Spring and Autumn Handmade Braided Cord | New Year Red String | High-Content Purple Gold Sand & Placer Gold Spacer Beads | Auspicious Year

**One red string, woven with care, a single blessing, intricately tied.** **Infuse with joy, cultivate a vibrant aura, celebrate the auspicious year with a single red thread.** **Braided knots, great luck for the New Year** **Wishing you peace in winter and abundant blessings.** Original design, entirely hand-braided. **For a more comfortable fit, please note your wrist circumference. Thank you!** Xiangxi High-Content Purple Gold Sand + Placer Gold (Copper Plated with 24k Gold) (6mm\8mm\10mm bead diameters available, see selection menu.) Woven cord: brown + wine red + gold thread. **If you wish to specify the braided cord color, please leave a note or send us a message!** (All photos are taken in natural light. Colors may vary due to different equipment, weather conditions, and screen displays. Please be aware!) **> Categories** Shuifei Sand, Emperor Sand, Purple Gold Sand, and Crystal Sand are all high-quality cinnabar. Their **primary differences lie in color, texture, hardness, and production methods.** **「Shuifei Sand」** **A true red, with a slight orange hue. The surface has a gentle, matte luster that will become more lustrous with wear, developing a patina.** The production method involves repeatedly grinding cinnabar into fine particles to form a paste, mixing it with water, and then collecting the upper "turbid liquid" after settling. This is then left to settle again (the water-purification method) to obtain the cinnabar mud at the bottom, which is air-dried and then pressed using ancient techniques. Fine mineral flashes can still be seen in uniform, small particles on the cross-section. **「Emperor Sand」** **A pure red color, with a brighter luster and higher hardness.** The production method involves multiple steps of purification from natural raw cinnabar ore, including **crushing, grinding, magnetic separation, water purification, and high polishing**, before being pressed using ancient techniques. Emperor Sand has almost no visible mineral flashes on the surface, but possesses them internally. The surface undergoes a **high-polishing** process to achieve a metallic texture, especially brilliant in sunlight, giving it a strong metallic feel. **「Purple Gold Sand」** **A purplish-red color, with slightly lower hardness than Emperor Sand.** The production method involves multiple steps of crushing, grinding, and screening from natural raw cinnabar ore, but **without water purification**. Therefore, the surface is not as fine and has scattered small mineral flashes, resembling a starry sky. **「Crystal Sand」** **A purplish-red color, translucent.** These are large cinnabar particles directly chipped from the cinnabar mine. The crystals are clearly visible on the surface, and when illuminated, each particle is transparent, emitting a fluorescent red glow. **> Spring Plowing, Autumn Harvest** **All things that unfold beautifully, poetically, and wonderfully in this world tend to happen naturally, much like the changing seasons.** **Learn to slow down, clear your mind, treat life with softness, respect the power of time, and let everything grow naturally, like a tree, focused and fearless, growing clear growth rings.** **Our craftsmanship is just the same!!** **> Cinnabar** The earliest written records refer to cinnabar by a single character, "丹" (dān). "丹" is an ideogrammatic character. Ancient people dug mines, and extracted minerals from the wells. Thus, the character "丹" is essentially the character "井" (jǐng, well) with a dot in the middle, signifying the extraction of something from a mine. This something is cinnabar. Because cinnabar is red, often a deep red, "朱" (zhū) also means red. Later, "丹砂" (dānshā) became known as cinnabar. "丹" and "朱" describe the color, and "砂" describes the shape, referring to irregularly shaped mineral particles. The color of cinnabar is enduring. Chinese calligraphy and painting are known as "丹青" (dānqīng), where "丹" refers to cinnabar. It is an indispensable component of pigments, and the "Eight Treasures Seal Paste," a common ink, also has cinnabar as its main ingredient. From a Feng Shui perspective, cinnabar is collected from minerals that have absorbed the essence of the sun and moon. It absorbs the righteous energy of heaven and earth, thus possessing a powerful yang magnetic field. We can observe that jade feels cool in the hand, while cinnabar feels warm. Since ancient times, cinnabar has been used in Taoist rituals for drawing talismans, consecrating objects, warding off evil, and calming spirits. Cinnabar has always been regarded as a supreme item for attracting good fortune, warding off malevolence, dispelling evil, attracting blessings, and accumulating wealth. It carries auspicious meanings of great fortune and prosperous health. The *Shennong Ben Cao Jing* (Classic of Materia Medica) lists cinnabar as a superior substance, often used in medicinal treatments for calming the spirit, detoxification, and alleviating insomnia and excessive dreaming. Living in modern times, owning one or two cinnabar artifacts can also cultivate one's character, nurture the eyes, and soothe the heart. **> Authentication** **All cinnabar products in our store are high-content cinnabar and have a strong sense of weight. You can use the following methods for authentication:** . Burning cinnabar will cause it to turn black. (Please heat indirectly. It is generally not recommended to burn the finished product directly, as it is difficult to control the time and area. Prolonged burning will cause it to blacken and become irreversible.) . Real cinnabar can draw an orange-red line on paper. (To avoid damaging the appearance of the finished product, please choose an inconspicuous area to draw the line, or use the complimentary bead to draw the line.) **> Care** 1. Avoid corrosive substances Cinnabar is a mineral and is insoluble in water. However, frequent contact with chemicals such as soap and shower gel can corrode cinnabar. 2. Avoid contact with metal objects The mineral elements in cinnabar can absorb metal ions, causing the cinnabar to become irreversibly dull or black. 3. Avoid high temperatures The mercuric sulfide in cinnabar only releases at temperatures of 380 degrees Celsius. Therefore, as long as you avoid exposing cinnabar jewelry to high-temperature environments, you can wear it with peace of mind. 4. Avoid collision with hard or sharp objects. Cinnabar has high hardness and is brittle, so be careful to prevent drops. 5. How to clean If you find your cinnabar is dirty, do not soak it in water, as this will alter its original luster! You can wipe it a few times with a slightly damp cotton cloth and let it air dry for a while. 6. Oiling for maintenance Apply a layer of white tea oil or olive oil to the finished product, allowing the surface to absorb the oil, making it more lustrous and bright. If you apply oil and then seal it in a brocade box, you can wrap it in a common plastic film to prevent the oil from staining the brocade box lining. 7. Frequent handling Often handle the cinnabar jewelry worn on your body with your hands, allowing the surface to develop a thin layer of oil. Over time, it will become more antique and elegant. The actual product is more exquisite and beautiful than the photos.