White Copper Pink Zircon Four-leaf Clover Tassel Charm

The four-leaf clover comes from the West. Three-leaf clover grows all over any lawn, and a fourth leaf is rare enough that the old estimate puts it at one in ten thousand, so that finding one counts as luck. The notion is strongest in Ireland, and from there it became a standard motif in jewellery, doing the work that ruyi and the endless knot do in China: giving an abstract wish a shape you can hold. The four leaves are sometimes said to stand for faith, hope, love and luck, an addition made long after the plant itself. The motif has been used so often that quality no longer rests on the idea. It comes down to whether the stones are set straight and even.

A white copper base, pink zircon set into the four leaves, and a short tassel hanging below. The zircon is lab-grown, hard enough that daily wear will not scratch it, and mostly cut in a round brilliant. The fire comes out more regular than a natural stone's, and that regularity is exactly what makes it look a little stiff to the eye. The pink is mixed cool rather than candy, bright only where light strikes it and close to grey in shadow. Pink stone with white copper runs cooler than the same stone in gold and warmer than in silver, which is a narrow place to sit and a useful one.

This is a DIY component, not a finished piece. There is a loop at the top, which will take the end of a bracelet, a bag chain or a phone lanyard, and the choice is yours to make. Tassels tangle: drop this into a pocket with keys and a zip and it will frizz within days. The loop is left unsoldered so that it can be opened, and it should be closed gently with pliers rather than crushed flat, since a flattened loop cannot be reopened. The opening is small, which suits a fine chain and rules out anything heavy.

On its own, add a fine chain and it becomes a pendant, with the length set by the neck. On a bag, the charm sits better off to one side than dead centre, where it reads as an afterthought rather than a label. As a phone charm, keep the metal off the screen, because knocking against it as you walk leaves marks that do not polish out. The piece has some weight to it, so choose a strong lanyard rather than a decorative one. It also works at the closing end of a bracelet, where the tassel hangs down over the wrist bone and moves as the hand does.

Pink zircon on white copper is a cool pink, not a sweet one. It looks best against pale clothing; with strong reds and greens it turns vulgar, and against a print it disappears altogether. Tassel length decides the use: long for a bag, short for a bracelet. Cutting long to short is easy, and short cannot be taken back, so measure before the scissors come out. The tassel thread is polyester, so trim frayed ends with scissors rather than burning them, since a flame fuses the fibres into a hard lump.