How to Distinguish Real Freshwater Pearls and Where to Buy

Pearl beads are always one of the favorites for women. They are not expensive as diamonds, but elegant enough. And on today’s fashion jewelry market, freshwater pearl beads are becoming more and more popular as they are natural but much cheaper than sea pearls. And the available quality of freshwater pearls is much larger than sea peals, for there are many bases for culturing pearls, especially in China.

Add caption

Freshwater pearl beads can be considered as a fabulous treasure that can be the most valuable asset for any woman. As they are cheap, wearing such pearl jewelry renders the women a totally new look without any pressure on budget. Why these beads are so popular with women and jewelry designers? Historically, freshwater pearl beads have been used for decoration for a long time. And there are a large number of historic characters whom you can spot wearing them. Their popularity has increased with the passage of time. These beads are versatile. They are widely used in necklace making, bracelet making, earrings making, rings making and many other decorations, like hair decoration. Although freshwater pearls are often somewhat less lustrous then saltwater counterparts, they appear in a wide variety of shapes and colors, and they tend to be less expensive than saltwater pearls. These beads are also quite durable, resisting chipping, wear, and degeneration.

Freshwater pearls are so popular, but how to distinguish if they are real? Here are some guidelines. The first is tooth test, rubbing the pearls lightly across upper front teeth. Real peals should feel gritty or sandy, fake pearls will feel smooth. The second, using a magnifying glass to check. The edges of the hole in real pearls are smooth and sharp, otherwise, they are fakes. Third, there are little minimal flaws on real peals’ surface. They are most likely fake pearls if they appear absolutely flawless.

 Freshwater Pearl Beads

In recent years, the Chinese have been able to take the art of culturing freshwater pearls to new levels. In the last decade the quality of pearls produced have become so high that many pearls in the top percentage of a harvest are nearly indistinguishable of their saltwater ones. There are several famous pearl farm bases in China, and many Chinese jewelry wholesalers or factories have their own pearl farms or have cooperation with those farms. Many jewelry retailers around the world also like to wholesale these pearls from China and sell them in their countries. If you want to save money, you can purchase these beads from Chinese wholesalers directly, and PandaHall as a leading China beads, findings and gems online market is a good choice. 

Purchase Freshwater Beads to Create Stunning Jewelry

Freshwater beads contain freshwater pearl beads and freshwater shell beads. For hundreds of years, the only people who wore pearls were royalty and nobles, and later, the fabulously wealthy who could afford them. Today, the good news is that you don’t have to spend a small fortune to get beautiful pearls to use in your bead-weaving and jewelry making projects.

About the freshwater pearl beads, they are the result of irritation in the soft tissue of a mollusk. Slimy water creatures aside, pearls are as beautiful and fascinating as any gemstone that many people have even seen, and certainly hold more allure for some people than other types of semi-precious beads. Freshwater pearl beads are now available in dozens of different shapes beyond the traditional round and off-round. Freshwater shell beads come in various shapes and are dyed in different colors too. No matter what kind of freshwater beads you would like to get, you will easily find them from a large jewelry beads wholesaler such as PandaHall.

Here I would like to share some simple but stunning, elegant jewelry designs of freshwater beads with you.

Natural Freshwater Pearl Beads Strands

Pearl Drop Earrings

This design is very suitable for beginners.

Materials: 2 white freshwater pearl beads; 2 silver beads; 2 closed oval links of chains; 2 sterling silver headpins; 2 earring hooks.

Steps: Slide each bead onto a headpin, and make a closed wire loop at the top. At the top of the last bead, using round nose pliers to create a loop in the wire, and slide the oval chain link onto the loop before closing the loop and fastening the beads to the link. Using your pliers to open the loop at the bottom of your earring hook and slide your link chain onto the earring. Close the loop and your earring is completed. Repeat for the second one. A pair of simple, but elegant freshwater pearl beads earrings are finished.

Glass Pearl Earrings, with Glass Beads and Brass Earring Hooks

Freshwater Shell Bracelets

Materials: 5 creamy freshwater shell flower beads (have two holes at edges); 10pcs rhinestone links; 1 iron lobster claw clasp; 1 strand of extended chain.

Steps: Adding rhinestone links on each hole of flower beads (10pcs rhinestone links for 5 flower beads). Attaching two rhinestone links from two individual flower beads on the lobster claw clasp and then linking other rhinestone links together to make a circle. The last step is to add the extended chain to the jump ring of lobster claw clasp. A elegant bracelet is finished. You can also use some jump rings to link the rhinestone links together.

Freshwater Shell Bracelets, Rhinestone

They are very stunning and elegant, but simple to make, right? You can also have a look at PandaHall’s Official Facebook if you would like to get more inspirations and ideas about jewelry making. Just purchase some jewelry beads and findings to make your own gorgeous jewelry.