Imitation pearl Imitation pearl Imitation pearls are man-made objects (often beads) that are designed to resemble real pearls. A variety of methods are used to create imitation pearls from starting materials that include glass, plastic, and actual mollusc shell. Some beads are coated with a pearlescent substance in order to imitate the natural iridescence of nacre or mother of pearl. Varieties of imitation pearls include: The pearlescent substance used to coat various cores may contain essence d'orient, isinglass, fish scales, oyster scales, mother-of-pearl powder, along with binders or dyes. Coral is sometimes used to imitate pearls from the pink conch, and hematite
Pearl this process, the pearl sac seems to travel into the shell; however, the sac actually stays in its original relative position the mantle tissue while the shell itself grows. After a couple of years, a pearl forms and the shell may be found by a lucky pearl fisher. Cultured pearls are the response of the shell to a tissue implant. A tiny piece of mantle tissue (called a "graft") from a donor shell is transplanted into a recipient shell, causing a pearl sac to form into which the tissue precipitates calcium carbonate. There are a number of methods for producing