Birthstones: March - Aquamarine

Aquamarine is a blue or turquoise variety of beryl.  The name means “sea water”.

Not surprisingly the major legend associated with this stone is its ability to keep a traveller safe at sea, and prevent seasickness (and in some cases, drowning!).  Some stories say that the jewel is a favourite of mermaids, or comes from Poseidon’s treasure chest.

During the middle ages the stone was worn to protect against poison, and it was also said to help cure illnesses of the throat.  A piece of aquamarine would be dropped into a goblet of water, and the water drunk as a tonic.

It is also a stone for clarity, and to promote calmness, used in divination for seeing the future, or worn to prevent anxiety.

The bluer the Aquamarine, the more valuable and expensive it is, however you can get some beautiful affordable pale beads for your crafting, or perhaps use an alternative such as glass to represent the stone. 

Tutorial: Elemental Earrings!

Earth!  Fire!  Wind!  Water!  Heart!  Go Planet!

When I looked to make some elemental earrings, I found these little heart beads and couldn't resist making them Captain Planet themed!  So a little 90s fantasy!

 You will need:

Craft wire in the colour or colours of your choice
A brown or green bead (Earth)
A red or orange bead (Fire)
A silver or white bead (Wind/Air)
A blue or turquoise bead (Water)
A heart shaped bead (Heart)
Earring hooks

2 silver head pins

Tools:
Flat nose (or Snipe nose) Pliers
Round nose Pliers
Wire cutters

Step 1:

Cut eight wire lengths 6cm (2 1/2 inches) longer than the length of your bead.  You can use wire that is all the same colour, or multiple colours.  I picked out a blue and a green for Captain Planet, and a pink and a purple for Gaia, to compliment my Planeteer beads!

Step2:

Take your first wire, and make a loop one third of the way down.


Wrap the tail of the wire around to make a wrapped loop.  (For full instructions on making a wrapped loop, look here!)

 Step 3:

Run your fingers along the length of the wire to straighten and strengthen it, then thread a bead onto the wire.

Step 4:



Create another loop in the wire - remember to leave yourself room to wrap the tail around next to the bead.  Try to leave about the same amount of room as your wraps have on the other side.

Step 5:



Now before you close up that loop. thread an earring hook into it!

Step 6:


Okay, now you can wrap the tail around to close the loop!  Trim the excess wire, and tuck the tail in so that you don't have any sharp ends sticking out.  Remember to close your hand over the wire when you trim it to stop the cut part from flying off!

 Your first link is complete!

Step 7:

Take your next piece of wire, and follow Steps 2 to 4 again - making a closed loop, and threading on a bead, and then making a second loop on the opposite side.

 This time when you make your second loop, thread the link onto your previous link, so that you are beginning to form a chain.

 Wind the tail around to close the link.

Step 8:

Make a third link and join it to your second link.

At this point I decided the earrings were long enough (originally I was going to do a single chain) so for your fourth link, slide it onto the earring hook as you did with the first.

(At this point, if you don't have any headpins, you may want to just make another chain link which you can add to finish it off instead of the dangle.)

Step 9:

Thread your heart bead onto the head pin.

 Trim the headpin to a length that allows you to make a loop above the bead, and then form your loop with the round nose pliers and attach it to the last link you made.

All finished!


By your powers combined, these are Captain Planet earrings!