gemstone bird

Working with faceted tourmaline beads in a rainbow of colors, Somsiri Juntamin in Thailand creates this colorful beaded necklace. The gemstone beads are flanked by tiny beads of 24k gold plated sterling silver, and the necklace closes with a gold plated spring ring clasp.

An ancient Maya legend tells how the gods gave a specific mission to each being they created. But they realized none had been chosen to carry thoughts and desires from one place to another," says Rosa Padillas of Rosa Roja. "So they carved a small piece of jade into a a slender arrowhead, and it became a beautiful hummingbird with iridescent feathers — the x ts'unu'um. Its mission was to carry good thoughts to all human beings, even those who had died.

"Today, if a hummingbird appears in front of you, it is delivering a message of love from someone who is thinking of you. And if we wear the image of a hummingbird, we carry good thoughts and desires to others.

"The hummingbird legend says that we can fly to the six cardinal points of the universe, therefore the hummingbird is the ideal link to transmit thoughts of love, of respect, tolerance and peace to all creatures on the planet."

The talented Mexican artisan reinterprets the legend as a necklace of dramatic beauty. She creates a hummingbird pendant in the pre-Hispanic style, and adds an agate geode representing the hummingbird's nest. It poses on a strand of gray cultured pearls.

Lustrous baroque cultured pearls surround the wrist in this stretch bracelet from Dalia Pascal in Mexico. The artisan adds a polished sterling silver star charm to her design.

Glowing white, large cultured pearls alternate with smaller tourmaline stones to surround the neck. Thai artisan Matta creates this necklace, fit for royalty. This necklace closes with a 950 silver clasp crafted by Karen hill tribe artisans.