Dear List,
No, you can't bend mother of pearl.
Bone and ivory will bend after being soaked in an acid such as vinegar
because it softens the collagen present in these materials and allows a
certain amount of deformation. However, mother of pearl is made largely of
nacre, an altogether different material which does not respond to acid in
quite the same way. I think you will find that, it you soak mother of
pearl in vinegar, that it will cause particles in the nacre to separate and
you will end up with a puddle of glimmer at the bottom of the
container. In my experience, any shape that mother of pearl gets to has to
be cut.
Regards,
Dan Larson
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