The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-05-25
.STRINGING OF PEARLS
is DEEMED AN ART
No Machinery Can Take Place Of
Clever and Practieed
Fingers.
INDUSTRY is LITTLE KNOWN

The pearl stringers themselves call II
a trade" They are not the kind of
people to talk about art. II they see
anything in their work beyond the pro-
| sale fact that "stringing' is a good en-
| ployment. II Is only in an indirect and
| somewhat vague appreciation OF the deli
cate attraction of the pearls they handle.
says Peggy Webbing. in London Chron-
icle.
Although nU< protesting to be expert
judges, have never met a pearl stringer
whose eyes and taste were not trained to
fine perception OF the form and color
of the beamy. iridescent luster of the
Jewel Of the shellfish. 1t would be as i'm
possible for them to mistake an artificial
pearl for a real one as it would be for
a lapidary to begin to polish piece of
glass under the impression 1t was dia-
mond.
Pearls all down the ages are inter-
woven with legends and stories, super
stitions and songs. From the monstrous
pearls that are said to have adorned tho
crown of the Great Mogul to the seed
pearl work of the famous Baroda carpet
from the pearls that cleaned at the
Field OF the Cloth of Gold TO the latest
necklace hanging in a Bond Street win
dow, they are unsurpassed iii value and
beauty.
1t is often said that the little-known
industry of pearl stringing is dying out.
but this Is not the fact No machinery
is yet invented to supercede the ten
clever fingers of the practiced stringer.
They are busy all day long in their little
workrooms. and one OF the cleverest girls
has work in hand. she was telling me
last week, that will employ all her bust
ness hours for several months to come.
There are very few pearl or coral
stringers in London-probably less than
a dozen all told. One needs TO be well
acquainted with his West End to find
them out. II is no use searching in the
streets. where the finest specimens of
their work are bought and sold.
One may discover. by diligent search.
an occasional little brass plate engraved
with the words. 80 and so, Pearl string
ers." The same in a certain busy street
on the way to Soho. But having found
the best pearl stringers, a stranger
would be very much mistaken II he
imagined that ringing the bell is an
and methods.
Good Light Necessary.
No, the pearl stringers are judiciously
reticent about the trade. A business has
often been passed on from mother to
daughter, even from grandmother to
grandchild. until the original name on
the brass plate is no longer borne by
anybody in the workroom. In old times
the stringing OF corals was OF much
more importance than it Is today. Drill
ing and mounting of pearls is quite a
different branch OF the industry.
Good light is one OF the essential needs
of the pearl stringer. especially when she
is employed in making or repairing seed
pearl ornaments. All the beads have TO
be arranged according to their size. and
then separately and most carefully sewn
into place on their dainty framework.
For instance, IL the design is thar OF a
flower or a leaf the skill lies IN grad
uating from the biggest pearl to the one
that touches the extreme point
Some of these ornaments, by the way. |
are very old, for If they are carefully |
handled there is no reason why they
should not be joy, II not forever, at
all events for as long as the handsome
antique pendants and pearl-studded med |
ais OF the sixteenth and seventeenth |
that one still admires in the |
British Museum.
Only the finest silk Is used for string |
ing the finest pearl. Great beads round |
and shiny. Enthusiastically artificial and |
with no more real luster than white |
marbles, with the exception OF what are
called Roman pearls, manufactured |
many years ago, may be allowed to hang
together on catgut, but orients must be |
threaded. pearl kissing pearl, on silken
strands, worthy of their shape and |
skin"
Now the art OF the stringer lies in the
apparently simple manner of tying the
knot that attaches the snap. Sometimes
also she has TO make a knot between
bead and bead, a method that adds to |
he length OF the necklace, but detracts /
rom the beauty of the line OF pearls.
The knack OF making this tiny knot will !
perhaps take a girl a year to master:
he perfect hang of the beads, neither
100 loose nor too tight. depends on how
{ is made
There is no needle fine enough for
threading small seed pearls, so the
;tringer makes her own out Of a piece
II wire as thin as a hair. She arranges
Ter pearls II they are of different sizes
IN a .grooved board covered with bill
lard table cloth. any other material,
'uch as green baize, being much too
,oarse. When she is making a tassel or
oops II is pretty to watch her hold her
work. at arms length every few minutes,
Measuring its size and effect with her
eve.
trict integrity and unfsiling care re-
luired in a pearl stringer. She is in
rusted with great possessions. for the
'alue of pearls Is continually on the in
rease. There are some ladies who never