Gorgeous Akoya Pearls courtesy of Pearllabx77
*Bonus Points if you get the Blog Title reference which has NOTHING to do with the subject of today's post*
TikTok, what a deadly "rabbit hole" to get lost in... That has been my whole weekend thus far.
I have enough chores to get done to last at least 1 year, but apparently my psyche craved something else. Something that resulted in something shiny in various shades white, pink, and purple.
I guess I could blame the ADHD on this choice to spend the last 2 days completely engrossed in all things Pearl Farming & Pearl Harvesting.
In the 48 hour Pearl opening binge, I learned a lot about cultured & salt water pearls.
I was incredibly impressed with Pearlism_03's knowledge of pearls from start to finish, and the ability to rattle off random facts in response to viewers questions as they are opening up orders placed online by some of the same people in the comments section.
I had no idea that there were so many species of mollusks, how the pearls are formed (implanted "seeds"), that the color is relatively predictable due to the microenvironment of the clam/oyster, the pH of the water they are raised in, and the food sources available.
They have huge lakes that are utilized for these clams; multiple lakes at that!
Oysters are housed and harvested in Salt Water so those are separate.
The "seeds" implanted into the freshwater clams to form fun pearl shapes
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Pearls ranging from the traditional round shape to hearts, butterflies, moons, and stars are all being farmed and shucked for various pieces of jewelry, to loose pearl collections.
Aside from everything described above, what I found the most gratifying is that nothing goes to waste.
When the clams & oysters are harvested, the shells and meat are sent back to the farms for a kind of "recycling" of sorts.
The shells are rendered down for making "seeds" for implants for new pearls to form in naive clams.
The meat is fed to the farm ducks & chickens which I think is great.
The last 48 hours has been nothing less than "addictive" and I think I have found "my people."
*You have been Warned*
A lovely dish of King and Edison Pearls from Pearlism_03
There are quite a few Pearl Opening TikTok accounts, so there is plenty of content and pearls to go around!
Some have better deals than others, most will give Free Gifts with purchase and Newbie gifts for first time buyers.
I may or may not have a couple of these pearly gems heading my way... 1 of which is going to be a late Birthday gift to my BFF 🎉🎉🎉
The 3 Channels that I have followed so far that seem to be legit companies are:
Word of caution: While there seems to be a plethora of Pearl Opening accounts, not all are created equal.
I had peeped 2-3 that were the same kinds of Pearl MLM's that used to be extremely popular on Facebook a few years back. One of my former roommates got scammed hard by Vantel Pearls (who is no longer in business but has some lawsuits against it). She paid over $350.00 for cheaply dyed pearls and plated jewelry settings, but never received her order.
After months of back-and-forth emails with the company, she found out the company closed. I'd be irate if I was her.
So far, the customers of the Pearl accounts listed above are happy and all returning which gives me a sense of security in my decision to make a purchase.
I didn't spend a lot, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to get scammed like my former roommate.
What triggered alarm bells for me on some of the Pearl opening accounts were the use of the exact same clam that appeared to be Akoya's (those can be pricey!) but were shucking out pearls of colors not seen in nature. Very bright vibrant gemstone-toned pearls being retrieved from Akoya shells.
Avoid those channels like the plague 👎👎
Genuine Akoya's come in only 4 colors: White, Cream, Gold toned, and rarely Silver toned as seen below
A beautiful collection of Akoya Pearls courtesy of Pearllabx77
Now, the fine folks at Pearllabx77 (Steve & Lewis)... THESE GUYS are a literal comedy duo! 😂
In addition to their exquisite collection of quality pearls, viewers get treated to a live stream of non-stop laughter that make one "ugly cry." I'm about to send them my Botox bill from getting laugh-lines!
The BEST part is (and if you choose to purchase pearls from Pearllabx77, purchase some Akoya's), Lewis makes Steve open the Akoya pearls as they apparently make him gag something fierce!
The stench of these oysters as they are saltwater, has been described as what "Divorce" smells like 😵
Steve on the Left, Lewis on the Right
As messed up as this sounds, hearing Steve dry heave is hysterical 😂
*Poor Steve... he's going to have to shuck some more oysters cuz momma needs a pair of Akoya earrings* 🦪🦪
I have re-named their channel "Chaos, Comedy, & Clams," and depending on the
direction" of their humor is heading that day, "Only Clams."
direction" of their humor is heading that day, "Only Clams."
It pretty much sums them up 😉
A lucky customer opened this stunning group of Tahitian Pearls from Pearllabx77
Happy Shucking! 🦪🦪🦪🦪🦪🦪
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