Birthstones: June - Pearl

Pearls; not just white and round!  For this month why not take a look at some of the beautiful freshwater pearls available.

As an alternative, the secondary birthstone for this month is Moonstone.

Pearls are often associated with love, marriage and wisdom.  Representing integrity and purity; they are said to have a calming effect, as well as strengthening relationships.

One Tahitian legend tells that the moon shines its light upon the ocean to attract oysters.  As they come to the surface, it gives each a drop of heavenly dew.  In time the dew becomes polished and the pearls gain their lustrous colours.

Depending on the colour, they will often be assigned even more specific meanings:

White are for purity,

Pink for love,

Gold for wealth,

Black for wisdom.

Individual or as strands, this is a beautiful bead to experiment with!

Tutorial - Sea Serpent

Summer is here!  Time to go to the seaside!

You may spot this little fellow splashing in the waves.

Here is a simple Sea Serpent to make out of your spare polymer clay.


 You will need:

- Blue and white polymer clay.  (Or any two colours you have left over.)
- A silver eye pin
- A silver jump ring
- Some cord or ribbon to attach your pendant to


Step 1:

Roll your clay together until you have a marbled effect:  Keep back a little of the white clay - we'll be using that later.

 Step 2:

Roll the clay out into a sausage shape, tapering at each end.

Step 3:

Twist your clay into a snakey shape:

Step 4:

Use a small piece of the spare white clay to make an eye, and squash it on:

Step 5:

Roll out the rest of your white clay into a sausage shape, tapering at each end.  Make this quite thin.

Step 6:

Cut off some spikes.  (Roll the end each time you cut to make sure it's pointy!)

You'll need 3 spikes.  (Or more if you want your serpent to be very spikey!)

Step 7:

Gently squash the spikes onto your serpent's head, being careful not to lose their shape:

Step 8:

Push your eye pin into the body of the serpent.  Leave plenty of room so you'll be able to attach him to a cord later.

Step 9:

Bake the clay according to the manufacturer's instructions.

When your serpent has cooled, use a jump ring to attach him to a cord, and he's ready to wear!