✨ The Renewed Elements Collection: A Celebration of Rebirth, Craft, and African Recycled Glass Beads There is something extraordinary about materials that have lived a life before they reach the artist’s hands. Something soulful and resilient. This is the heart of The Renewed Elements Collection — a line of jewelry crafted with African recycled glass beads, each one shaped from discarded glass and reborn through fire, artistry, and tradition. I’m excited to share the story behind these remarkable beads and introduce the collection they inspired. 🌍 The Art of African Recycled Glass Beads Across parts of West Africa, especially Ghana, artisans have perfected the ancient craft of transforming broken glass into luminous, hand‑formed beads. This process is both sustainable and deeply cultural as has been passed down through generations. Discarded glass bottles, windows, and glass scraps are crushed into a fine powder, carefully sifted, and poured into clay molds. The molds are then pl...
Have you ever thought of how your pearl necklace came to be? Today's blog will be about how Natural, Cultured, Freshwater Pearls and Mother of Pearls are created.
Pearls are actually made because the oyster is protecting itself from an irritant. A broken piece of shell, any foreign material, a parasite for a natural pearl invades the oyster or a bead is placed inside the oyster for cultured pearls. The irritant gets between the oyster's shell and body and starts the process.
The oyster secretes layers of the same materials that make up it's shell. It creates a material called nacre, which surrounds the irritant and protects the oyster from damage.
Let's discuss different types of pearls and how they are created.
Natural Pearls
A natural pearl is formed as it suggests, in nature, without human interference. A foreign material "invades" the oyster. It secretes a protective substance called nacre, a combination of crystalline and organic substances that builds around the foreign material. It takes a few years to develop into a pearl. Natural pearls are a very rare find, which makes them also very expensive.
Cultured Pearls
A cultured pearl is created by "pearl farmers". They use a process that creates a pearl by inserting an irritant into the oyster and then “cultivating” the pearl. The irritant used is a bead that creates a round pearl. Cultured pearls are real pearls grown inside real oysters at pearl farms. Most pearls that are sold today are cultured.
Freshwater Pearls
Freshwater pearls come from oysters in fresh water like lakes or ponds, not saltwater bodies of water. Freshwater pearls usually are not as round as saltwater pearls, which makes them less expensive, but they are also real pearls from real oysters. Today freshwater pearls are gaining in popularity because of their cost, improved quality and availability.
Mother of Pearl
Mother of Pearl pearls are made from the inner lining of oyster shells. It is ground down into a fine powder, shaped, dyed and coated with natural pearl nacre and then a protective coating for lustre. MOP or Mother of Pearl will vary in quality and are much less expensive than cultured pearls. But still beautiful in their own right.
So no matter what type or shape pearl jewelry you own, be sure to wear them with pride and make them part of your everyday look!
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Until next time,
Lori
Mon Petit Bijou
Want to find me? Links to my social media sites below. ⬇️
Until next time,
Lori
Mon Petit Bijou
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