What is the
connection between all these ? These are the life forms that are tortured and
or killed for the benefit of humans.
Natural pearls are,
indeed, beautiful, lustrous and elegant. But when we culture them, we are
torturing and harming those oysters/mollusks.
As a jeweler, I am
constantly torn on whether to use cultured pearls in my designs or not. I
mostly choose high quality glass imitation pearls from Swarovski, but there are
times I wonder about my missed business, for not offering cultured pearls.
Here is what PETA
says about how cultured pearls are extracted and farmed :
Cultivators further stress the
oysters by suspending them in water in a cage, washing their shells, moving
them around in different waters, and raising and lowering their cages to
subject them to changing water temperatures.
After the pearls are extracted from
the oysters, one-third of oysters are “recycled” and put through the culturing
process again. The others are killed and discarded.
Natural pearls
(cultured and wild both) need high maintenance. As it is organic material,
harsh chemicals, environment and even oil from the skin damage these pearls
over time. On the other hand, high quality imitation pearls have almost similar luster, color; aren't that sensitive to external factors and for a
lesser cost you get to enjoy them and replace them when you want.
As my latest
necklace design I am working with natural pearls today. Here is the sneak peek
of what is coming
It is time consuming
to work with natural pearls, as I am using surgical gloves to work on it (so
oil from my skin doesn't harm the pearls). Which isn't easy (don't know how
doctors work with those gloves!) by the way and it is taking 30% longer to work
on this piece.
If you are
interested in what is all these Natural (cultured, wild) vs imitation pearl,
please read about it here : http://www.overstock.com/guides/natural-pearls-vs-cultured-pearls
And if you have been
told natural pearls are your precious-birthstone, then there are semi-precious
alternatives to this birthstone - moonstone, opal. (Ref: http://www.osfa.org.uk/Gemstones.htm)
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