Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1914-10-17
STRINCINC PEARLS
Only the Choicest Silk Is Used
For the Best Jewels.
TYING KNOTS AS A FINE ART.
The Perfect Hang Of the Necklace De-
Ponds Upon How These Tiny Twists
Are Formed, and II May Take
Year to Master the knack.

Are rormedi ana " MAY lake
/ Year to Master the Knack.
The pearl stringers themselves call
| it trade They are not the kind Of
people to talk about art. If they see
anything of their work beyond the
prosaic fact that "stringing" is a good
! employment it is only an indirect
and somewhat vague appreciation of
the delicate attraction of the pearls
they handle.
Although not processing to be expert
judges, | have never met a pearl
stringer yet whose eye aud taste
were not trained to a fine perception
of the form and color Of the beamy,
iridescent luster Of the jewel of the
shelfish 1t would be as impossible
for them to mistake an artificial pearl
for real one as it would be for a
lapidary to begin to polish a piece of
glass under the impression it was a
diamond.
1t is often said that the little known
industry of pearl stringing is dying
| out, but this is not the fact No ma
chinery is yet invented to supersede
TIE ten clever fingers of the practiced
strinGer. The industry is exclusive.
too, and a business has often been
passed Oh from mother to daughter.
even from grandmother to grandchild
! Drilling and mounting of pearls is
quite a different branch of the indus
| try.
Good light is one of the essential
| needs Of the pearl stringer, especially
| when she is employed in making or re-
| pairing seed pearl ornaments. All the
! beads have TO be arranged according
| to their size and then separately and
most carefully sewed into place on
| their dainty framework. For instance,
! If the design is that of a flower or leaf
| the skill lies In graduating from the
| biggest pearl to the one that touches
| the extreme point Some of these or
naments, by the way. are very old. for
| If they are carefully handled there is
no reason why they should not be
joy, If not forever, at all events for as
long as the handsome, antique pen
dants and pearl studded medals of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
that one still admlres In the British
museum.
Only the finest silk is used for string
ing the finest pearls. Great beads,
round and shiny, Enthusiastically artif-
cial and with no more real luster than
white marbles-with the exception of
what are called Roman pearls, manu-
featured many years ago-may be al
lowed to hang together on catgut but
orients must be threaded, pearl kiss
ing pearl. on sllken 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. Some
times also she has to make a knot
between bead and bead. a method that
adds to the length of the necklace, but
detracts from the beauty of the line of
pearls. The knack of making this tiny
knot VIII perhaps take girl a year to
master; the perfect hang Of the beads.
neither too loose nor too tight, depends
on how ii is made.
There is no needle fine enough for
threading small seed pearls, so the
stringer makes her own out of piece
Of wire as thin as a hair. She arranges
her pearls, if they are of different
Sizes on grooved board covered with
billiard table cloth. any other material,
such as green baize, being much too
coarse. When she is making a tassel
or loops, it is pretty to watch her hold
her work at arms length every few
minutes. measuring its size and effect
with her well trained eye.
1t is hardly necessary 10 speak of the
strict integrity and unfailing care re
quired in a pearl Stringer. She is Ill
trusted with great possessions. for the
value Of pearls is continually on the in
crease There are some ladies who
never trust their treasures out Of their
own houses. but arrange. through
feweler, for a pearl stringer to call so
many times a year to repair ornaments
or restrug necklaces.
The work of the pearl stringer is so
little known. so quiet and dainty, that
il is doubtful if one in a thousand
women who stop to admire and Covet
MS they pass show windows ever gives
thought TO the patient fingers that
have threaded the beautiful beads and
tied the almost invisible. cunning Knots
that link them to their diamond clasps
The little band OF stringerS are very
simple. but buSineSslike people in sdeir
humble workrooms- devoteeS of beau
". although they are unconscious of
the fact. and true artists in the per
lection of their work.-London Chron-
jcle
Roth Piaved the Game