Hello everyone, how are you today? It is getting colder and yet not so cold that the leaves have dropped from the trees - global warming, for sure! The clocks went back an hour this weekend and I am not looking forward to waking up in the dark, spending the entire day in a building under artificial light only to come out into the night all over again. No wonder we are Vit D depleted and depressed! It's taken me over 4 weeks to make this piece and it was made originally to showcase the colourful koi fish I picked up from one of my suppliers. However, by the time I finished the piece, the lotus flowers dominated the necklace, made using the technique 'Painting with Beads'. I began by making the lotus leaves individually and attaching them and the fish to the necklace. The fish were anchored securely to the necklace underneath the leaves and the flowers They look like they are swimming under the leaves, between the flowers and as this is how they behave in life, as they are shy creatures, it seemed to be the perfect way to attach them to the necklace. And then the fun began! The water in the pond is made of thousands (it felt like millions by the time I was finished) of little beads from Japan and the Czech Republic in varying shades of blue and white. I worked on it a little bit at a time - the repetitive nature of adding bead after bead after bead was strangely soothing, and even when I had the worst day at work, this necklace helped me unwind at the end of it. It was originally meant to be called 'The Koi Pond', but the flowers soon became the most visible part of the piece. The soporific effect of adding the beads one by one made me recall a poem by Alfred Tennyson called 'The Lotus Eaters'. The Lotus eaters were a mythical race of people who lived on an island in North Africa - they sound like really chilled out people who ate the fruit of the lotus which made them forget all their woes. They obviously didn't have any killjoy doctors around, as we would have stopped that practice stone dead by adding warnings to the packaging or handing out leaflets to stop any fun that could be had, with immediate effect, thank you very much. When I was researching the Lotus Eaters, I even found an image from a painting by Tim Lane that would be perfect for such a leaflet - a medics doom and gloom leaflet would most definitely have it prominently across the front - like the images of lung cancer on cigarette packets today. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were a narcotic, causing the inhabitants to sleep in peaceful apathy. After they ate the lotus, they would forget their home and loved ones, and long only to stay and munch on lotus with the Lotus-eaters, completely forgetful of their return. Those who ate the plant left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them. The story goes that though they wept bitterly and begged to stay, Odysseus forced them back to the ships and chained them to the benches so they couldn't escape and set sail for home. They don't look very happy in the picture, do they? Reminds me of a misspent youth when my mother came looking for me and found me where I shouldn't have been!! I could so easily have been a lotus eater. The Lotus EatersThis one will be my last embroidered piece for 2023, I think. I'm going to be in India for almost the whole of December attending weddings and engagement parties and it all sounds like it will be a lot of fun. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up at work, as well as a long stint on call which I'm not looking forward to. That's it for me folks. I hope you've enjoyed your read and will come back for more. Have a great week and I'll catch up with you shortly.
Until then xx
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Hello everyone, I hope all goes well with you and yours. I'm back after a couple of weeks where I've been busy at work and trying to keep my head above water. A few days off this week have helped me get back into the flow. My neice is getting married in India an December and I plan a little trip - I'll have to go in a few days early to get some clothes for the numerous pre and post events that will swirl around the wedding day like a mist - one running into another, exhausting, exhilerating and loads of fun. This week, I started a fresh embroidered piece, but had some time to put together a necklace that I had designed earlier. When I see elements that I think will go together, I put them all into a plastic baggie with a crude drawing of what I envisage. In spite of that, the jewellery usually turns into something else altogether, because I find other elements to add to the original (and also because my drawing skills are shocking, and so is my memory). This time, however, I stayed with the original plan and here it is, Spears ad Shields - a tribalistic necklace that is a daytime piece, taking you to the office, to lunch or a tea party. Spears and ShieldsThe Koi PondThis one is taking a load of time - I found the little resin koi carp on one of my suppliers websites and they were so colourful that I picked them up straight away. Deciding what to do with them was more difficult than anticipated, but eventually, I knew they had to go into a pond. The lotus leaves were made separately and then appliqued over the koi to ensure that the fish were stitched on securely - I placed beads under each leaf to elevate them, so that they seem to be floating over the water, with the fish peeking out from under them and the lotus flowers that I put in next. Now, I have to block out the pond itself - covering the whole thing bead by bead will take me ages. Taking meetings from home on Teams helps, though - I sat in front of the laptop all of yesterday, listening to the delivery of the MBRACE report, which is the maternal mortality report for the UK, sewing beads on one by one - two birds/ one stone!. I've started to put the blue pond in with a 'bead-soup' of blues, whites and transparent beads with a few other colours thrown in for good measure. If my vision proves right, it should be very pretty when it is finished, but we'll just have to wait and see. Yesterday marked a year since my mother passed away - it felt strangely flat. My sister and I comforted one another as best we could, but there just didn't seem to be the right words. Mum wasn't given to emotional outbursts - she was a very pragmatic and sensible woman, so I guess that is what she would have expected from us. I do miss her, though.
That's me for this week, folks. I shall spend a bit of time of the koi pond, and catch up with you when it is done. Have a great weekend, and I'll catch you soon. Until then xx Helloooo everybody, how are you? It is Caprilicious' 5th birthday this week and we are celebrating. Thank you, all of you, those who like Caprilicious' efforts, those who read and/or follow the blog, and those that like wearing my jewellery - Caprilicious and I thank you very, very much! To celebrate, I am hosting a giveaway as usual on the Facebook page. All you have to do is go to the page, like the picture linked to the giveaway and share it to be in with a chance of winning the pretty freebie. The Annual Birthday GiveawayThe ornate wire work hearts were originally designed by Nicole Hanna and are made using antiqued copper wire. They are hung on an organza ribbon and could easily be hung on a longer necklace should you so wish. Patience PaysLast week, I was trying to make a couple of copper flower pendants from Prometheus copper clay as I posted the blog. I had already managed to break off a bail and had to repair it and put it back into the kiln for refiring. I left it to cool over 24 hours being too anxious to rush to open it. In fact it was two days later that I opened the lid of the steel firing pan to find that I had been successful in making a viable piece of jewellery. I was so happy when I found that I had done it! The pendants needed to be scrubbed, put into the rotary tumbler, and polished up. In the finish, I had two gleaming flowers that I was very proud of! I couldn't wait to string them into necklaces. Having pulled out half my bead stash and taken design guidance and instruction from hubby, I made the first necklace. Georgia on my MindAs this particular flower was an experimental piece, inspired by the flowers of Georgia O'Keeffe and Lynn Cobb, I thought the title fitting. Ms. O'Keeffe has many paintings that inspire me and I think I might just be looking at some more of them again, fairly soon. The poppy in the picture was painted in 1927. She believed that due to the fast-paced lives people live, they merely glance at flowers, but never really observe their exquisiteness. She wished to give people who live such rushed lives the experience and the feel of the true beauty of flowers by creating large floral portraits with very little background. “Still-in a way-nobody sees a flower-really- it is so small-we haven’t time- and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” __Georgia O’Keeffe I thought the necklace was beautiful and was most gratified when a colleague instantly fell in love with it and snapped it up. The second flower is a lotus. I ruffled it's layers of petals, in a manner of speaking and the initial beads I chose seemed to indicate that the necklace would be an ethnic style piece. Orange agate teardrops, rudraksh seeds, copper Bali beads, African vinyl trade beads - they all have an Indian flavour, and I thought that this was OK because the lotus, or Tamara is the national flower of India. It was when I went to make the second strand that my subconscious mind went haywire, Ms Muse picked the strangest bedfellows to the first. However, in the end the whole piece is fun and colourful and seems to work just right! It has a Latin-American feel, probably because of the orange ceramic hearts and blue ovoids. Christmas Shopping Fair and Charity Event |
| This is one of the very first versions with English lyrics, sung by Astrud Gilberto, who was married to João Gilberto, the Brazilian singer who first made the song famous. |
I used the tutorial from Alice Stroppel again, with the second blank bracelet I prepared earlier, and spent a day creating a pen and ink drawing of The Girl from Ipanema - an hour into the process, I began to enjoy myself and have a lot of fun, and that shows through in the drawing. She has beautiful pale blue hair - I just wish I could colour mine blue too, but I think I am bit long in the tooth for that - and besides, my day job precludes such eccentricities.
This was a very work intensive project, with the bracelet blank to be made, then drawn upon, and then inked, with the inks needing to be set at each stage, so that they did not smudge. Finally, when I was happy, the bracelet needed covering with a film of protective coating and cured again, so that the inks are preserved during normal wear - I had a lot of fun doing it.
This was a very work intensive project, with the bracelet blank to be made, then drawn upon, and then inked, with the inks needing to be set at each stage, so that they did not smudge. Finally, when I was happy, the bracelet needed covering with a film of protective coating and cured again, so that the inks are preserved during normal wear - I had a lot of fun doing it.
This cuff took a lot of my time, but I didn't mind at all, it was so much fun to make. I have made up a few more blank bracelets in various colours, and will, from time to time, play with inks again.
That's all I had time for this week, folks, catch you next week, same time, same place,
xx
That's all I had time for this week, folks, catch you next week, same time, same place,
xx
Scherezade
Last week, as I posted, I was turning over the question of what to do with my wire lace peacock - it started life as a pair of Peruvian threadwork pendant/earrings, which I embellished with crystals and put together with some copper wire and yet more crystals to make a peacock - but I didn't quite know what to do with it - I threw the question open to a couple of jewellery makers groups - one in the UK, and the other predominantly with members from the USA - and having got loads of inspiration and ideas, decided on a simple handmade chain incorporating pearly beads and crystals to match the peacock, and to hang it asymmetrically. In folk art, peacocks are often drawn looking backwards at their tails - this may be because they are vain creatures, but the artists use it as a symbol of renewal as the feathers are renewed each year.
I made my peacock look back at its tail feathers too - I loved the curved shape it gave the neck - and it was lovely to be able to bend wire in the direction that it wants to go for once! I titled the piece Scherezade as it seemed to be so 'Arabian Night's Dreams', with its brilliant colours - and I love the haunting music by Nikolai Rimsky - Korsakov. I think the dancer in the ballet below might have worn this piece! The design seemed to flow - all I had was the bare minimum of an idea and my box of crystal beads, and one thing just followed the next till I felt as if I woke up and the finished article was staring me in the face - maybe I didn't make it after all and it was the elves that visited in the night - however, Santa's grotto, this ain't!
I made my peacock look back at its tail feathers too - I loved the curved shape it gave the neck - and it was lovely to be able to bend wire in the direction that it wants to go for once! I titled the piece Scherezade as it seemed to be so 'Arabian Night's Dreams', with its brilliant colours - and I love the haunting music by Nikolai Rimsky - Korsakov. I think the dancer in the ballet below might have worn this piece! The design seemed to flow - all I had was the bare minimum of an idea and my box of crystal beads, and one thing just followed the next till I felt as if I woke up and the finished article was staring me in the face - maybe I didn't make it after all and it was the elves that visited in the night - however, Santa's grotto, this ain't!
Once this piece was finished, I felt drained - it had absorbed all my creative energies and I turned my thoughts to simpler pieces that give me just as much pleasure. I had a few pendants and pieces of polymer clay I had made earlier, so I set about making them up into items that were wearable.
I like my jewellery to tell a story - as if you haven't guessed by now from reading my blog! I continually research my inspirations on the internet, gathering ideas and stories poetry and music, as the piece comes into being.
I made a water lily, on a lily pad out of polymer clay - hadn't quite decided what to do with it, but realised that by a happy accident, I had put in a fold over in the leaf that could be used as a bail. The two wires I had cured into the piece so I could attach it to something then became redundant - so I cut one off, and attached a little lamp worked glass and bead dragonfly to the other, which I coiled into a spring, so that the dragonfly appeared to be hovering over the waterlily - from that idea it was easy to take it further, into creating a lily pond with fish and snails and dandelion heads - I let my imagination run riot - and turned out a pleasant and summery piece with a three dimensional aspect to it.
I like my jewellery to tell a story - as if you haven't guessed by now from reading my blog! I continually research my inspirations on the internet, gathering ideas and stories poetry and music, as the piece comes into being.
I made a water lily, on a lily pad out of polymer clay - hadn't quite decided what to do with it, but realised that by a happy accident, I had put in a fold over in the leaf that could be used as a bail. The two wires I had cured into the piece so I could attach it to something then became redundant - so I cut one off, and attached a little lamp worked glass and bead dragonfly to the other, which I coiled into a spring, so that the dragonfly appeared to be hovering over the waterlily - from that idea it was easy to take it further, into creating a lily pond with fish and snails and dandelion heads - I let my imagination run riot - and turned out a pleasant and summery piece with a three dimensional aspect to it.
Nymphaea
Flowers in a Tornado
I have had these tornado beads for ages - I made them up from a tutorial by Lisa Niven Kelly of Beaducation, and I love their organic shape - it struck me - I mut be the only person - or one of a minute number of people - who needs a tutorial to make a messy bead - most people have to learn how to make their jewellery neat and tidy, but I had to do it the other way around! I paired them with some lucite beads and knotted waxed blue cotton for a light and pretty summer necklace. However, mindful that summer is a time for sun tan lotion, perspiration ( ladies glow! - I am told, but lets call a spade a big shovel here) I put wire in at the top, to keep the look pristine for longer! I made earrings to match too. It is a tangled necklace - but I have a secret weapon to keep the threads from turning into a hopeless knot - large safety pins! - placed strategically across the strands will allow transport of the necklace, completely safely, without the nuisance of untangling it each time it is worn - of course you have to remember to put the pins in when you take it off.
I had an abalone shell pendant set in Sterling silver, and I made up a little necklace in complementary colours to go with it - am wearing (test driving) it at the moment, and it feels just right around the neck. Some lovely zebra dyed blue howlite arrived in the mail, and I couldn't wait to use it, it was so pretty - I had a pewter dragonfly clasp that I was keen to use, and as it was meant for two strands, the howlite was put together with opaque blue seed beads, chrysocolla rectangles and silver coloured spacers, with a dangling dragonfly to match - there are earrings to go with this piece as well, on some lovely extra long surgical steel kidney wires - cant wait to see how they will go down.
I want to say a special thank you to those who write on the Caprilicious Jewellery Page on Facebook and leave comments on my website/blog - your encouragement means a lot, thank you very much. Also, those who have come back to buy a second piece from me - I often wonder whether you liked your jewellery if you don't write back - but when you buy a second piece - I am sure you did! My pieces of jewellery are like my little babies - and I send them out into the world - I can only hope you love them as much as I do - am I being fanciful?? and a bit overly sentimental, bordering on silly?? -almost certainly, but then I am new to this and am not blase' as yet - please forgive my enthusiasm :)
Catch you next week with another instalment of the Caprilicious Blog
xx
Catch you next week with another instalment of the Caprilicious Blog
xx
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The Caprilicious Jewellery Blog
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I'm Neena Shilvock, and I'm crazily addicted to jewellery.
I've been designing and making quirky and interesting statement necklaces for over ten years and my passion hasn't cooled off one little bit - in fact it has got worse, such that I even dream jewellery.
I'd love to get to know kindred spirits like you, so drop me a line and I'll get back to you, and who knows, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Write to me at jewellerybycaprilicious(at)gmail.com
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