Birthstones: May - Emerald

Another expensive month!   Emerald is probably the best known variety of beryl.  The name comes from the greek “smaragdus” which in turn came from a Persian word meaning “a green mineral”.

The earliest Emeralds come from Cleopatra’s mine by the red sea, dating from about 2000BC.  They were considered by the Ancient Egyptians to represent rebirth and youth, and many mummies were buried with them. 

Emeralds have historically also been associated with fidelity, truth, easing eye strain, and preventing epilepsy.

A Columbian legend tells of a god Are creating two people to populate the land, called “Fura” and “Tena”.  As long as they stayed faithful to one another they would have eternal youth.

One day Fura met a young man called Zarbi, who was looking for a flower that could cure any illness.  She went with him to look for the flower, and was unfaithful to Tena.

Immediately she began to age.  She returned to Tena and upon seeing what she had done he realised that she soon would die and he would be left alone.  In his grief he took his own life.

Are returned to visit his creations, and saw that they had broken his laws.  He turned them into two large rocks.  The tears that Fura cried then became emeralds within them.

Alternatives to Emerald could be beautiful green glass beads, or the secondary birthstone of Chrysoprase.

Tutorial - Mayflower necklace

There are many legends associated with the Mayflower, or Hawthorn.  It is strongly associated with fairies, and folklore says that it's bad luck to cut one down at any time other than when it's in flower!

Well here is your very own fairy necklace to make to welcome the warmer weather!

You will need:

- Green and gold coloured wire
- 4 white round beads (I used snow quartz in this tutorial)
- 4 green faceted beads
- Gold coloured jump rings and claw clasp
- Gold coloured chain
- 5 petal white flower pendant

Step 1:

Cut 12 lengths of green wire, approximately 8cm (3 inches) long.

Step 2:


Using your round nosed pliers, create a small loop in the end of one of the wires.

Step 3:

Now grip the wire a little way along and make a smooth half-turn in the wire.

Step 4:
Move along the wire and make a half turn the opposite way.  Keep doing this back and forth.  When you reach the end of the wire, turn a small loop to match your first loop.

Now using your fingers, gently squeeze the wire closer together to create a squiggle.

Step 4:

Repeat with all of the 12 pieces of wire, until you have 12 squiggles!

Step 5:

Cut some shorter pieces of gold wire, approximately 4cm or 1 1/2 inches long.  (Note:  You may find it easier to work with slightly longer pieces here - try cutting one piece and following the next steps - if you find it too tricky, cut a longer piece to work with.)

Step 6:

Create a loop, using your round nosed pliers, in one end of the wire.  You now have an eye pin.  (If you want to cheat, you can use ready made gold coloured eye pins for this part!)

Step 7:

Thread a bead onto the eye pin.

Step 8:

Create a matching loop in the other end of the wire and trim it.  It should look like this:

Step 9:

Repeat with the rest of your beads!

Step 10:

Now you should have all your pieces, lay them out in an arrangement you like.  An optional step at this point is to lightly hammer the wire shapes; this will give them added strength.

Step 11:

Join up your components.  Remember to bend the loops sideways to open them so that they don't lose their shape or strength!


Step 12:


Add your chain and clasp to the end of the necklace.  You can adjust the chain length to allow the necklace to sit where you like; depending on the size of your squiggles you may prefer it to be shorter or longer.

All done!

You're ready for the fairy ball!