Beautiful pearls
posted on 14 March 2011 | posted in
Fashion
One of the most beautiful characteristics of a pearl is its lustre or shine which depends on the reflection, refraction and diffraction of light from the translucent layers. The best luster will be produced when there are numerous thin layers of nacre in the pearl. An iridescence in the pearl can be created when there is overlapping of the different layers which breaks up the light as it falls on the surface. In addition to this pearl jewellery is often dyed different colours to add to the interesting pieces which can be made. Saltwater pearls grow inside pearl oysters in the ocean although they are occasionally cultivated in protected lagoons.So although freshwater and saltwater pearls come from different sources they can appear very similar and with modern farming techniques a string of cultured freshwater pearls can look just as wonderful as a string of saltwater pearls which could have cost many times more.
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