One Perfect Strand of Pearls

Pearl jewelry knotted on silk is always elegant 

More of this Feature • Part 2: Making a Strand of Your Own   Related Resources • Easy How-To • Places to Buy Pearls • Silk and Other Supplies

There is nothing more classic than a fine strand of pearls, knotted on a silk cord with a lovely clasp. It used to be only a few who could afford pearls, but with recent additions to the pearl market, ownership is a possibility for nearly every budget. And this year they are very in style.

Pearl shapes in this new "pearl boom" are equipped with evocative names such as the rice, potato, Angel Wing, popcorn, coin, mabe, baroque, button, Biwa, teardrop and round. Colors cover the rainbow; shades range from pure white to almost black. Green, gold, peacock, blue, Champagne, pink and tan are also around. There is no end to the variations when it comes to pearls.

Even with this new color and shape selection, the most-sought-after pearl necklace remains the hand knotted strand. In traditional pearl knotting, two threads are used, of a size FF or FFF silk. An overhand knot is made between each pearl and is finished with a slight pull of the two strands. The ends are finished with bead cups, where the knot is on the outside of the cup and will be seen, so they must be done neatly. Gold findings and clasps are the traditional choice.

Nowadays, with a larger variety of findings available to go with all those pearl options, we can go other directions and still create a lovely knotted pearl necklace. I have used single strands of Size 4 Griffin brand silk cord that comes with a built-in needle. This cord is oriented for the right handed knotter, as the twist of the cord is in that direction.

The reasons for knotting pearls are simple; safety and preservation. When any bead or pearl are strung without knotting, they are not really secure. A strand can break for any number of reasons, and when that happens, it is difficult if not impossible to track down all of the scattered jewels! When a cord is knotted, the only thing lost will be one pearl or a clasp, at most. The rest will stay intact. Also, knotted pearls will not rub against each other, which can result in marring and chipping. This would devalue good pearls, not to mention making them look less desirable.

Next page > How to Knot Your Own Strand >

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