MzI Posted February 27, 2004 Report Posted February 27, 2004 where exactly does mother of pearl come from and wut is it yea i kno stupid question i was just wondering ne ways MzI Quote
renablistic Posted February 27, 2004 Report Posted February 27, 2004 I think from the inside of shells. You ever look on the inside of a sea shell? They're shiny. So I think they scrape of the outer white part, and plane it in some way... And that's why it's called a "shell inlay".... i remember reading it in a stew mac or something... I'm not 100% sure of all that, maybe LGM or someone else will know fo' sho'. -John Quote
Devon Headen Posted February 27, 2004 Report Posted February 27, 2004 yes, Mother of Pearl is from shells. So is abalone. Devon Quote
Clavin Posted February 27, 2004 Report Posted February 27, 2004 Hi guys. Mother of pearl comes from the large Japanese ( indo pacific ) pearl oyster. Any of the pearls come from molluscs that were once living functional parts of the marine ecosystem. Abalone is a univalve (one shell) that mainly comes from the Pacific, Calif. coast, and New Zealand (paua). Abalone are a food animal as well. The gold pearl, and black pearl are also pearl oysters, not "clams" all are marine. Pink mussel, and white river pearl come from freshwatwer streams, and have a different density shell due to the lack of minerals in fresh water. I think there is over 225 abalone species worldwide, and most likely around the same on oysters, understand only a few are suitable for inlay purposes. The shells are pieced out pattern wise, then cut, and leveled to get good quality blanks. It's a complicated process I don't recommend getting into. It's also very, very unhealthy to breath in pearl dust as it is, imagine the quantity produced during slabbing.. Craig Quote
MzI Posted February 27, 2004 Author Report Posted February 27, 2004 damn a books worth of knowledge thanx alot guys, just wonderin cuz i went down to the beach for a site visit for one of my classes and there was sum cool lookin shells and i wasnt exactly sure where shell came from thanx again MzI Quote
skibum5545 Posted February 27, 2004 Report Posted February 27, 2004 There was an Abalone battle on Iron Chef one time... over $10000 of abalone cooked on one show... heck of a lot of abalone shell from that batch! Quote
daveq Posted February 27, 2004 Report Posted February 27, 2004 I used to watch that show just to see what nasty looking ingredient they use next. I'm not a seafood person so watching that show is kinda like watching fearfactor or a horror movie. Quote
KeithHowell Posted March 1, 2004 Report Posted March 1, 2004 We have gang wars over illegal abalone poaching around here. There have been several busts with millions of dollars worth of abalone being smuggled out of the country. Keith Quote
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