The pearl metastasizes as a means of protection. Irritants carried by saltwater are now carried by gloved hand, laid on tongue and made to glitter, we choose these spaces where beauty occupies. We find new ways to crystallize what is harmful and beloved. The evidence of our lives outlasts us, the presence of our childhoods exist in plastic which withers endlessly yet refuses to disappear. we grow so quickly and hold old gifts in new hands on the turning of the months. The pearl forms on microscopic levels and becomes visible to us as a gift of the light where no harm enters.
︎Welcome ︎︎︎
︎Irritants
Mollusks form nacre around an irritant that has entered in its shell. These layers build up around it into what we call pearls. This protects the mollusk from harmful objects and organisms, but it also protects the irritant at the pearl’s core.
We parallel this process, using plastic items with sentimental value as the “irritant” at the core of the pearl to create a Plastic Heirloom.
︎Nacre
Nacre or Mother-of-Pearl is the biomineralized secretions produced by mollusks. It is made up of alternating layers of calcium carbonate laminated with a biopolymer.
Mollusk nacre is made out of aragonite crystals and conchiolin proteins.
Bacterial nacre is made up of calcite crystals and gamma-poly glutamic acid (y-PGA).
These two componets can coat plastic substrates or be mixed with bacterial cellulose to mineralize in bulk.
