Caring for Pearl and Other Nacre Jewelry
Mother of pearl, abalone, and paua adorn some of my favorite pieces that leave this studio: necklaces, rings, earrings, bolo ties. Sometimes as a broad inlay and sometimes as a crushed-shell face. They look different from one another, but they are all made of the same material. That material is nacre, and care follows from how nacre is built. What is Nacre? Nacre is a layered composite. Think of it like a brick wall. Thin plates of calcium carbonate, called aragonite, stack like bricks. Thin films of an organic material called conchiolin act as the mortar between them. That architecture...