some flack for this, but beaders are not necessarily pearl whisperers; few are expert in cleaning. Politely assess a sample of their work first.  

Not knots 

Pearls under 5mm are traditionally strung with knots only at the clasp, as are classic graduated strands and keshis. Sometimes designers place knots every few inches along the necklace when using larger  inexpensive pearls.  

Another stringing style places spacer beads between pearls, with or without knots. The fast—and therefore cheapest method—is without knots.

Photo: catherinecardellinipearls.com

(Shown, Catherine Cardellini Pearls; detail of circled Tahitians, golden circled South Seas, and 2mm gold-filled spacer beads.)

To my eye, a metal spacer between every pearl looks static, but some women love them. For fairly inexpensive pearls you may not worry about potential abrasion or chipping near the holes, but on expensive South Seas, not good. One designer examines each spacer bead microscopically, and rejects the rough ones. Strands with no knots, only spacers, are more often seen on costume jewellery. 

Gemstone beads are also used between pearls. This is my 33 in. rope of Tahitian circlé pearls strung with faceted Tanzanite beads (Kojima Pearl).  

The necklace is strung on coated nylon bead wire like Beadalon—so it is super strong, but I don't wear the rope knotted, because it's not quite as flexible as thread, another thing to think about. 

Bumpers: Bit players

A jeweller years ago used bumpers on my necklace instead of knots, without asking. Bumpers are silicon, gentler than metal or stone spacer beads where they touch the pearl, but the essence of pearls—organic, elemental, mysterious—was diminished by bits of plastic between them. I had it restrung elsewhere within a week. 

Bumper fans say they are useful when drill holes are not the same size, and "look just like knots" but to me, they don't.

And then there's wire work; you never need to think about thread wear; if the link or clasp breaks, only one section of chain is replaced. Not all wire can be matched easily, though, especially if you can't take it back to the artisan. (Shown, detail of Kojima Pearl Tahitian pearl and black spinel necklace, very cool.)   

Photo: KojimaPearl.com

Do it yourself? 

For this post, I read passionate discourse on beaders' and stringers' boards— and I thought I was a nerd! Thread weights, stringing techniques, layouts: they are fussier than pastry chefs.

Every time a woman inquired where to take her pearls for restringing, one would reply, "You can do it yourself with a little practice!" Yeah, right—I have the bloodstained spool of silk to prove it. Pearl stringing is like tatting: looks easy till you get your hands into it. It takes dexterity, patience, a light dose of OCD and "finger memory".  

My first project was stringing craft CFWs on PowerPro (a poly thread used by fishers) liberated from my brother's tackle box, which worked because the pattern was irregularly-spaced anyway. Emboldened, I took a pearl-stringing course and was humbled.

The movements were like making a cat's cradle blindfolded, but something else was at play: tension. Two or three inches looked alright, then my strand got scrunched and ugly. Knitters will recognize this bugbear: a glance shows how you handled the job differently as you moved along. (Stringers do the piece in one go for this reason.) Another several dozen runs might have improved my sad, tense debut, but I'm impatient.

Photo: Starter kit, PatriciaSaabDesigns, Etsy

If you are already a beader, or are naturally gifted, you might order this starter kit from Patricia Saaab—you can choose your colours of Serafil—watch a You Tube tutorial, and bask in your achievement, but I take my pearls to the pros.  

Jane in London, thank you for your request for this topic!