How A Pearl Is Formed

By Sandra Sullivan


For over many years that passed the pearls, very extraordinary gems, were considered as one of the most beautiful treasures that can be found on the seabed and on oysters. It was used as jewelry for women, people created a way for it to be a part of fashion. Before it becomes a Hawaiian Pearl Jewelry, take a look at how this beautiful thing was formed.

A natural pearl is technically comprised of about 100% of conchiolin and calcium carbonate. People thought that the formation is of this type is through an accidental procedure. Because of a microscopic parasitic animal invades the mollusk where this beautiful gem will be formed.

The starting point of the procedure is when an irritant, a small parasite, occupies a shell. As soon as this happens, the shell will start to form a mechanism which will serve as a defense to keep the irritant from invading it. The mechanism is like a liquid which consists of calcium carbonate. This liquid ill covers the small thing up to keep it from fully occupying the mollusk.

When the coating is continuously done, the product that is also known as the nacre will be formed. It will approximately take 3 years to create one pearl through this process. Different shapes can be created, but the rarest which is the perfectly round one is what is made to be a jewel.

A cultural type of pearl is created through a reaction between the implantation of a tissue, known as a graft, inside a shell. This requires two oysters, the one will donate the tissue and the other is the one that will receive it. As soon as the tissue is placed inside, a small sack made up of essential calcium is being developed. Once this gets bigger, a nacre will be formed.

Several methods could be used in making a cultural pearl, a shell form both the sea or freshwater can be used, manually transplanting the tissue into the clam, and adding a perfect spherical bead to be the nucleus. This a process which both involves natural and human occurrences.

Imitation pearls are made through dipping a glass bead into a solution that has fish scales. This type of coating, unlike the calcium carbonate and the conchiolin, is thin and can easily wear off. This is also a reason why the weight is different from the others, and it is also the smoothness that makes this really different from other pearls.

Imitation pearl, on the other hand, is formed differently from the other two. This is not done through a long process. Most likely referred to as the fake type of bead. But, you can easily determine if one is fake when you rub it across your teeth, if it glides, then it truly is a fake one.

The procedure on how these beautiful gems are made is most likely mysterious and special. Even if people try to make their own ways of making one, the original is really the thing. When you happen to have one like a jewel, just take a careful way of caring for it because it is not as easy as making one, it can take for years.




About the Author: