Birthstones: July- Ruby

July’s birthstone is Ruby, a red form of corundum.  The name comes from the Latin “Ruber” for red.

As rubies are the most expensive of stones; good quality rubies sell for higher prices than diamonds!  Since the average jewellery maker wouldn't be able to afford these sparkly stones, good alternatives to use in your creations are fire polished glass beads, or the secondary birthstone Carnelian.

Known as the King of Gemstones, rubies have been highly prized throughout history, and were often associated with royalty.

Marco Polo wrote that the king of Sri Lanka owned a ruby the length of a man’s palm and the thickness of his arm, flawless “and glowing red like fire.” Marco Polo says Khubilai Khan offered an entire city in exchange for it, but the king would not part with it.

As with many of the red stones, it is associated with love and with curing blood aliments. 

Having “fire” within it, it is often linked to the sun, and in some legends said to shine its own light. The owner of a ruby will be warned of coming danger if the colour of the stone turns dark.

Tutorial - Sea Shell Necklace

 Continuing our summer theme!  If you've been to the beach, you may have picked up some seashells.  They make the perfect summer pendant.

Here's an easy to make pendant that doesn't require any drilling!

You will need:

A seashell (cleaned)

A length of coloured craft wire

A jump ring

Black cord/other stringing material.  (Embroidery thread does just fine for this one!)

Super Glue

Round nose pliers

Optional:

Acrylic Paint  (I used the model paint from Games Workshop)

Kitchen Roll

 

 

 Depending on your seashell, you may want to leave it unpainted to show its natural colours.  If this is the case, just skip down to step 4!


Step 1:
Paint the seashell with your base colour:

 Step 2:
Once the paint has started to dry (This should only take about a minute or so - don't let it dry completely) rub the excess off with the kitchen roll.  This will probably take a bit of elbow grease!  You should find that the paint stays down the ridges in the shell, leaving them darker, and comes off the raised parts, leaving them with a paler colour.

 Step 3:

If desired, add a complementary colour.  You can chose whatever pattern you like - spots, stripes, stars... experiment and find your style! :)

Step 4:
Take a nice long piece of craft wire, and using round nose pliers, make a spiral at one end.

 Step 5:
Now add a dab of super glue to the inside of your shell, at the top.  Place the spiral of wire against the shell.  Hold the wire there until the glue has dried.  Note:  This part requires patience!  It can take quite a long time for the glue to dry.

Important safety notice!  Don't use your fingers to press the spiral against the shell!  You'll end up getting stuck to it!  Please be very careful with super glue.  Only use it in a ventilated space, and don't let your fingers come into contact with it. 
In the unfortunate circumstance that you do get your fingers stuck together, nail polish remover with acetone in it will work to unstick them.  Gently dab it onto your poor glued fingers with a cotton bud until they come apart.  Don't try to pull your fingers apart by force!

Step 6:
Now that your wire is firmly stuck to your shell, use the round nose pliers to turn a closed loop into the wire.  This will be how you will hang your pendent.

Step 7:
Finally, you can either trim the end of the wire flush (be sure to tuck and/or file any sharp ends!), or leave a little wire to turn a decorative spiral against the top of the shell.

Step 8:  Attach a jump ring and hang from your cord.  Now you're all ready to hit the beach!