Here are some Pearl Terminologies :

Abalone Pearl - Pearl produced by the abalone mollusc. Abalone pearls are usually gray with strong orient.

Akoya Cultured Pearl - A type of saltwater cultured pearl, grown primarily in cooler water off the coasts of Japan and China. Oyster species that produce Akoya pearls include Pinctada fucata and Pinctada martensi.

Awabi Pearl - Japanese name for abalone pearls.

Baroque - Any irregularly-shaped pearl. Baroque pearls are valued for their one-of-a-kind, unusual shapes.

Biwa Pearl - Cultured freshwater pearls grown in a mussel that lives in Lake Biwa, Japan.

Blemish - Refers to any surface defect on a pearl. Blemishes include cracks, chips, dull spots, wrinkles, spots, holes, bumps, and pits.

Blister Pearl - A pearl that has grown onto the inside surface of a mollusc's shell, so that it is dome-shaped on one side and flattened on the other. See also Mabe pearl.

Button Pearl - Pearl shape where one side of the pearl is flattened. See also mabe pearl.

Calcareous Concretion - Term given to the hard substance secreted by a non-nacre producing mollusc.

Choker - Traditionally, a necklace from 16-18 inches in length. In the modern usage of the term, a choker may be as short as 12 inches.

Circles - Concentric rings on the surface of a pearl. If circles cover over 1/3 of the pearl's surface, it may be referred to as a circle pearl.

Clean - Term applied to a pearl surface that is free of surface flaws.

Collar - Pearl necklace that just fits around the neck, usually 10-13 inches in length. Many collars consist of two or more strands of pearls.

Color - Term used to describe the base color of a pearl.

Conch Pearl - Pearl produced by a conch. A conch is a tropical saltwater mollusc. Conch pearls occur in pink and orange colors.

Corn Pearl - A pearl shaped like a kernel of corn, usually from China.

Cultured Pearl - Pearl that is intentionally grown by introducing an irritant or substrate inside the shell of a mollusc.

Cultivated Pearl - Another term for a cultured pearl. Any pearl that is intentionally grown by introducing an irritant or substrate inside the shell of a mollusc.

Freshwater Pearl - Any pearl produced by a mollusc living in fresh water.

Freshwater Cultured Pearl - Cultured pearl that is grown inside a mollusc that lives in fresh water, such as a pond, lake, or river.

Grafting - Also termed nucleation or implantation. Process of inserting a hard bead nucleus or piece of soft mantle tissue into a mollusc body or mantle of the mollusc.The nucleus or mantle tissue serves as the 'seed' to irritate the mollusc to produce a pearl.

Imitation Pearl - Any pearl not made by molluscs. Imitation (also called faux, fake, simulated) pearls commonly are made of glass, plastic, or urea, and may be coated with any of a number of polymers, waxes, or fish scale extracts.

Keshii Pearl - Sometimes called a seed pearl or a keshi pearl. This is a small pearl that grows in addition to the intended cultured pearl. It is a non-nucleated pearl.

Luster - A pearl's ability to refract and reflect light. Luster refers to a pearl's depth and shine.

Mabe Pearl - A pearl that grows against the inside wall of a mollusc's shell, resulting in a domed shape with a flattened back. In some cases, mabe pearls are grown by glueing a plastic dome (nucleus) onto the inside surface of a mollusk's shell. Once the nucleus is coated with nacre, the pearl is cut away from the inner shell. The nucleus is removed and the cavity is filled with an epoxy resin and backed by a mother-of-pearl plate. Mabe pearls are sometimes called blister pearls.

Majorica Pearl - A simulated pearl made by the Spanish Majorica company.

Mantle - The thin tissue membrane that attaches a mussel to the inside of its shell.

Matching - The process of grouping pearls according to color, size, shape, luster, and surface.

Matinee - Pearl necklace that is ususally 20-24 inches in length.

Momme - Standard unit of measurement of pearls in Japan. One momme equals 3.75 grams or 18.75 carats.

Nacre - The calcium carbonate-based substance secreted by a pearl in response to an irritant, such as a piece of shell (cultured pearl) or parasite (most natural pearls).

Natural Pearl - Any pearl grown without human interference. Sometimes called 'Oriental' pearls.

Nucleation - Also termed grafting or implantation. Process of inserting a hard bead nucleus or piece of soft mantle tissue into a mollusc body or mantle of the mollusc.The nucleus or mantle tissue serves as the 'seed' to irritate the mollusc to produce a pearl.

Nucleus - Usually, a small rounded piece of shell from an American freshwater mussel. For freshwater pearl cultivation, the nucleus usually is a shaped piece of mantle from another freshwater mussel.

Opera - Pearl necklace that is 28-32 inches in length.

Orient - Refers to a pearl's iridescence.

Oriental Pearl - A term sometimes used to refer to a natural pearl.

Peacock Pearl - A type of black pearl, usually with dark green tones. Genuine black pearls are produced by the oyster Pinctada margaritifera. The term 'peacock pearl' often is frequently applied to irridescent black freshwater pearls, which achieve their color as a result of irradiation, heating, and/or dyeing.

Potato - Refers to a pearl with an oblong shape, such that it resembles a potato. Most potato pearls are freshwater cultured pearls from China.

Princess - Pearl necklace that is from 17-19 inches in length.

Rice Pearl - A freshwater cultured pearl with a crinkled surface and elongated shape, such that it resembles a grain of rice. Most rice pearls originate from China or the United States.

Rope - Pearl necklace that is longer than 45 inches.

Saltwater Pearl - Any pearl, natural or cultivated, that is grown in a mollusc that lives in salt (ocean) water.

Shape - A pearl's shape has a great impact on its value. Perfectly round pearls are rare, and therefore highly valuable. Other shapes of pearls include off-round, drop, oval, button, circle, baroque. Freshwater cultured pearl shapes also include stick, angel-wing, cross, and coin shapes.

Size - Pearl size is expressed in millimeters and is a measure of diameter.

South Sea Pearl - Pearls grown in the white-lipped oyster, Pinctada maxima, in the South Pacific. South Sea pearls occur in shades of white, silver, and gold.

Tahitian Pearl - Pearls grown in the black-lipped oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, in the South Pacific. Tahitian pearl colors include deep gray (black), purple, green, gold, and silver.

A pearl is a hard, rounded object produced by certain animals, primarily mollusks such as oysters.  Pearls can be used in jewelry and also crushed in cosmetics or paint. Pearl is valued as a gemstone and is cultivated or harvested for jewelry.

Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain bivalve mollusks. As a response to an irritant inside its shell, the mollusk will deposit layers of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) in the form of the minerals aragonite or calcite (both crystalline forms of calcium carbonate) held together by an organic horn-like compound called conchiolin This combination of calcium carbonate and conchiolin is called nacre, or as most know it, mother-of-pearl.  The commonly held belief that a grain of sand acts as the irritant is in fact rarely the case. Typical stimuli include organic material, parasites, or even damage that displaces mantle tissue to another part of the animal's body. These small particles or organisms enter the animal when the shell valves are open for feeding or respiration. In cultured pearls, the irritant is typically a cut piece of the mantle epithelium, together with processed shell beads, the combination of which the animal accepts into its body.

The unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection and refraction of light from the translucent layers and is finer in proportion as the layers become thinner and more numerous. The iridescene that some pearls display is caused by the overlapping of successive layers, which breaks up light falling on the surface. Pearls are usually white, sometimes with a creamy or pinkish tinge, but may be tinted with yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, or black. Black pearls, frequently referred to as Black Tahitian Pearls, are highly valued because of their rarity; the culturing process for them dictates a smaller volume output and can never be mass produced. This is due to bad health and/or non-survival of the process, rejection of the nucleus (the small object such as a tiny fish, grain of sand or crab that slips naturally inside an oyster's shell or inserted by a human), and their sensitivity to changing climatic and ocean conditions.

The largest pearl ever found, so far, came from the Phlippines in 1934. It weighed 14 lbs (6.36 kgs) when it was discovered by an anonymous Filipino diver off the island of Palawan.  Later, a Palawan chieftain gave the pearl to Wilbur Dowell Cobb in 1936 as gift for having saved the life of his son. It was first called the Pearl of Allah and is now officially named the Pearl of Lao-tze.

Pearls fit into two categories: freshwater and saltwater. As their name implies, freshwater pearls are formed in freshwater mussels that live in lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of fresh water. Most freshwater cultured pearls  sold today come from China. By contrast, saltwater pearls grow in oysters that live in the ocean, usually in protected lagoons. Akoya, South Sea and Tahitian are the three main types of saltwater pearls.

Making jewelry is a fun hobby and for some can become a full time business. At the very least, you will be able to make gorgeous and unique jewelry to wear and give as gifts. As with any hobby, you need to start with the basics and using memory wire to make jewelry is a method that requires a bit less skill than some of the others. Memory wire jewelry does not need a clasp or fancy crimping and one size fits all.

Memory wire is flexible wire that springs back to it’s original form when not stretched - kind of like a slinky. It comes in necklace, bracelet and ring sizes. You simply cut off a section to the size you want and string on beads!

Of course, the first step (and the most fun) is to decide on the beads! Some people are inspired by artisan made lampwork beads, others by gemstones beads and still others by the vast array of crystal beads. Some like to use all of the above in their beaded jewelry designs! You are only limited by your own imagination and there is no “wrong” combination of beads so choose the beads that “speak” to you and incorporate them into your design.

To make beaded jewelry using memory wire, you will need:

1. A tool that cuts the memory wire (can be found in any bead supply store - don’t use regular wire cutters as you will soon ruin them!)
2. The memory wire (sold in packages where you can get 2 or 3 pieces of jewelry out of each package)
3. Needle nose pliers
4. The beads!

Step 1 - Cut the memory wire to size. For a bracelet or ring, decide how many times you want it to wrap around your wrist or finger - wrap the wire right around your own wrist and cut to size. A necklace can only go around your neck once (well, you could probably make it to wrap around a couple times but I think it would be hard to get on and off). You want to size it so that the ends overlap a bit.

Step 2 - Now you need to close up one end so that the beads don’t slide off. Take the tip of your needle nose pliers and place them right at the very end of the wire. Now take the wire in your other hand and bend it around the pliers. The wire is pretty hard, so this might be difficult and yoy may have a hard time with this at first. Try practicing on some smaller pieces first until you can make a perfect little loop. Make sure the loop is closed off so no beads can escape. Don’t worry - if you screw up you can just cut off the end and try again! You want the loop to be as small as possible so it doesn’t detract from our design

Some people also glue on little silver end cap beads. While this looks a bit better, you run the risk of the glue not holding and all your beads sliding off. This happened to me once and is why I use the loop method. To make the loops look a bit snazzier, I just dangle a bead from them!

Step 3 - String the beads! If you are making a necklace that has a certain design or focal piece in the middle, you will have to be careful to space the beads exactly so that they are symmetrical and the focal piece is in the exact middle.

Step 4 - Close the other end. Using the method in step 2, close up the other end and you are done!