My dad gave me two sterling silver necklaces today that have black(ish) FW pearls on them.

The larger has 9 teardrop shaped pearls about 1/2" long (with the finding) and the smaller has 12 tiny 1/8" pearls that have been drilled through. The smaller have a distinct bright blue cast to them and are very pretty.

I've already decided I'd like to turn two of the teardrops into drop earrings with some broken white gold chain I have. Maybe a few pairs for Christmas presents if they come out right.

My dilemma though is what to do with the little guys? They are pretty but I dislike the setting - think multiple dangly pieces with pearl on the bottom and topped with two tiny clear plastic beads.

I've tried uploading a picture but I keep getting errors so I will try again tomorrow.

Or you could add the smaller pearls at the top, against the stud, and set a small diamond in the middle of the pearl so that the drill-through isn't visible - like in these sapphire beads:

There's a piece of gold wire that goes through the bead and is soldered to the earring frame. I will take a picture of the back tomorrow.

However, it looks that the smaller pearls are only drilled at one end, not through, so you don't necessarily need to do the bezel-and-wire thing...

Here's the detail photos of front and back:



As you can see, the wire with the cup and bezel setting is worked first, then it's inserted through a bead and secured by bending into a frame hole, or soldered to it.