Did these earrings catch your eye?

These earrings were made in September 2024. They were once listed for sale, but after the listing was taken down, they remained unlisted until I finally decided to bring them back in August 2026.

What follows is the original description I wrote in September 2024.

Now, please enjoy some of Flower Jem’s pearl ramblings.

🌸These are Akoya pearl earrings. When I made these earrings, I produced 20 pairs at the same time. I spent the whole day matching the pairs, drilling, attaching the earring fittings, taking photos, and more. As a result, I ran out of time and ended up postponing writing the product descriptions. Now, a few days after listing these earrings on Etsy, I’m finally writing this description. Surprisingly, even though I listed all 20 pairs on the same day, this particular pair has been extremely popular. I find it quite strange because there is no significant difference between this pair and the others.

Now, regarding these pearls: they are paired as earrings, but there is a difference in color. One pearl may appear dark green, while the other can look light green under certain lighting. When I hold them in my hand, the difference isn’t very noticeable, but when placed on a table, the contrast becomes more apparent depending on the lighting. However, this seems to be heavily influenced by the light conditions.

I chose these pearls as a pair because their luster and the smoothness of their surfaces are remarkably similar. Occasionally, pearls have a transparent coating-like appearance, and these pearls give off that slight glass-coated vibe.

If you carefully zoom in on the lower pearl in the 8th photo, you’ll notice some wounds (blemishes) on the surface. These blemishes are hidden from the front when worn as earrings. Ideally, pearls used for earrings should not have blemishes. However, I selected these pearls for their intense luster, smooth surface, and the mesmerizing blend of deep purple, red, green, and blue hues.

In short, I felt these pearls had the qualities of gemstones.

Retailers often say that rarity equals value. However, from the perspective of pearl farmers, these are actually “failed” pearls. Pearl farmers generally aim to produce round, white pearls. Even for blue baroque pearls, not all of them turn out this beautiful. There are many blue baroque pearls that are not suitable for sale. The fewer blue baroque pearls there are, the better the pearl farmer’s success in producing high-quality pearls. In this sense, even rare blue pearls are considered failed pearls by farmers.

That said, in recent years, pearl farmers have come to understand that blue baroque pearls are gaining popularity in the market. Farmers often remark, “It feels complicated to see blue baroque pearls selling well. They’re technically failures… but they are beautiful, aren’t they?”

I regularly get asked by customers, “Why don’t you farm blue pearls exclusively?” If a pearl farm were to do that, it would probably go out of business. After all, the highest prices are for round, white-pink pearls. While some pearl farmers try to reduce the production of blue pearls, retailers often tout their rarity and value. I believe both views are valid. However, I want to make it clear that blue pearls are not particularly rare; they are simply irregular pearls that occur naturally in the pearl farming process. It’s a minor point, but it feels like a significant difference to me.

Imperfectly shaped vegetables like potatoes or tomatoes that don’t make it to the supermarket shelves are often sold as B-grade products at a lower price. Supermarkets prefer to stock perfectly shaped vegetables. Sometimes, the oddly shaped ones taste better. However, a store clerk would never point to a misshapen tomato and say, “It’s rare, so it’s expensive.” They might say something like, “This tomato is oddly shaped, but it’s well-ripened and tastes great. It even has more flesh than the perfectly shaped ones.” That’s the kind of salesperson I want to be.

By the way, I also have 19 other pairs of high-quality earrings that were made on the same day. It may be a bit of a hassle, but I’d be delighted if you could take a look at my store page.

I’ve also uploaded a video on YouTube showcasing the process of making these earrings, from pearl selection, pairing, and drilling. It’s quite a boring video, but it may be useful for checking the quality of the pearls.

Thank you!

🌸That was the description I wrote back in 2024.

Now, when these earrings were made, I made 20 pairs of earrings at the same time.

I sorted through several hundred natural blue pearls, and in the end, I was able to make 20 pairs. This pair was one of them. Apparently, even with several hundred pearls in front of me, 20 pairs was about the limit.

Does that sound like very few?

But there are more than eight billion of us humans in the world, and yet how many people do we meet with whom we truly get along…?

This sounds like it could become a very long story, so I’d better stop here.

Anyway, almost the entire process of making these earrings was captured on video.

If you’re interested, please have a look.

Most videos these days are carefully edited, but Flower Jem’s videos are rather unusual in that they are not edited very much. You may get to see pearls as they really are in everyday life, without much polishing of the story around them.

So, please take your time and enjoy.

The Path to the Forest of Pearl Sorting

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