7th Annual pearl ruckus

Technorati Tags: Pearl Ruckus,Little h Jewelry,Kamoka Pearls,Blaire Beavers,Kojima Pearl,Sarah Cannizaro,Josh Humbert,Jeremy Shepherd,HisanoShepherd,Pearl Mansion

Yes! I can hardly believe it has been 7 incredible years of Pearl Ruckuses, and each year they get better and better. But, what is a “Pearl Ruckus”??? Basically put it is a special gathering of friends, pearl collectors, pearl buyers & resellers, designers and pearl farmers…but in the end it is really a gathering of pearl lovers in a fantastic Mansion-like setting.

You may remember some of my previous Pearl Ruckus series of blog entries before, but in case you haven’t I do have to emphasize that this very special gathering is the result of the work done at the Pearl-Guide.com website, basically the World’s Largest Pearl Information Source, and this site is a labor of love of many people that LOVE pearls, including: Jeremy and Hisano Shepherd of PearlParadise.com fame, Caitlin Williams (Caitlin) and Blaire Beavers (GemGeek) (as the site’s admins) and of Newberry, Pattye, Mikkey and many more brave pearlers that share and spread the Pearly Gospel

So, here are my 3 HIGHLIGHTS for this Year’s Ruckus and #1 is actually very, very easy:

#1. Little h Video

Jeremy and the team at PearlParadise.com created a short video of Hisano sharing her inspiration and design process for her little h, Pearl Geode and Finestrino collections. It is a delightful video and the jewelry pieces are some of my favorites!

https://youtu.be/JUuw_VwNxsU

#2. Kojima Pearl’s Amazing Cortez Mabe Pearl Necklace

Stunning. I obviously prefer my pearls above all others (but if you follow this blog you know I am also a fan of Kamoka and Kasumigaura pearls)…last year we came up with a pair of beautiful Mabe Pearl necklaces set in Sterling Silver that were all the rage (one of them is owned by U.S. Senator Gabrielle Giffords) but this year I did not have anything similar to offer…but what a pleasant surprise when Sarah and Mounir came up with this AMAZING Cortez mabe pearl necklace…simply stunning!

Sarah and Mounir have become an amazing designing team…just ready to rock the pearl world! For more information you can head to Kojima Pearl’s website.

#3. The Pearl People

The Pearl Ruckus is ultimately about PEARLS…but without PEOPLE to admire, love and wear pearls we have nothing! So in the end it is all about People that Love Pearls.

And at the Mansion we spend almost an entire weekend immersed in pearls, pearl jewelry, incredible food, music and making friends. If you ever feel like you could become a “Pearl Ruckrusader” (just made up this word) please join us at the Pearl-Guide.com forum and start meeting the people! Maybe next year you can join us too!

And besides the friends, the talks, the music and the food –and everything surrounded by pearls of course- there were many other interesting things including the “Pearl Talks”:

Josh Humbert of Kamoka Pearls gave us a great slideshow presentation. Josh is not only an extraordinaire pearl farmer but also a most accomplished NatGeo photographer. Wish I could share the photos here…but they are his to share so if you want to see some of his work just contact him via Tweeter at @KamokaJosh.

Here we have Josh and his life-mate Celeste Brash. Good friends of mine.

Blaire Beavers gave a great talk and walk through memory lane…first by reminding all how the name for this event was coined…yes, my good friend Michael Rivers came up with this inventive name and it sure has stuck. All 6 previous events were considered…so many years, so many great moments! We had to laugh and smile at the photos of the pearl tiara wearing comrades and the retelling of the “Purloined Pearls” story, or draw our breath inwards at the wholesome beauty of many beautiful pearl necklaces and jewelry pieces.

Douglas McLaurin (that’s me!) also gave a short talk on Cortez Pearls…this year I tried a less serious approach and resorted to much more humor than before. I don’t know if the audience agreed with me but I hope they had as much fun listening to my “La Peregrina” pearl section as much as  I had making it.

I also took a bit of time to talk about this year’s Cortez Pearl Harvest: it was not as good as last year’s (every year results in a different harvest due to environmental conditions, as you would also expect for wine, cheeses, grains, etc.) but it was a very good one nonetheless. We harvested almost 4 kilos of Cortez Pearls (roughly 4,000 pearls) in sizes between 8 and 13 mm, the average size for this year being 9 mm. The pearls were also rounder than any other previous harvest and very lustrous, with a better “skin” (less flaws and imperfections) but the colors –for my personal taste- were less intense.

If I had a way to describe the overall look of this year’s harvest it would be: Silvery Gray with Blue Overtones. There were –of course- the traditional stunners…but I missed finding Red and Blue pearls, there were more coppery-golden ones this year too.

Jewelry Highlights

Oh yes! My good friends had Pearl Jewelry on everyday and would change their jewelry based on clothing, mood or even environmental conditions Such a fun crowd to be with. Here are some of the highlights:

A very beautiful Cortez Mabe Pearl pendant in Gold with Rubies (owner: Rhonda).

Another beautiful & stylish piece in gold with Cortez Cultured pearl and many Cortez Keshi pearls, designed by Sarah & Mounir at Kojima Pearl. (Owner: Catherine).

Another favorite of mine are Hisano’s amazing Geode Pearl jewelry…just stunning, and the colors are just to vibrant!

And there are many, many more stunning pieces but I just did not have the time nor adequate light to shoot all those pics I should have had!  But I will close up this entry with just one more photo and description…

My friend Sheri Jurnecka has come up with a dazzling array of uniquely shaped squiggly octo-jewerly designs and she has used all types of pearls on them: blacks, golden, freshwater and Cortez Pearls of course. Hope you enjoy this beautiful cephalopod family photo!

Until next time…Cheers!!!