Azuki-あずき

These are Akoya pearl earrings, made from a pair measuring 6.0 mm and 5.9 mm. Round pearl earrings are rather unusual for Flower Jem.

I periodically sort through the pearls in my inventory again by size, and this pair happened to come together during one of those sessions.

There may be a single round 6 mm pearl whose partner cannot be found, so it remains in stock for some time. Then, among newly purchased pearls, another round pearl may appear that happens to pair well with the one already waiting in inventory.

Strictly speaking, however, these two pearls have somewhat different color characteristics. One appears blue-green with a slight reddish tone, while the other looks more blue-silver-pink. When they are placed side by side, the difference in color is fairly easy to see, but because their sizes are almost identical, I decided to make them into a pair of earrings.

Their levels of luster are also similar. Neither has an extremely strong luster. Instead, both have a slightly subdued, gentle shine. Looking at them together, I felt that they could work as a pair.

If I applied extremely strict matching standards, these two pearls would probably be separated. They might work well individually as rings or brooches, but at the moment I do not find perfectly round pearl rings especially appealing for Flower Jem. When making rings, I would rather work with baroque pearls that have stronger individuality.

Today is September 13, 2026.

Recently, much of my Flower Jem work has been devoted to organizing and systematizing the many articles I have written over the years.

When the articles from Etsy, the Flower Jem website, and YouTube are combined, there are around 800 of them.

They are scattered across different places, and articles about products that have already been sold rarely have another opportunity to be read.

Yet among them are firsthand accounts from pearl farms, articles about making pearl jewelry, and ordinary diary entries that can still be enjoyable to read today.

I am trying to organize them into something like a library so that more people can find and read them.

I sell pearls, but I seem to promote my articles almost as enthusiastically as I promote the pearls themselves.

Pearls are not everyday necessities, nor are they industrial products made in huge quantities. They are also relatively expensive.

And there are countless shops selling Akoya pearls. When it comes to clean, round pearls in particular, similar-looking pearls can be found in many different stores.

At the same time, not every pearl comes with a gemological certificate, and each shop has its own standards for evaluating pearls. If I were trying to buy pearls somewhere myself, I think choosing would actually be quite difficult.

In that situation, one thing I would want to know is what kind of shop it is, and what kind of person is running it.

If I can understand who is operating the shop, how they work, and what attitude they have toward the things they sell, I personally feel that it becomes easier to trust the products as well.

That is one reason I have written such an almost excessive number of articles over the years.

They range from fairly specialized articles about Akoya pearls to simple notes about everyday life.

Pearls alone can sometimes be difficult to judge. I believe that showing that I have a certain amount of knowledge and experience with Akoya pearls, while also explaining how and why I make each piece, can offer a small amount of additional help to someone considering a purchase.

The disadvantage is that most of my articles are long.

But pearls are expensive, so perhaps long articles are better than short ones. At least, that is what I like to tell myself.

I enjoy reading essays and novels myself.

I sometimes hope that people who enjoy reading might also gather around this shop.

That may narrow the audience even further, but perhaps there are some things I would rather value more than having the widest possible audience.

And so, Pearl Bless You.