I was at work in the day job all last weekend - and this time the Gods weren't smiling on me - it was literally the weekend from hell! I was in and out of the hospital, picking up pieces that had been dropped by others, soothing ruffled feathers - and whatever could go wrong..... did.
So I came home each day and pulled out my beads and clay and soothed myself calm - it was so nice to be able to do that - and I think the people around me benifited from that! A three day weekend can be so tedious, when everything is unravelling around you.

I took delivery of a bunch of crystals from someone who was closing down a bead shop - so while I sat watching the telly with Mike, I put together some pretty chandelier earrings - I felt the need to dive straight into the crystals - I usually hoard pretty things for some crazy reason, but it would be madness to hoard half a kilogram of mixed crystals. I poured them through my fingers, sorting them into little piles and picking the ones I wanted to use - like a wide eyed AliBaba in the cave of treasures - and these are the chandeliers I made with this multicolour medley of crystal beads.

This piece evolved out of my disastrous weekend - I mixed myself some pretty buttery yellow clay to make flowers from - had just about had enough of various shades of pink - someone recently said that yellow is a difficult colour to create with, and apparently, some people wont wear yellow as it causes their skin to look sallow. I thought, maybe it could be used as an accent - to brighten up a piece of jewellery - a little bit of it can't hurt - and it is so pretty after all. A floral theme seemed to evolve - I made peony type flowers - which will go into a brooches, I think, and a bunch of jasmine flowers and buds - these are the little plump jasmine that have the most delicious scent - ladies in India might wear just the one in their hair and you can smell it from a mile off, if you have a halfway decent sense of smell. They are usually a creamy white, but I claimed artistic licence and made them in the yellow of the winter flowering jasmine found in more temperate climes - they are still pretty recognisable though..... I think!

My mother has a bush in her garden which yields loads of flowers - enough to use as offerings during her prayers, and for the ladies of the house to wear in their hair should the mood take them. I remember my dad bringing home little packets of jasmine garlands, all ready for pinning into mum's hair - and she always shared them with her daughters - I wonder if it was a secret message between them!

Anyway, mindful of the edict that too much yellow would not be appreciated, I wove my jasmine into a little corsage, and teamed it with turquoise coins, pearly beads and dark blue sunstone in a statement collar - I love making those. I am sure, come winter, when the only flowers we can find easily are in the supermarket, they will gladden the heart.

These jasmine are evocative of my childhood, and the bush growing outside my bedroom window, and I called it Love's Sweet Scent. The jasmine has been set low enough so it won't jab the wearer in the neck - I just love this necklace.

I also made some silver components in my kiln - more flowers!- I need to decide just what to do with them, so will just post a little sneak peek into what is to come. The polymer clay peony has very thin petals, to try and resemble the flower as closely as possible - it may be too fragile on a piece of jewellery that may be knocked about during regular wear, and will have to go into a brooch, though I originally inteded to use it on the wrist in a wide bracelet - like a prom corsage.

I made some beadcaps using wire and crystal - when my friend Suj saw one of them, she said - Oh you can make Jhumkas out of them - Jhumkas are bell shaped danglers, and almost every Indian woman has a pair of these. They used to be simple, in gold and pearls, but have now become so fanciful, they are almost unrecognisable. I made mine in copper wire with some of my crystal bead stash in a colour combination of green and gold - very dressy. As these are all lightweight beads, the resultant piece is pretty and ornamental, yet light and easy to wear.

My little piece of Caprilicious silver this week is a tiny fine silver bud, about an inch long, made in the kiln, antiqued and polished, with a tiny red Cubic Zirconium emdedded into it. It comes with it's own chain, and is perfect for someone who likes her jewellery a bit smaller - as you all know, a lot of my stuff is 'in your face' and cannot be overlooked when worn - maybe because I was once innately shy, (although I have grown out of it now)  but there was another side to me that was a bit 'song and dance', and didn't know quite how to reflect that, so preferred my apparel to do it for me. I could not buy chain store stuff if someone paid me.

Most of my designs are made with me in mind - if you don't want it, I should be happy to wear it myself - so, the corollary to this is, if you like the stuff I make, we must be kindred souls - Soul Sisters, even!

That's all for my week this time around - see you same time, same place next week
xx

My muse has had to take a back seat this week, and I have had time out to spend with mum, showing her around the shops, with a short interlude spent with friends and family in Bolton and a visit to the Lake District. I took a quick class at In The Studio, to learn enamelling techniques, and am itching to get started - but no, I will wait till my mother leaves at the beginning of July, to get my creative juices flowing in earnest. In the meantime, I have played with wire and a few beads to put together a couple of little bit and bobs to satisfy the old fingers that I am still able to create a bit of magic, and haven't quite forgotten the art and that my muse and I have not parted company. 

These are a few of the little bit and bobs I learned to make at the enamelling course - and am now raring to use my new found knowledge.
I made a pendant using a large pressed glass bauble shaped bead, which I had bought already made up as a necklace on a gunmetal coloured chain - I thought it would be fun to add a crystal studded beadcap, but when I finished, I felt it could do with some more shiny stuff, so I added another beadcap which I filled with dyed pheasant feather in a royal purple, and some yellow to contrast. The inspiration was Shangri La - the utopian Buddhist country which had the reputation of being a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world - evoking the imagery of the exoticism and riches of the orient. I think I succeeded with this pendant, which I then rehung on it's original chain, so that it would be wearable with a casual outfit. 

My mother  brought me some pretty green glass rice shaped beads from India, so I added one of my faux ivory pendants, and combined the two with a multitude of gemstones - shiny haematite, dyed howlite flowers, which were ever so pretty, carved bone beads, jasper coins, and moss agate beads, added some wire and produced a very sweet two strand necklace which I called The Green Goddess - after the pretty greens in the necklace, although the more famous green goddess is the Bedford fire engine used by the British Armed Forces - I hope they don't mind that I stole the name.

I would have loved to make a few more little pieces, but I have been handed an interesting challenge for next week - a commission to produce a piece using the inspiration of 'stark snow capped mountains with a slew of colours' in a statement necklace. I decided early on that the snowcapped mountains would have to be represented by druzy and bought a few stones from a dealer on the internet - I have picked out two of the best and started to wrap them in wire, prior to affixing them into the necklace, the shape of which is yet to evolve. The slew of colours will be from a picture of a sunset - an afterglow, using knot less netting and Swarovski crystals, I think. This is how far I have got with the piece - I hope to have it more or less finished next week - am keen to make a fabulous job for this lady - she appreciates and believes in my Muse - I hope the old muse is listening to this, and working away to come up with the bestest, most stupendiferous idea. 

I hope they look like mountains to you - well if they don't, squint at them with your head to one side, and breathe deeply - in, and out - and hey presto! - they will - by the time I have finished with them, they will look like mountains in a mountain sunset scene. I am off now to torture some wire into behaving itself for me, have a nice week, and catch you next week, same time, same place, 
xx