Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones

Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones are incredibly common in jewelry. You see them in earrings, bracelets and you even see them in rings. Their shape, when used, gives a simple design a wide range of designs and is versatile enough to give your one piece several different possibilities.

Necklaces

You can use Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones in many different ways on a necklace. One large semiprecious stone can be used to anchor your necklace and customers can wear them with a V-neck top. Several of them hanging together, like in a chandelier or tiered multi-strand necklace, which gives your piece the weight it needs without bulging out (like coins do) or looking too awkward (like rectangular stones).

You can also drop the pear shaped stones in between unusual shapes (such as sterling silver charms, keshi or biwa pearls) to give uniformity amongst too much different oddly shaped components. Center drilled pear shaped stones can also be mixed in with coins and marquise shaped stones of various sizes to give texture and character to your piece.

In large necklaces that feature different materials, you can string together a small cluster of side drilled Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones to give the necklace a different feel. Pear shaped beads fit together neatly and give the piece a uniform but also woven effect. You can also use this technique with different sized pear shaped stones that allow you to add greater variety into your piece without making it look disorganized or unstructured.

Earrings

Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones  can also be hung in tiered chandelier earrings. You can start off with a sterling silver filigree frame and drop pears from it. You can also hang small increments of chain from the frame and drop the pears from the chain. By adding layers of this chain, you’ll get a chandelier effect which will hang nicely and add fluidity to your piece. Once again, the pear, because of its unique shape, gives the piece shape without looking odd or sticking out. 

Another way is to hang an increment of chain off of a filigree frame and hang different sized pears from it. You’ll get a different kind of variety and depth in your piece without using too much material. Easy earrings can also be created by dropping one Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones  off of a hammered, waved or textured soldered ring. The pear shape anchors the piece down smoothly and gives the piece a nice finish that cannot be done if using a round, oval, square or rectangular component.

Overall, Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones  are incredibly versatile pieces. Their angled sides allow them to be pieced together in uniform or varied clusters on a large necklace. Also because of their round ends, they are great and simple anchors for necklace pendants and earrings. Using Pear Shaped Semi-Precious Stones  is a great way to liven up your jewelry, provide more visual contrast and interest, and really add a new element of sparkle to your work.

Cleaning Gemstones -- Method and Technique

Cleaning gemstones is somewhat like cleaning gold vermeil: you want to do the bare minimum to get the job done. Cleaning is a part of care, and if you go overboard with chemicals, scrubbing, or ultrasonic cleaners, you run the risk of damaging the very thing you're trying to protect!

At first, simply take a soft dry cloth and remove any surface dirt or grime. A healthy and vigorous dry polish can go a long way in removing nasty unwanted particles and smudges, and offers little threat to the integrity of your jewellery. It can also single-handedly restore the natural shine that may have been dulled by wear, skin oils, moisturizers, hairspray, perfume, and all the other pesky threats that want to keep your gemstone less than lustrous. By all means, try to stick to the policy of applying all lotions and sprays before putting on jewellery- this is really the first rule of accessory hygiene. (Giving your accessories a quick dry buff with a cotton cloth after daily wear will also make cleaning easier and less crucial.)

In the event that the dry rub isn't enough, a mild soapy solution should be your next resort. Mix some lukewarm (never hot) water with a little bit of gentle, non anti-bacterial dish soap, and soak your accessory in the solution for a few minutes. This should loosen up grime and dirt, and you can then use a cloth to continue the lather and scrub away bad spots. If you think more friction is in order, soak longer and use a soft-bristled toothbrush to lather the surface of the stone in gentle circular motions. Finally, give your jewellery a cool, thorough rinse, and pat dry with a cotton cloth. Voila! Gleaming.

About 99% of the time, the above method should be more than adequate in restoring shine and lustre. If not, you can make a slightly more abrasive solution with six parts water to one part ammonia, and use that instead of the soapy water.

You may also consider buying an ultrasonic cleaner. Despite increasingly affordable prices and assurances of safe, gentle cleaning, I would advise against using such machines. Some gemstones respond poorly to ultrasonic treatment (opal, turquoise, and emerald to name a few), and you should definitely never use it for anything organic like pearls, wooden beads, shell, or coral. Furthermore, even a gemstone which is thought to be resistant to this kind of cleaning may have had minor cracks filled with oil (a very common practice known as polymer impregnation) which may deteriorate in an ultrasonic machine. This means that your stones' invisible, patched-over cracks will become increasingly visible cleaning after cleaning.

The good news is that you really shouldn't need one of those machines anyway, as soapy water and ammonia solution are a virtually unstoppable tag team. Another good thing about the soapy method is that since it is also safe for most metals that bear your gemstones, like sterling silver and gold vermeil, you shouldn't need to worry about having to use two cleaning methods for one piece of jewellery.