Individually knotted pearls. Note that tiny bit of string at front. Naughty!

It’s a sound that makes your heart drop to your shoes … CLATTER … Clatter … clatter … rollllll… The sound of a pearl string finally giving way, and discovering that they weren’t individually knotted!

Hopefully this isn’t the case for most of you - reputable pearl dealers and jewellers ensure that their pearls are all individually knotted. I know Pearls of Joy certainly do. However, even though only one pearl fell off, the whole string still needs to be redone!

When we recommend pro re-stringing

If you have very expensive pearls, heirloom pearls, or pearls with sentimental value, we recommend having a professional restring them. You’ll be using lighters and needles, and nerves aren’t always conducive to steady hands! Practice on your daughter’s or niece’s plastic pearl necklace before trying it on the real deal.

If you want to practice re-stringing

Be aware that you’ll probably need to practice your skills every so often to keep them sharp. Otherwise it’s like learning to ride a bike all over again … there’ll be scrapes and tears! That said, don’t be put off re-stringing your own pearls. It is very achievable, and you can get professional quality results with a bit of practice. So here are the ‘knots and bolts’ (!) of re-stringing pearls!

You’ll need:

-          A beading needle or beading wire

-          Size E thread, either silk or synthetic. Silk is preferable.

-          Container for the pearls

-          Sharp scissors with a fine point

-          A match or lighter if you are using synthetic thread.

Start by collecting all of your materials in one place. The only thing worse than breaking a necklace and finding it wasn’t individually knotted, is coming back into your pearl-fixing room to see the dog swallowing hard, with a funny look on his face…

Cut off your thread, and be generous. Use at least three times the length of your necklace.

You’ll then have to separate the silk thread into it’s four or so individual strands. Take one thin strand, about five inches long, and thread it through the eye of your needle. Make a knot in one end - this is sort of like enlarging the eye of your needle to a million times its original size. Much easier!

Then cut off your triple length strand of silk thread and double it over, then pop it through your enlarged needle eye. This completes the needle threading process (end chapter. You may now stop the tape. Hsssss … ;-D )

You can then cut off half of the clasp, thread the needle through the hole and then immediately re-loop it back through the enraged eye.

Cut the rest of your pearls off the necklace, one by one, to avoid any more mishaps. One is usually enough! Sometimes jewellers create subtle size graduations in their pearl necklaces that may be difficult to distinguish by eye, this is why the one-by-one method is best.

You will then string all the pearls onto the thread … but don’t tie any knots yet! Take the needle out and tie a double knot at the end of your necklace thread, to hold all of the pearls on while you’re doing the individual knots.

Start doing your knots, beginning at the end where the half clasp is tied on already. Just usual over, under, in and out knots are required, nothing fancy. Anything else gets a bit chunky (although this can be an individual sort of look). To get the knots close to the pearl, hold the loop on the pearl’s surface, separate the two threads, and then pull the knot closed.

Stay focused on getting the knots close to the pearls - practice makes perfect. Yes, Mom, I know!

When you’ve finished, tie on the remaining half of the clasp with a tight double knot, or any other fancy-pants variety you know :-). If you are using synthetic thread, you can very carefully burn the ends away. If using silk thread, put a very small drop of superglue at the clasp end.

And then breathe a big sigh of relief, congratulate yourself, and go pour a big gin and tonic!