Contents:
Business Information
Our friends and customers
always ask us why do we call us Chiolinas, what does it mean ?
The origin of the name is
derived from a natural substance in the pearl oyster shell. For more information
you can read a
small article below.
Have fun with the other
contents as well.
To Whom Are We Selling ? -
Brand or no Brand ?
- Retail,
Wholesale, Consignment -
In what
countries are we selling ?
Shell and
Mother of Pearl Information
Mother of Pearl Types
-
The Growth Of A Shell
-
The Shell Structure
-
The Protective Outer Shell
-
The Prismatic Layer
The Nacreous Layer
-
The Crystalline Effect
-
Mother Of Pearl Care
To
Whom Are We Selling ?
You have a surf shop, sportswear
business or a souvenir/gift shop in a hotel or resort and are looking for some
new cool items matching your customers' requests for quality lifestyle items.
Yes ? .... then you have come to the right place. Just send us an
email
including your business details and we will discuss how Chiolinas can be your
business partner.
Brand or
no Brand ?
We usually sell our products under
the Chiolinas - Surfer & Beach Jewelry Brand. This allows us to work closely
together with qualified retailers in the surf shop, sportswear-, resort and
hotel business. We offer a full range of support such as sales displays, labels,
flyers etc. to actively push your sales and consequently promote our brand.
However we do also manufacture certain shell parts, especially Mother of Pearl discs,
rings and inlay products not related to the Chiolinas brand. Just send us a
drawing or sample and we will check the production feasibility and make you a
quotation.
Retail, Consignment
We value the professional cooperation with
qualified retailers in the surf shop, sportswear-, resort and hotel business.
We sell our products to our business partners and offer Consignment contracts as well under certain conditions.
In what countries are we selling ?
Our main market is Thailand, the
country where we design and manufacture our products. However we are looking for
qualified resellers worldwide to expand our business and availability of
products in different regions.
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Mother
of Pearl Types
Mother of Pearl Origins
Mother of Pearl or Nacre forms in the shells of bi-valve mollusks found in salt
and fresh water. These mollusks are found around the world
from the Great
Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia to the Gulfs of Mexico, Panama and
Venezuela.
Abalone Oysters 'Haliotis'
Used
in trade for thousands of years Abalone oysters are found in abundance around
the world. As well as being produced for their meat, they are an excellent
source of highly iridescent Mother of Pearl and Pearl, ranging in beautiful
colors from turquoise, green, cream and rose.
Green
Abalone 'Haliotis Fulgens'
Green Abalone thrives in the cold and rocky waters in the Gulf of California.
They are often encrusted with small clams that adhere to their
surface whose
presence gives rise to the creation of blister pearls within the Abalone.
Blister pearls
are formed when the clams bore into the shell from the outside, the Abalone
responds in defense to the intrusion by secreting layers of nacre, which coat
the foreign body on the inside of the shell eventually solidifying forming
natural blister pearls.
Black-Lipped Oyster 'Pinctada Margaritifera'
Harvested since millennia, the black-lipped oyster, covering the widest
geographical area of any known species, was the preferred color of
Mother of
Pearl of Indian and Persian monarchs. However, despite this oysters name the
nacre is rarely pure black, instead the colors range
from gray to green with
blue or rose overtones. Mother of Pearl produced by Pacific black-lipped oysters
is the most sought after on the
world's market today.
Silver-Lipped Oyster 'Pinctada Maxima'
Sometimes referred to as the gold-lipped oyster, these giants have been
harvested for their Mother of Pearl for more than a hundred years
in the South
Pacific. They were first cultured for its pearls in the late 1800s but only
became widely distributed in the late 19th Century.
Today the silver or white
Mother of Pearl or Nacre produced by this oyster is the mainstay of the
Australian, Japanese and Philippine
cultured pearl industries.
Akoya
Oyster 'Pinctada Fucata'
Japan
is famous for its Akoya pearl producing oysters, but this has only been the case
since the 1920s. Before this time Japanese divers placed little value on Akoya
pearls, discarding them and keeping the Mother of Pearl, which was used as
decorative inlay in jewelry and household ornamentation. By the 1950s, with new
culturing techniques, Akoya Mother of Pearl and pearl had won widespread
popularity and is now exported worldwide.
Ceylon Oyster 'Pinctada Radiata'
From
the time of antiquity up to the 1920s the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf supplied
the world's demand for Mother of Pearl and pearl. The source of the majority of
Mother of Pearl came from the Ceylon oyster, known as 'Bil-bil' by the fishermen
of the Red Sea. The large demand almost drove this particular species to
extinction but remarkably this oyster has endured the ravages of time and new
techniques in cultivation have seen numbers increase.
Atlantic Oyster 'Pinctada Imbricata'
Before leaving, the Queen of Spain told Christopher Columbus that Mother of
Pearl and Pearl along with gold and silver were the treasures
that the Spanish
monarchy desired the most. When Columbus landed on the Venezuelan coast in 1498,
the royal request was answered
on the islands of Margarita and Cubagua. For one
hundred years, the fruits of millions of Atlantic oysters from the region were
shipped
to Europe to satisfy the European monarchy's desire. The fragile
Atlantic oyster came close to extinction; however, commercial farming
ventures
in the last century have seen an increase in numbers.
La
Paz Oyster 'Pinctada Mazatlanica'
Before the discovery of the Pacific's black-lipped oyster the only other Mother
of Pearl that came close to the beautiful colors of the
oysters of Polynesia
came from the La Paz oysters in the waters of Panama and California. At one time
La Paz oysters, preferring open
oceanic conditions, were near extinction but
recent culturing ventures in the Gulf of California are replenishing numbers and
seeing a
return of black pearls and Mother of Pearl to the world market.
Mabé
Oyster 'Pteria Penguin' and 'Pteria Sterna'
These
two species of thin-shelled oysters are the most common sources of mabé blister
pearls. Mabé pearls are artificially induced or cultured, they form when a mold
made of plastic is inserted between the oyster's shell, this causes the oyster
to produce layers of nacre or Mother of Pearl which eventually covers the mold,
the mould is then cut from the shell. These oysters occur naturally in the Red
Sea, Indian Ocean, and the tropical western Pacific.
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Mother of Pearl Facts
All
waterborne organisms living within shells, called mollusks, have the ability to
produce Mother of Pearl. However, very few mollusks with single shells, called
gastropods, do so. High quality Mother of Pearl is produced by the mollusk
family called bivalves, which have two-part shells.
The
popular belief that Mother of Pearl and Pearl is formed as a result of a grain
of sand entering a mollusks shell is false. Mother of Pearl or Nacre forms when
an organic irritant such as a parasite, food-particle become trapped within the
mollusk, or if the mollusk is injured in some way.
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Conchiolin ---- Chiolinas
Sensing the object the living organism within the mollusk secretes calcium
carbonate, a derivative mineral of aragonite, and the binding protein conchiolin,
these are the same substances that the animal uses to build its shell.
The
layers of calcium carbonate settle on the intruder and are interspersed by the
conchiolin, which acts as a kind of organic glue binding the crystals together.
The regularity of the crystals, and the number of layers results in giving the
pearl what
is called luster.
Luster is a phenomenon used to describe the diffraction of light from the
Nacre's surface brilliance together with its inner, deeper radiance.
The
radiance is the light that is reflected, not just off the surface, but also off
the internal layers. A better luster is achieved if the Nacre
crystals are
uniform and the layers thin and numerous, letting the light diffract
uninterrupted. Nacre that has a bright mirror-like finish
commands higher
prices, whereas cheaper quality Nacre has a low luster appearing dull with a
flat finish. The quality of the Nacre's luster
is also dependant on external
factors.
Mother of Pearl is the creation of a living organism and environmental factors
play a crucial role in its formation. Mother of Pearl producing
mollusks cannot
regulate their body temperature, and so are susceptible to changes in external
conditions. If
the waters reach a high temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, as in the Pacific,
the mollusks metabolism is increased and they grow faster secreting more nacre
than a mollusk who lives in colder waters. However the layers of nacre are thick
and not as translucent and the crystal structure is not perfect resulting in a
duller, less lustrous Mother of Pearl. Therefore Mother of Pearl is rarely
harvested in the hotter summer months. However, when temperatures go down to 16 degrees Celsius the mollusks metabolism
is low, and produces nacre at a slower rate.
These nacre layers are thinner and
the crystal structure more even resulting in an increased translucency and
better luster.
Mother of Pearl or Nacre appears in a variety of color from white to black and
nearly every other color in between. It derives its color
from three sources:
genetic make-up, food and trace metals in the water and lastly to a lesser
extent depth and salt content of the water. The
mollusk's genes are in part responsible for the color of the Mother of Pearl. A
rainbow-lipped, or black-lipped oyster instinctively creates darker colors,
whereas a white-lipped oyster makes lighter colors.
Mollusks are filter feeders, sucking water in with their valves, extracting
minute food particles from the water then ejecting the water out.
Their diet
consists of 'Phytoplankton', microscopic algae, and these algae differ according
to season. In the Gulf of California the
blue-green algae called 'Cyanophites'
are abundant in winter, but in summer a golden algae called 'Diatoms' are more
common.
These different 'Phytoplanktons' provide the mollusk with materials that
change the color of their shell and nacre. Some
trace elements are acquired from the water, such as metallic ions, that help the
Mother of Pearl gain its unique coloration. Iron can give a pink color, copper a
green to blue hue, magnesium a yellow coloration etc.
The
term 'Iridescence' is often appropriated to Mother of Pearls as well as to opal.
Iridescence is a general expression used when describing the presence of a
rainbow effect across the surface; this is produced by the interference or
diffraction of light through the gems crystal structure.
Nacre provides shelter
for the soft-bodied mollusk; the strength and resiliency of shell enables the
animal to survive the unceasing environmental and tensile pressures endured in
its habitat. The shell structure begins with an oval-like, rounded shape called
the umbo. The umbo is gradually surrounded by concentric growth rings of nacre
that will thicken and widen outward continually, to accommodate the animal
throughout its lifespan.
The mollusk’s shell
contains three layers: the periostacum (the conchiolin layer), the ostracum (the
prismatic layer), and the hypostracum (the final mother of pearl layer).
The periostracum is the
outer layer of the shell; this is the first layer to form around the mollusk
during its immature, glochidaeal stage, and is composed entirely of organic
conchiolin, the dark brownish, black, green or dark blue-colored organic
substance made up of keratin proteins which are also be found in the human
epidermis.
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The ostracum, or
prismatic layer, is the central layer and is composed of tiny hexagonal calcite
crystals measuring one micron in size. In freshwater mollusks the crystals are
mainly aragonite, due to variations of trace elements found in the water.
Contrary to its name, the prismatic layer is neither iridescent nor beautiful;
it provides a level of stability to the hypostracum, and is brown to
brownish-yellow in color with a porcelain finish. The crystals are arranged
parallel to each other and are held together by a thin film of organic material.
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The hypostracum, or
mother of pearl layer, is the final layer that displays color and iridescence.
Mother of pearl is almost entirely made up of calcium carbonate (CaCo3), which
contains millions of crystal aragonite platelets. These crystals measure 0.3-0.5
microns in diameter, and are stacked on top of each other in a brick-like
structure. Interspersed lie extremely thin sheets of conchiolin that “glue” the
platelets together. Each layer grows intermittently; some layers show straight
and even growth, while others are rounded, however none of them run directly
parallel to the surface of the shell. The result is similar to topographical
maps detailing ridges and valleys when viewed under 40x magnification.
Growth of the mother of
pearl layers is very slow. In P. margaritifera, the average rate is
approximately 13 aragonite platelets per day; other species secrete nacre at
faster or slower speeds depending upon environmental conditions.
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Aragonite platelets are
transparent and mimic wavelengths of visible light, enabling light rays to be
absorbed, scattered and reflected back at the viewer in various hues resulting
in the phenomenon of iridescence. The word iridescence comes from the Greek word
iris, and translates as “Rainbow”. Grecian legend portrays the ancient goddess
Iris personified as a shining arc of color announcing divine proclamations from
Olympus to mortals who revered her as a spiritual advisor. While we now know the
science behind the effect of iridescence, it does not make the phenomenon any
less beautiful or inspiring
to the imagination of people around the world.
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Mother Of Pearl Care
Mother of Pearl is a hydrated gemstone, so it is essential to keep it away from
direct sunlight, strong sources of heat or
very dry atmospheres. If Mother of
Pearl is left to dry out its surfaces crack and it becomes less resistant to
ware and tear.
Never use strong abrasives or alcohol to polish your Mother of
Pearl, as this will destroy its play of color. Store
your Mother of Pearl in a dark cool place, and keep it looking its best by
wiping it occasionally with a damp cloth.
Wear it often; Mother of Pearl loves
the bodies' natural oils.
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