Aloha everyone, and welcome back again.

Today I wanted to share another little behind-the-scenes moment while I work on one of my favorite designs — Pikake style earrings. Pikake style may look simple at first, but its beauty comes from rhythm, balance, and the careful pairing of every tiny shell.

Preparing the Momi Shells for Pikake Style

Before creating, I spend time sorting and preparing the Momi shells because even small differences in size or shape can change the final look of the earrings. These shells are shown after I finished sorting out many of the imperfect pieces. At this stage, some natural sand still remains inside the shell openings (waha), which will be cleaned out before the shells are used for creating Niʻihau shell jewelry.

Today I’m working with shells that are already pre-cut and cleaned, which allows me to focus more on selecting the right combinations. Medium-size Momi shells are one of my favorite choices for Pikake style earrings because they create a fine, lightweight design that feels soft and comfortable on the earlobes. After sorting and removing the imperfect shells, the tips are carefully cut and the sand inside the shell openings (waha) is cleaned out before the shells are used for creating Niʻihau shell jewelry.

When working with Momi shells, everything depends on balance — color, pattern, and how the design flows naturally together. When shell colors or sizes are limited, the process becomes more challenging, and that’s when creativity and careful planning really come into play. Even within similar tones, there can be a surprising amount of natural variation, which is why careful shell selection matters so much in Pikake style.

Some of the medium blue Momi shells are especially difficult to find, which makes this color combination feel even more special. If you would like to learn more about the blue ʻŪliʻuli Momi shell shades, you can click here to explore more.

Pairing the Shells — The Fun Part Before Stringing

After I finish sorting the Momi shell colors, it’s time to pair them up — and this is where the real work begins. This is one of my favorite parts of the process, but it also takes patience and careful attention.

How you pair the shells can make a big difference. The goal is to find the most natural way to work with the shell sizes and colors you have available.

Pairing Momi shells into matching sets for both sides of Pikake style Niʻihau shell earrings, showing how the shells are arranged by size, shape, and color so both sides can stay even and balanced

    

After pairing comes stringing — the most exciting step of all. But this is also the stage where you need to slow down and check everything carefully. As you string, always check and double-check to make sure the balance feels right before moving forward.

As We Finish at the Work Table Today

After a long, quiet time of stringing and working through each section, slowly bringing my vision to life, we’ve now come to the end of this behind-the-scenes moment with my Pikake earrings. As you followed along through each step, I hope you could feel how much patience and quiet attention live inside every small detail. To me, a beautiful piece always begins with quality shells, but it truly comes to life through patience, care, and the personal touch placed into every step along the way.

Here is how my Pikake style earrings turned out after a long day of planning, sorting, poking, pairing, and stringing. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and spending a little time with me at the work table today.

 

If you would like to see how these earrings look after I finish adding the hooks, they will appear in my earrings category once I complete the photos. They may not all appear at once, but I will do my best to add new pieces little by little each day. Please know that each design is one of a kind — I only create each design once.

With aloha,
Janjira