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At the turning points of the seasons, particularly at midsummer, some species of faerie are known for shedding their wings, only to grow a new set that is even more lovely than the one cast aside. However, it is often thought that the first set of shed wings retains quite a bit of faerie magics… as such, not only are fae drawn toward first-shed wings, but some say that these wings can bring out the faerie nature in even the most mundane of humans or animals. Most of these first-shed faerie wings appear to be very simple, something one would see on a common insect. It takes a special sort of person to see them for what they truly are.
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Okay, so, the above is, sadly, not folkloric. It’s of my own invention… mostly because I wanted to have a faerie wing as part of this necklace without it being a sad thing. Also included on this necklace are a few ‘shinies’ to attract faeries, such as two green gemlike beads, a pearlescent one, and two gently tumbled quartz crystal points. Quartz, according to some new age thinking, seems to pretty much be the duct-tape of crystals… it’s good for almost everything. And of course, there’s a variety of quartz called “Fairy Quartz.”

The Faerie Herbs consist of home grown and gathered lavender and lemon balm flowers. I considered using some foxglove, a plant better associated with the fae, but opted for nontoxic plants, just in case. Besides, according to Judika Illes <I>Encyclopedia of Spirits,</I> Lavender was one of many plants associated with the fae anyway. Lemon balm, however, I included largely because it was associated with (depending on what you read) joy or happiness, among other things. That way the fae will be happy to be attracted to the necklace’s wearer.

And of course, there’s some Faerie Dust, a la J. M. Barrie. The label for that is actually inside the bottle, and if you shake the powder, you can reveal it one bit at a time. While faerie dust or pixie dust is fairly new in the grand scheme of things, Neverland, the place where no one ever grows up, certainly has a similar ring to it as the fae’s Tir na Nog, which is The Land of the Always Young.

I love folkore, specimens, and all kinds of mythical critters, so I had a blast making this for the Marcon art show. This is, of course, a prototype for a werewolf one that is already mostly built, but I have to grow some of the components for that. So it’ll be midsummer before that’s likely to be finished.