Mother of pearl is one of the most beautiful and readily available stones. Its lustrous sheen can cast many colors, and some are even multiple colors. Even so, sometimes their natural color isn’t enough. Maybe it doesn’t match a particular outfit you own, or maybe you’re just curious about the many colors available to you.

You can customize your jewellery and add a unique flavor to any piece with the following simply dying technique.

Preparatory Steps

The first thing you should do is ask yourself if dying your pearls is absolutely necessary, because if you mess up you could wind up having wasted your time. You can either purchase the dye to color your pearls online, or try to make it yourself. Do yourself a favor and buy it online. Commercial dyes provide deeper colors than most homemade dyes – unless you really know what you’re doing.

Next, decide on the color you want. There are a lot of dyes sold online and in stores that work well, but stick with the vinegar based dyes, as they will stain harder and mark the pearl more effectively. Once you’ve picked your color, I’d advise doing a color swab next to the pearls to give yourself an idea of what it’s going to look like. Does it look the way you want it to? If so, then you’re ready to begin.

The Dyeing Process

Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer of the dye. If you feel lucky, experiment with the basic process – try a thicker concentration of the dye for a darker look, for instance. You can either dye them singly or on a strand. Either way will work just fine. Try soaking your pearls for different lengths of time. Write down as much information as you can when you change your process, so if you like it you can do it again for the other pearls.

End Results

When you’re finished, try placing your pearls in order of lightest to darkest and see how it looks. Or, put the darkest ones at either end of eachother to give your jewellery a nice “coming full circle” feel.

Not satisfied with just one color? Feel free to try more than one and combine your results on the same piece of jewellery. Your results will be amazing, and you can feel proud that you’re holding a piece of jewellery that’s uniquely your own.