Tips

Tips

Hyderabad provides you a real variety when it comes to shapes. You can go in for seed pearls, the half-sphere button pearls, or the tear-drop shaped ones. Special favorites are the tapered "rice" pearls and the tiny "flower" pearls of different sizes. They look great, strung along singly or as a rassi.

When you buy pearls, rub them gently against the teeth. The genuine are sure to have a grainy, rough sensation. And they are certain to look pinkish or yellowish against the sunlight. Moreover, a good pearl should have a tremendous luster, since a pearl, when it is getting made, is born of layers of nacre - and the thicker the layers, the better the sheen. Once you have made this priceless purchase, do not forget to take proper care of them. Pearls are pretty soft. So, they can be scratched with a pin! Therefore, better to wear them in ornaments, which provide them a casing. They are easily damaged by friction. So, restring your pearl necklaces regularly, and don't forget that they should be knotted in between to avoid sliding. Pearls are susceptible to acids, even those in perspiration. So, wipe your pearls clean before you close your jewel box.

And, do not forget the ancillary mother of the pearl industry - the sea shells - which is sure to tempt you with lovely artifacts to decorate your houses

pearl

How are they made?

Pearls are of two types - either real or cultured. If thick layers of nacre naturally cover the particle of the foreign matter that gets lodged in the fleshy centre of the mollusk, real pearls of sheen and spherical size are formed. Otherwise, the pearl makers manually introduce a mud pellet inside the mollusk. Thus, are made the cultured pearls, which can not match the shine of the natural pearl.

Once a pearl is made, it is segregated as per the shape, which decides whether they should be drilled horizontally or vertically. In Hyderabad, this delicate and lengthy process is very skillfully done by artisans - some 500 families that migrated from some 80 kms away from Hyderabad - who have been following this trade from generations. The entire process, explain the pearl merchants, get the pearls their sheen, and the mixed color pearls become cream colored.

Next comes the gradation as per sheen, glaze, shape, size, luster and uniformity. Maybe Hyderabad is a pearl city because talented craftsman, who can thus grade pearls, are available as cheap labor hereabouts. Next, the Patwas knit pearls through a soft, silken thread, which is preferred even to a gold wire. Then the ornaments are made, really customized.