Copper Zircon Small Round Dangle Charm DIY Charm

Wear a string for long enough and the tail always feels as though it is missing something. This small round bead fills that place: brass, a few zircons set into the face, a loop at the top, hung at the end of the string. The trade calls it a tidiu, the little thing that dangles, swaying gently as you walk. The swing is small, just enough to be noticed. The loop is not wide, and the cord of an ordinary bracelet passes through it.

Tidiu is a northern expression: to carry something dangling in the hand is to tidiu it, and the bead world borrowed the word to mean the small pendant hung below a string or a guru bead. At the tail it moves as you walk, the eye follows, and a plain string of beads comes alive. Fussy owners make a study of it, because it sits closest to the hand: when you roll the string you touch it first, and the fingertip learns this one shape. Old Beijingers also called the odds and ends they carried about with them tidiu; the word moved and its sense narrowed. That is the pleasure of small pieces. Others do not see them; you can feel them.

Zircon here means synthetic cubic zirconia. Its hardness is respectable and daily wear will not scratch it, and its fire is more regular than that of natural stones, at the cost of a little irregularity. The brass beneath gives it a warm ground that sits well with red cord and dark wood. Made small, it stays within proportion, and it works on a man's string as readily as a woman's without reading instantly as a women's piece. The colour is white rather than a blue-tinged artificial white, so against brass it does not look cheap. The stones are set sparsely, copper left visible between them, so the effect stops short of cloying.

Attach it with fine cord or a small split ring, and leave a little slack. Too tight and it will not move, and movement is the whole point of it. Do not squeeze the ring shut with pliers; leave a gap so that you can move the charm to another string later. Hang it slightly to one side below the guru bead, which looks more natural than dead centre. Waxed cord lasts; ordinary cotton goes fuzzy within a few months.

Copper oxidises, its colour travelling from bright yellow towards dark. Some people like that; some do not, and if you are one of the latter, wipe it with a soft cloth now and then. Zircon chips, so do not toss it into a drawer with hard objects. This is a piece for putting a point of light on a plain string, not for taking the lead. Small things are easily lost, so give it a fixed dish when you take it off, rather than leaving it on the table.