Dollieh Sanctuary

I have some loose pearls, from pick a pearl oysters at a jewelry store, and I'm thinking about making my own settings. None of them are drilled nor do I have a way of drilling them.

Can I bake the pearls in an oven with craft clay? I have some metallic Prado jewelry clay. PMC is out of the budget.

If I use 2 part epoxy will it stick to the pearls? Is there a way to have one rolling around in a cage?

I called my mother who used to be a jeweler. It seems they can be a bit fragile due to being a organic structure.
She has never heard of them being baked, and suggested against it. Unless, of course, you can find someone with first hand knowledge.

She suggested against epoxy, and said that if were looking for an adhesive, you should look for pearl cement. It is specifically made for pearls so as not to damage them.

A metal cage might work, but if there was any way for it to roll around or move on its own, it could lead to eventual damage.

I was thinking of making a piece out of epoxy and a pearl being a part of it, not for an adhesive. It's the stuff they sell at the craft store to make jewelry out of. Thanks, your info helps a lot.

What you have are cultured pearls, not gem quality pearls. These are objects made of shell inserted into the oyster and left long enough for one or more layers of pearl nacre to be coated on them by an oyster. Since these are from the "pick your pearl" oysters it is probably one thin layer of pearl nacre rather than several, as there would be on higher quality cultured pearls.

So this layer is going to be very prone to damage, chipping, or coming completely off.

You cannot bake them. You do not want to use anything other than jeweler's cement made for pearls to attach them to anything, or you will discolor, dissolve, or otherwise mar that very thin layer of pearl nacre. Super Glue is NOT safe on pearls. Something like Hypo Cement, for instance.

http://www.amazon.com/G-S-Hypo-Cement-J ... B000YQDX86

Hypo Cement is brittle, however, and if there is likely to be any stress you might want to try a safe-for-pearls super-glue like epoxy that jewelers use, called VIGOR

http://www.amazon.com/Vigor-Jewelry-Dry ... super+glue

Best of all is the long-cure version of Araldite, if you expect there to be some stress on the pearl.

http://www.amazon.com/Araldite-2011-Slo ... dite+epoxy

If it helps at all, I have a pearl pendant from my great grandmother that is a cultured pearl inside of a tiny cage. I mean its obviously not super nice jewelry but its cute and is still nice looking after about 10 years of her regularly wearing it and another ten of me wearing it occasionally.

Actually I just googled it out of curiosity and they're pretty common, seems to have been sold as a 'wish pendant' or something. My necklace has the same cage as the 'how to use' picture on this website http://www.aimpearl.com/p7931/silver-pe ... _info.html
Like VV said I'm guessing it wouldn't hold up as an heirloom really but it does look nice at least.

Totally cool with the cultured thing, and the jewelry store ones are bigger and a bit nicer that the ones you can buy in kits with cages. I did score dark colors and had two in one oyster, had those set in figure 8, but that's half the fun, and all but one of the loose ones are too big for the kit cage.

I do appreciate all this advice, I've been looking at the stuff I have on hand and my skills to see if I can make something so I or the dolls can wear them.

Perhaps you can make a wire wrap cage? My brother makes them and they can really work on anything, any size, and you could really control exactly what you want it to look like. Plus a snug fitting wire wrap might help protect the pearl as well. I see a few pretty pendants and rings on Google using this method.
http://katlynmanson.deviantart.com/art/copper-wire-wrapped-pearl-marble-pendant-313654111Ok so this one is a marble but same idea
http://lc.pandahall.com/articles/552-super-easy-jewelry-making-idea-inspired-single-pearl-necklace.htmlHeres a tutorial for a really simple one
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/177473256/personalized-jewelry-necklace-caged?ref=marketThis one looks like a little nest

There's nothing wrong with cultured pearls and good ones with many coats of nacre are as beautiful and sturdy as natural pearls; natural pearls are hideously expensive, since the object they begin with is usually a "seed" the size of a grain of sand, or a size 11 bead at biggest. I just happen to know that the ones in the "pick your pearl" oysters are not left in there for very long, and so have a thin coat of nacre that is more prone to damage than the higher quality cultured pearls or the natural pearls.