Birthstones: December - Turquoise

December’s stone is Turquoise.  The name is thought to come from the French “pierre turquoise” (tourques in old French) possibly because the Persian (Iranian) material was imported to Europe via Turkey.

Turquoise can be sky blue to green in colour.  The bluer Turquoise can fade to green if exposed to excessive sunlight.

Turquoise is the ultimate good luck stone!  It wards off bad luck, and if the stone cracks the story goes that the stone took the blow that was destined for you.

There is a tale from the Apache that if you go to the end of the rainbow after a thunderstorm, you will find turquoise, and if you then use that turquoise on your weapons, you will always have true aim.

The Navajo used turquoise when praying for rain, and the Aztecs believed turquoise were the tears of the sky goddess. 

The blue colour is associated with the sky in many traditions.

Overall the stone is said to bring protection and luck, promote friendship and stop you falling from a horse! J

Buyer beware:  turquoise is one of the most “copied” gemstones; to get a genuine piece for jewellery making could be quite difficult.  There are a lot of imitations; typically man made or using the stone howlite which has been dyed to look like turquoise.  These will give you the “look” but if you want the real deal, you may have to do some searching.  Always carefully read seller descriptions and buyer reviews before you purchase.

Tutorial - Caged Marble Magic

Wow another year almost over!  It's time for the shiny lights and celebrations to cheer up the midwinter gloom.  Magic and fun are in the air!

Here's a tutorial which you can use to make a beautiful gift for a loved one... or yourself.

You will need:

Coloured craft wire  (You will need a sturdy wire for this - I used 0.9mm thickness.)
A marble
A cord, ribbon or chain to hang the pendant from.

Tools:

Wire cutters
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers

Step 1:  Choose your marble and craft wire!  I picked a blue wire to go with the blue part of the swirl inside my marble.

Step 2:  Cut approximately 30cm of craft wire.  (This is for a standard sized marble, if your marble is bigger than normal, you may need a longer length!)

Step 3:  Make a loop at one end of the wire.  This is going to be the loop you hang your pendant from, so make sure it is large enough to pass your cord, chain or ribbon through.

Step 4:  Using your flat nose pliers, hold the loop flat and continue to roll the wire into a flat spiral.

Step 4:  Make a loop at the opposite end of the wire and following steps 3 and 4 again, roll another spiral.  It should go the opposite way to your first spiral, to make the wire into an "S" shape.

Continue to roll the wire from both ends until you have two even spirals that meet in the middle.





 Step 5:  Fold your wire in half so that the spirals sit one on top of the other.

Step 6:  Using your round nose pliers, carefully pull the first loop you made so it is sitting up at 90 degrees to the rest of the spiral.

Step 7:  Now begin to gently separate out your spiral, pulling the twists up into a cage shape - you may find it easier to do this with your fingers or pliers. 

Step 8: Gently ease the marble into the middle of the cage.

Step 9:  Gently pull the spirals up to encase the marble.  This will take a little bit of fiddling, but you'll get there!

Your marble is all ready to hang on a cord!