Kitty Pearls and Dental Floss...

by Danielle
(Portland, Oregon)

Cho in her newly strung pearls

I made a small necklace for my Balinese cat (yes, seriously) using vintage faux pearls I picked up at a Goodwill...and within a few days she broke it, and "pearls" went flying everywhere. So, I decided to get creative with the beta version, knotting the pearls so they wouldn't fly all over the place next time--and it came out great.
Here's what I did...
I used waxed dental floss on a needle (double strand), and after adding each pearl, I tied a knot (just like you would at the end of a string) getting it as close to the pearl as possible, then firmly pulling the two loose strands away from each other. Because of the wax, the knot slid right up to the pearl, nice and tight.
When I was done (took about 20 minutes for kitty sized necklace) it looked so good, I decided to re-do one of my own cultured pearl necklaces! The knots came out perfect, and it was so easy!
Probably no one would use dental floss for genuine pearls, but I'd certainly recommend it for faux pearls.