Pearls come in many shapes, sizes and colors. While many people think of pearls as white, in recent years other color pearls such as pink have become more popular and more widely available. Pink pearls are a great alternative to white pearls and are ideally suited for making pretty but different jewellery.
Pearls are a naturally occurring gemstone that grow inside certain types of mollusks – oysters and mussels. Whether wild or farmed, all pearls are made the same way. They start when a small speck of dirt gets trapped inside the mollusk’s shell. The creature is irritated by the dirt and tries to ease the irritation by coating the speck with layers of nacre – the liquid that hardens and lines the oyster’s shell. When sprayed over a piece of dirt like this it hardens into a tiny glowing ball, what we call a pearl. This process takes many years to create even a small pearl.
Today man has learned to farm pearls and most pearls that you will see on the market are farmed. The oyster and mussels are grown especially for their pearls and each one is seeded with a small bead around which a pearl may form. While farmed mollusks are more likely to yield pearls success is not guaranteed and it still takes some years for a usable pearl to form. The quality of farmed pearls is not as good as the best of natural occurring pearls but they are still very beautiful and only an expert can really tell the difference.
The pink variety are more likely to come from farmed mollusks. There are two reasons why pearls may be pink. One is the type of mollusk they come from, freshwater mussels are most likely to yield pink but some South Sea oysters do to. The main factor is environmental. Certain minerals in the water the mollusks grow in will encourage a pink tint to the pearls.
Farmed pink pearls are now widely available as jewelry. Coming in many different shades from the faintest blush to a deep flowery pink. They are suitable for all forms of pearl jewelry and are an attractive alternative to more traditional styles. Pearls are added to many types of jewellery including, rings, bracelets, earrings, pendants and of course strings of pearls that form necklaces, they are a great accent to many pieces and are particularly elegant adorning a gold ring. Beside white and pink, you’ll also find black, lavender and golden south sea pearls.