Creation of Sleeper earrings in gold with cultured pearls

Pearls are certainly the most used organic material in jewelry, much more than coral, wood or even mother-of-pearl.

For centuries they have been used to adorn jewels and their rarity made them luxury products reserved for an elite.

This era has passed since pearl cultivation allowed pearls to be «harvested», still in an artisanal way, but much more easily than in the past.

If you want to know more about pearl cultivation, this article will provide you with useful additional information.

In the case of our project it involves the reproduction of a pair of fine 18k gold earrings, each decorated with 4 small white cultured pearls.

View showing the white cultured pearls of the earrings

This is an old earring design that was lost, so we had to recreate it exactly from photos of the original earrings.

The pearls have a diameter of 3 millimeters each.

This manufacturing work is carried out entirely on the jeweler’s ankle and involves two phases, the creation of the crossbar closure of the gold loops with the support of the pearls, then the positioning of the pearls on the jewel.

Other examples of 18k gold earrings made in our goldsmith workshop:

Check out another design of men’s hoop earrings in 24k gold

Making the gold sleeper clasp

Proof that you should always keep photos of your jewelry, both for your insurance and to have it remade in case of loss or theft.

It was thanks to her photos that our client was able to entrust us with the reproduction of her curls that she had lost.

Seen original gold earrings to be reproduced

These earrings consist of an 18k yellow gold backing, which supports the white cultured pearls and a sleeper type clasp closure which allows for push-button closure.

The work begins by making the different parts of the buckles in rolled wire and gold plate.

Despite the small size of the latter (17 millimeters in height), they are still made from the assembly of 5 different parts.

View showing the different parts of the earrings

Our buckles consist of a clover shaped tray which will hold the 4 beads, a removable clasp support arm, the clasp, a hollow ball to hang the clasp and an axle which allows the clasp to rotate.

The buckle support arm is first welded into place, then all parts are individually polished before assembling the buckles.

Once the welding work is completed, the closure remains to be assembled

18k yellow gold earrings in the process of being assembled

Placing cultured pearls on the loops

Once the gold work is complete, we can start mounting the white cultured pearls on the earrings.

These are fixed glued with resin.

View of gold sleeper earrings and cultured pearls before mounting

You can see in the photos the small 2mm fins protruding from the bead holder.

These handles are inserted into the pearls which are already semi-drilled, so that they are fixed glued to the gold support which penetrates inside the pearl.

This is the only known method for fixing semi-drilled beads, ensuring excellent durability over time.

Once put in place, we can then appreciate the end result of these cycles.

View showing the pearls and sleeper clasp of the gold earrings

View of the open lever closure

Here are some other custom earring creations made in our laboratory:

To go further: