Japanese Akoya Pearl Farming

it's always interesting to know where your pearls come from we here at the Pearl outlet place Great Value in working with family-owned and worker owned businesses since we ourselves our family-owned and operated company so where do our incredibly lustrous AOA cultured pearls come from here in Japan of course and since we are working directly with two very specific work owned Farms off of shim shimo Island and only one family-owned Factory in Nya we can guarantee that all of the Coya pearls we purchase here are only farmed in Japan and nowhere else these are the docks at one of these worker owned Farms we've partnered with the oysters are suspended from these docks just after they've been nucleated and again just before Harvest time you can see the buoys in the background where they are carefully tinted for up to 2 years before being brought in for Harvest the more attention and Care the oysters receive throughout their lifetimes the more perfect the pearls that are [Music] produced it's Pearl harvesting time here in Japan the carefully tended oysters are being brought in from the bay in the Nets they've spent most of their pampered lives in this always occurs in the winter when the water is the coldest the cold water slows metabolism of the oyster thus slowing the Pearl formation process this slowing of the Pearl formation process causes the naker to be formed in tighter layers giving the Pearl their maximum luster these are the Nets the oysters have been growing in for most of their lives each net holds about 40 oysters the oysters are removed from the Nets and placed in buckets in preparation for the next step when removing the Pearl from the oyster every part of the oyster is used the shell is used to create mother Pearl products and the muscle tissue is a little known delicacy it is eaten raw and is quite delicious the edible muscle tissue is the part going into the pink and yellow bowls here it's usually eaten raw by the employees at the proar farm as well sold to local restaurants the rest of the oyster is used as fertilizer at this point the Pearl is still in the soft body tissues of the oyster there in the Blue Bowl all right they're about to eat raw oyster very good okay another one in this process the pearls are separated from the soft tissues these machines spin the pearls out of the tissues of the oyster [Music] fresh sea water is being added to dilute the solution a small amount of detergent is added as well it takes about 1 minute of spinning for the pearls to be separated from the tissues because the pearls are heavier they go to the bottom of the barrel here the operator is opening an internal valve allowing the pearls to drop into a small holding area attached to the bottom of the machine now the pearls are being removed from the holding area the pearls are now being rinsed and separated from the little bit of remaining soft tissues and other debris all the water used in all of these processes is filtered and returned back to the Bay when it comes to sorting matching pearls the amount of work and skill involved is incredible but absolutely necessary for a truly beautiful strand of pearls pearls are initially sorted at the farm with the higher quality jewelry grade pearls going to the factory the lower quality pearls are often ground up for medicinal uses and cream our partner Factory here in ngoya is a third generation family-owned business the Sorting matching drilling grading and polishing takes place here several of these Japanese technicians are world renowned for their skill here at the factory the pearls are first sorted by size using sees as seen here sees are the reason AOA pearls are always measured in half mm sizes for example a 7.5 to 8 mm ACO strand is composed of pearls that were too large to fall through a 7.5 mm seeve but small enough to fall through an 8 mm seeve next the coil pearls are sorted by Body color overtone color and luster the more skilled the technician the better match the end product will be many now the pearls are being separated into half drill versus full drill qualities half drilled pearls are used for earrings pendants and rings and should only have one blemish or be limited to blemishes in only one area of the Pearl so that the base of the Pearl is clean F drilled pearls are used for necklaces bracelets and other types of jewelry requiring a hole to be drilled completely through the Pearl the pearls chosen for earrings are now being further separated by quality based on their luster and [Music] blemishes the pearls chosen for necklaces must be matched as the entire strand based on their body color overtone and luster the more perfectly matched the pearls are in a strand of pearls the more valuable The Strand marking Pearl for drilling is a very timec consuming process and only the most quality conscious factories take the time to do this before drilling the pearls each Pearl is carefully examined to determine the best location for the drill hole if there is only a single blemish on the Pearl the Pearl is generally drilled directly through that blemish so that the Pearl is essentially blemish free after drilling if there is more than one blemish the locations of all the blemishes are taken into account so the least number of blemishes are visible these pearls are being drilled for necklaces the pearls are drilled from both sides simultaneously when the bits come close to meeting in the center the motors both shift One Direction to finish the hole so the bits don't touch a vacuum is constantly removing the Pearl dust that is being created during the drilling process a skilled technician can drill approximately 500 pearls an hour it takes years of practice to become this proficient if the bits hit the Pearl too quickly the bits will jump a little scratching the Pearl around the drill hole likewise if they are drilled too quickly excessive heat will build up and crack the [Music] [Music] Pearl the drilling process created a lot of pearl dust and the pearls need to be washed to remove any Pearl dust left on the pearls and in the drill holes Pearl dust is very abrasive and if it is not removed it'll eventually wear through the silk cord used in making pearl necklaces [Music] the pearls are now being placed in a center fuge which spins any excess water off the pearls and out of the drill holes AOA pearls like most gems need to be polished in a simple non-intrusive process to truly bring out their natural beauty this machine tumbles the pearls in a polishing agent made from natural organic substances such as Walnut shells bamboo slivers eucalyptus leaves and [Music] beeswax [Music] the

Channel: ThePearlOutlet

Views: 382,364

Keywords: +Japan+Pearls+Akoya+Akoya, Pearls+Farming+Pearl, Farming+Harvest+Pearl, Harvest+The, Pearl, Outlet

Id: 901Y9Rrkuuk

Length: 10min 19sec (619 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 15 2010