Saiyuki Charms and Fancies

===updated August 15, 2011===

Thanks for your interest in my Saiyuki charmworks! For a long while now I've enjoyed making jewelry pieces dedicated to characters. I find it a great way to combine two of my great loves, beads and anime, with my lifelong study of occultism and the meanings and powers of colors, crystals and gemstones. It's intriguing to go into the symbols and images associated with a character and come up with a small piece that really encapsulates their meaning to you. I used to do these as rosaries and necklaces, but lately I've gotten hooked on small-scale pieces, earrings and cell-phone charms. It's a challenge to get as much meaning as possible into so few details.

Here are my current designs for the characters of Kazuya Minekura's Saiyuki.

Sanzo.
White howlite, high-grade amethyst, gilt brass, handmade purple glass, and a Chinese charm showing the Eight Trigrams ("Wheel of the Law").
Using Sanzo's signature colors and an appropriate device. Amethyst is not only his color, but is a stone of meditation and spiritual insight.
(This one, I guess, is Priest Sanzo, since it's based on his formal regalia. If I did one for Badass Sanzo, I'd use denim lapis, black lead crystal, gilt brass and a gun charm. =)

Sanzo and Goku--"bond of heaven and earth"
White howlite with gold beadcaps, high-grade amethyst, amber Czech fire-polished glass, leopardskin jasper, Chinese "Year of the Monkey" charm, sun charm with a purple Czech glass bead; small brass spacers.
Fancy beadcaps on the howlite this time to really point up the balance between Sanzo's lofty status and Goku's birth from the stone. For Goku I like to use earth tones and natural stones like jasper and agate. Spacers between the outer beads, but none between the eye-color beads because, well, they're never apart. And there had to be a sun in it somewhere, so I attached it on the outside even if it does throw off the balance a little.=)
[[2011 update: I'm no longer able to get this particular Monkey charm, but I have located a good substitute, which is round with a similar design.]]

Goku.
Leopardskin jasper, amber Czech fire-polished glass, Kwan Yin bead and Chinese "Year of the Monkey" charm.
As above, I used earthy stone beads for Goku, plus amber for his eyes. All forms of jasper have a grounding and centering property that defends from bad energy and gives physical stamina and strong will.
The Goddess bead is to bring in his ancient age and connection to the Heavens, which goes back further than anyone else's. No spacers, to give it an organic, non-formal feel (but I would have used gold ones if I had).
The monkey --well, of course. =)
[[2011 update: I'm no longer able to get this particular Monkey charm, but I have located a good substitute, which is round with a similar design.]]

Gojyo.
Red Czech fire-polished glass, red coral bead, steel beads, coral carved flowers, carnelian crescent charm.
Using his signature color of course (Minekura-sensei made that part so easy =). I wanted to use coral both because it's red and because it's made by a water creature; I was delighted to find these carved coral flowers, which bring in the red flower image that's so deep in his backstory. Steel for blades and chains, of course--there's also a metal flower in the back spacing the coral ones apart. The carnelian crescent reminded me of his shakujou blade, plus carnelian stands for physical strength and courage.

Gojyo and Hakkai--"bond of blood"
Green peridot, red Czech fire-polished glass, bloodstone (natural moss green splashed with red), steel spacer beads, red lead crystal drop.
Here I was thinking of Gojyo's lines from "Be There"--"The love I couldn't get, and the love he couldn't protect...we're watching illusions fade into a sea of blood." I put the bloodstone beads between their eye-color beads both because they're naturally those colors combined, and because the "blood" markings made a nice transition and link between them. The big red drop on the end is just for emphasis, and the steel beads...well, a lot of cutting has been done.

Hakkai.
Green rough handmade glass, green Czech fire-polished glass, Chinese "Year of the Pig" charm, and three silver beads.
Again, his signature color, but I used both rough-textured beads and very smooth beads to suggest his dual nature, and of course three metal beads for his limiter cuffs. No natural stone in this one--nothing about Hakkai is as nature made it.
The charm harks back to his name ("Cho" means "boar") and to his origins in the Journey to the West.
[[2011 update: I'm no longer able to get this particular Boar charm, but I have located a good substitute, which is round with a similar design.]]

Hakkai and Hakuryu--"gift of heaven".
I know there are several speculations on Hakuryu's origins, but I personally like the one in the amazing fanfic "Gonou", wherein he's a gift from the Sanbutsushin to Gonou-now-Hakkai to help him fulfill his vows. That's what this is about. Peridot, clear lead crystal, a Kwan Yin bead and a little silver dragon.
(I know this is a Western and not an Asian dragon, but I've had a hard time finding Asian dragon charms in a small size, and besides, this little guy is so pretty and shiny. =)
[[2011 update: I can now offer a choice of dragons, this one or a round more Asian type. Let me know which you'd like to see.]]

Hakuryu.
White howlite, red Czech glass and silver dragon. Like himself, short and sweet. =)
[[2011 update: I can now offer a choice of dragons, this one or a round more Asian type. Let me know which you'd like to see.]]

Would you like one?

I can reproduce any of these --with some changes as noted in the individual descriptions--for a limited time. Eventually I'm going to run out of certain elements that can't be replaced, but--well, then we'll see. I'm happy to do them in the meantime and I welcome all inquiries!

You have two choices for style: (1) pierced earring; (2) charm with cord lanyard. (NOTE: The chrome snaphooks in the photo are no longer available.) Earrings will get either a stainless steel earstud with earnut (in a dull antiqued finish) or a French hook with safety back in surgical stainless steel, gold plate, or silver plate (let me know if you have metal sensitivities and I'll make sure you get the stainless steel). Charms with fasteners are pictured at the left. I have lanyards with both gold and silver caps, and if you choose a lanyard I'll match it to the tone of the charm. (8/15/11--No gold caps right now--will restock ASAP.)

TERMS: updated August 2011

Cost is $5.00 each plus postage (generally about $2.00 First Class mail/$4.95 Priority Mail within the USA; elsewhere, I'll calculate when I hear from you). If you are buying more than one piece the price will be $5.00 for the first one and $4 for each additional, plus additional postage as incurred.

I apologize for having to charge for postage, but USA mailing rates --both domestic and foreign--have become simply horrific and I can't afford to cover them. Sorry!

If I've run out of an element and have to order it, I'll let you know right away.

My payment of choice is PayPal: my PP address is angelynx_prime@yahoo.com.
I don't mind the credit card fees so don't worry.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, write me at that email address and we'll work something out.

Thank you!

...go back to Gunning for the Buddha mainpage.

	Sanzo. White howlite, high-grade amethyst, gilt brass, handmade purple glass, and a Chinese charm showing the Eight Trigrams ("Wheel of the Law"). Using Sanzo's signature colors and an appropriate device. Amethyst is not only his color, but is a stone of meditation and spiritual insight. (This one, I guess, is Priest Sanzo, since it's based on his formal regalia. If I did one for Badass Sanzo, I'd use denim lapis, black lead crystal, gilt brass and a gun charm. =)
	Sanzo and Goku--"bond of heaven and earth" White howlite with gold beadcaps, high-grade amethyst, amber Czech fire-polished glass, leopardskin jasper, Chinese "Year of the Monkey" charm, sun charm with a purple Czech glass bead; small brass spacers. Fancy beadcaps on the howlite this time to really point up the balance between Sanzo's lofty status and Goku's birth from the stone. For Goku I like to use earth tones and natural stones like jasper and agate. Spacers between the outer beads, but none between the eye-color beads because, well, they're never apart. And there had to be a sun in it somewhere, so I attached it on the outside even if it does throw off the balance a little.=) [[2011 update: I'm no longer able to get this particular Monkey charm, but I have located a good substitute, which is round with a similar design.]]
	Goku. Leopardskin jasper, amber Czech fire-polished glass, Kwan Yin bead and Chinese "Year of the Monkey" charm. As above, I used earthy stone beads for Goku, plus amber for his eyes. All forms of jasper have a grounding and centering property that defends from bad energy and gives physical stamina and strong will. The Goddess bead is to bring in his ancient age and connection to the Heavens, which goes back further than anyone else's. No spacers, to give it an organic, non-formal feel (but I would have used gold ones if I had). The monkey --well, of course. =) [[2011 update: I'm no longer able to get this particular Monkey charm, but I have located a good substitute, which is round with a similar design.]]
	Gojyo. Red Czech fire-polished glass, red coral bead, steel beads, coral carved flowers, carnelian crescent charm. Using his signature color of course (Minekura-sensei made that part so easy =). I wanted to use coral both because it's red and because it's made by a water creature; I was delighted to find these carved coral flowers, which bring in the red flower image that's so deep in his backstory. Steel for blades and chains, of course--there's also a metal flower in the back spacing the coral ones apart. The carnelian crescent reminded me of his shakujou blade, plus carnelian stands for physical strength and courage.
	Gojyo and Hakkai--"bond of blood" Green peridot, red Czech fire-polished glass, bloodstone (natural moss green splashed with red), steel spacer beads, red lead crystal drop. Here I was thinking of Gojyo's lines from "Be There"--"The love I couldn't get, and the love he couldn't protect...we're watching illusions fade into a sea of blood." I put the bloodstone beads between their eye-color beads both because they're naturally those colors combined, and because the "blood" markings made a nice transition and link between them. The big red drop on the end is just for emphasis, and the steel beads...well, a lot of cutting has been done.
	Hakkai. Green rough handmade glass, green Czech fire-polished glass, Chinese "Year of the Pig" charm, and three silver beads. Again, his signature color, but I used both rough-textured beads and very smooth beads to suggest his dual nature, and of course three metal beads for his limiter cuffs. No natural stone in this one--nothing about Hakkai is as nature made it. The charm harks back to his name ("Cho" means "boar") and to his origins in the Journey to the West. [[2011 update: I'm no longer able to get this particular Boar charm, but I have located a good substitute, which is round with a similar design.]]
	Hakkai and Hakuryu--"gift of heaven". I know there are several speculations on Hakuryu's origins, but I personally like the one in the amazing fanfic "Gonou", wherein he's a gift from the Sanbutsushin to Gonou-now-Hakkai to help him fulfill his vows. That's what this is about. Peridot, clear lead crystal, a Kwan Yin bead and a little silver dragon. (I know this is a Western and not an Asian dragon, but I've had a hard time finding Asian dragon charms in a small size, and besides, this little guy is so pretty and shiny. =) [[2011 update: I can now offer a choice of dragons, this one or a round more Asian type. Let me know which you'd like to see.]]
	Hakuryu. White howlite, red Czech glass and silver dragon. Like himself, short and sweet. =) [[2011 update: I can now offer a choice of dragons, this one or a round more Asian type. Let me know which you'd like to see.]]