Hello readers, this week I have spent some time thinking about the essential Caprilicious Woman - the woman who wears my jewellery. I was idly looking at photographs I have taken of the jewellery I have made over the last couple of years and I realised that the jewellery on the website is extremely eclectic - there doesn't seem to be a theme running through it. For instance, some websites I have looked at have sweet and simple, very pretty pieces that appeal to someone who dresses like a fragrant rose. Yet others have large, bohemian pieces that are a cross - cultural patchwork for people who like to dress in a more exotic manner. The Caprilicious website, however, caters to both these tastes - in fact they may be the same woman in two different moods, on two different days. That, in essence is what a Caprilicious woman is - someone who cannot be corralled into a box, a blithe free spirit who changes her attire with her moods and looks great in all of them! A bit schizophrenic, you say?? You might think so, I couldn't possibly comment! Why the introspection? Well, I made some sweet and pretty floral earrings in one half of the week, and then the wind changed, and so did my mood - and out came Oshun - a very tribal piece of jewellery. As I've mentioned before, I tend to make jewellery while watching the telly of an evening, much like a knitter, and I lay the finished piece out on the coffee table till it is photographed and ready to put on the website. I caught Mike standing at the table one morning, and he said he couldn't believe the same person had made the two pieces of jewellery - that got me thinking ....I just wondered what on earth was going on in my tiny mind that I could find both pieces of jewellery equally engaging - and then I realised - that's what a being a Caprilicious Woman was all about. I bought these really pretty orchids - and my house elf promptly stole them from me - I turned the house upside down looking for them - I've even mentioned the story on my blog - and then one day, there they were - just sitting on the side of my table, as if butter wouldn't melt and they'd been there all the time. But I know better - I know it is my malign house elf playing games with me - so to foil him, I made them up into jewellery ( he doesn't like made up pieces, only components!) and having photographed them, put them away in my cupboard - aha! take that, malign house elf! Kapow!! I have been trying to make Ranunculus flowers out of polymer clay - and ending up with only mush - but finally, finally, I made these really pretty flowers that actually look like ranunculi. You can't see it very well in these pictures, but each layer of petals is in a different shade of the same colour. The Kaleidoscope SagaThis story started with a polymer clay cane I made for a friend - she was picking a design for a commissioned piece of jewellery, and this cane was a reject. I hate wasting stuff, so I put together this kaleidoscope cane, and made a bunch of earrings with it - the last one was made with the end of the cane, turned into a swirly bead. I stuck a spike on it, and connected them with some wire - here it is.... Dog Rose EarringsI made these flowers in my kiln last year - but didn't know what I wanted to do with them. I wanted them to be different - but what would make them stand out from the earrings made by everyone elas?? - it took me an year to figure that out. I am very proud of them because they are entirely handmade - well, I bought the tear drop shaped jade beads - but you knew that - you didn't expect me to go rock hounding as well as everything else, did you?? Anyway, I finally decided that the addition of colour would make them 'pop' - and that word immediately brings to mind polymer clay, which is quintessentially mouldable colour. The ear wires were made with 20 gauge wire, hammered and polished, the headpins to carry the jade drops made with the same wire. So here, I present my very first entirely handmade pair of earrings..... (drumroll)................ Once I made these, I was on a roll - I had a pair of hydrangeas which received a similar treatment, and a little vine leaf pendant charm was hung with a polymer clay backing sheet with a real leaf impressed into it, and cut out in the shape of a leaf. OshunOshun is an Orisha - the beautiful and benevolent Yoruba deity of rivers, love, feminine beauty, love, life, sex, fertility, and art. I was given the beautiful wooden tribal head by my friend BN - I gave my Orisha a shock of hair made of a clutch of beads, some shells, and made the necklace with wooden beads I found in India. My sister in law brought me the trade beads while on a trip to Kenya, and I used some of them to add colour to the piece. The tribal look is an antidote to 'sweet and pretty' - and I have gone as wild as I dared with this piece. It can be worn with neat and tidy clothes as an almost shocking counter balance, or as an accessory to summer linens and slouchy trousers, with loads of chunky bracelets and fringes and feathers, in a sort of uncontrolled, joyful clutter. Go as Tribal as you dare - it is such a fabulous look, you can but enjoy it. I have loads of pieces on my Out of Africa page - I enjoy making them, and I certainly enjoy wearing them. A couple of warm days at the beginning of the week, and my thoughts turned to butterflies and dragonflies - those entrancing creatures who embody summertime. Unfortunately, the rest of the week was only fit for ducks as it rained persistently - but the inspiration stayed with me and I made one of each of these, and hung them as pendants. That's it for this week folks, catch you next week, same time, same place - have a fabulous week
xx
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The oldest child always has it bad - conformity, and the setting of a good example are phrases one hears ad nauseum. So I conformed, people, I did as I was bade, until I was sick to the back teeth - but yet, somehow, I didn't fit in - wherever I went and no matter what I did, I couldn't put my finger on it, but I just didn't fit the mold. Of course, I soon tired of the quest to conform - I do what I do, in my own way - take it or leave it - I guess that's what's called growing into your own skin - or even growing up! The magic of making my own jewellery has allowed me to be non conformist in glorious technicolour - now, my quest is to find other people, who like me have gone with the flow in their murky past, but are ready to shake their bootees and sing! C'mon out people, wherever you are................. let's have some fun! One of my role models is a woman called Kat O'Sullivan - she makes and markets upcycled sweaters - they are snapped up within minutes of being posted on ETSY, and I am the lucky owner of a couple of them. She owns a house called Calico, otherwise known as 'The House That Sweaters Built'. She is most definitely a non-conformist par excellence. She is only a young thing, and I admire her self assurance and insouciance. The Grow Your Blog Party Giveaway
Jennifer LaVite wins Jungle Drums - a bangle, earrings and pendant set. I hope she reads this and contacts me with her address so I can send it on to her. I bought these beautiful hollow beads from a shop that sells Moroccan artefacts. The first piece I made was with rough cut black tourmaline nuggets fuchsia pearls and agate beads, and I called it Some Like It Hot. My friend Sheela picked it up while helping to arrange the display for my exhibition. 'Just to save you from finding somewhere to display it' is how she put it - not that space was at a premium, but we didn't argue the point too strenuously. She wore it to the exhibition, 'as a walking advertisement' she said - and then halfway through the day, she found other things she liked, and changed into them instead. Now that the first bead had found a home, I decided to use a second one from my stash - but this time make it as different as possible from the first. It is always a temptation to make the same thing over and over again - but, that is laziness, and no longer a 'one-of-a-kind' endeavour. I have two more beads, and will endeavour to make each necklace as different from the last one as possible - a challenge! - I love challenges!! Here's Sheela looking very pleased with herself for snafu-ing Some Like it Hot, and beside it is Mountain Mist, the second necklace I made using the Moroccan bead. Mountain MistI made this necklace using some of my collection of 'vaseline glass' beads. The colours are very soothing - the pale blues and greens in the original African vaseline trade beads came from uranium mixed in with the glass - these beads of course are contemporary, and thankfully they have no uranium content - you will not glow in the dark! The Kiss of the DragonAn ox - bone carved Chinese dragon was the focal point for this piece. Embellished with antiqued copper wire and red howlite beads, it was ready to be hung on a necklace, which I made using fire agate - it seemed appropriate to have a dragon on a fire agate necklace. I spent a pleasurable weekend, wallowing in clay making scarf jewellery for my friends at Look in the Bag. It has been fun translating my friends ideas into my work - a learning experience for me as I usually make my jewellery to my own specifications. It is nice to have a focus, while I am having fun creating something pretty. Before I go, let me share this with you - a friend of mine who couldn't come to the show sent a couple of her friends instead - this is what her friend had to say about Caprilicious - I was deeply touched. That's all I have had time for folks, have a great week, and I will catch you next week, same time, same place
xx The show is over, my babies have been sent off to their new homes like blushing brides in their palanquins, tenderly wrapped in tissue paper to absorb any knocks they might sustain during their journeys. Back at home, I feel at once bereft and elated - the weather outside isn't helping, and a streaming cold is making matters a million times worse. I have been lying in bed, nursing my cold, reminiscing about the Caprilicious exhibition. Some Memorable CustomersIt is a great feeling to have people look at one's creations, and like them enough to put their money where their mouth is - the downside is that one's creations have to go home with a new mistress. However, if they go to people who will wear them with pleasure, it's a win - win situation. I had a gentleman come in to the exhibition with his wife and sisters who were visiting from out of town - he inspected some of my necklaces minutely, turning them this way and that - it then transpired that he liked the workmanship, and that he was actually a jeweller who dealt in gold and precious stones - now, that was a compliment, and he even assisted his sister in choosing a piece for herself. About an hour later, a lady came into the room - I'd seen her walk into the grounds with a companion, but didn't think anything of it - she didn't look like she'd be interested in Caprilicious - a browser, I thought, as I smiled and said hello. She asked me questions about everything, she didn't trust a word I said - she asked who had made the jewellery, and a sardonic 'I don't believe you' smile came to her face when I told her - she even cross checked with Mike when she went to the cash desk that I hadn't been telling her porkies! When I told her that some of the beads in a pair of earrings were from Murano, she scoffed at me. 'I've been to Murano' she said. 'These aren't Murano beads'. I had to almost give her directions to the shop where I bought the beads - 'turn left from the factory where they take the tourists, go over the little bridge, and hang a left', before she believed - or appeared to believe me. All the time she picked over the jewellery, she snapped out questions, hoping to catch me out in a falsehood - to her mind, I was a jumped up sales assistant with delusions of grandeur! At the end, she had eight necklaces in her hot little hands, and she bargained me down to a discount in a loud, hoarse stage whisper, looking theatrically over her shoulder to see if anyone else had heard. Off she went to the cash desk, and pulled out a huge overstuffed purse - people in India do tend to pay using cash, and when I went to pick up the necklaces to wrap them, she barked 'I want each one in a separate box, mind'! By this time, I was too exhausted to say anything, I just nodded, dumbstruck, fighting the tiny bubble of hysterical laughter that threatened to erupt out of me, and handed her the jewellery. Off she waddled, perspiring in the air conditioned room, bewhiskered and mustachioed, bellies and chins moving to their own beat, quite separate from her steps, and I could relax. I do wonder how my babies are faring with her, though. She said she'd come back the next day with some beads for me to make up into a necklace, but she never showed. Berber SunriseThe beads in this necklace are a gorgeous sunrise yellow/orange and come from Africa. Amber was treasured in Africa, being a rare commodity, and all sorts of imitation amber was produced, as the colour was thought to be extremely attractive. These beads are made of bakelite and are teamed with Moroccan enamelled silver to make a very colourful necklace, my first for this year. Earrings to match with triangular polymer clay tiles I happened to have lying around, and a pair of enamelled Moroccan beads complete the ensemble. I have been commissioned by Look In the Bag to make scarf jewellery to be sold exclusively on their pages. They design the most exquisite range of silk scarves, and I am honoured. These are just a couple of pieces I made this week, to go into their spring/ summer collection, due to be unveiled shortly. I did enjoy shaping and forging the wire - I have made pins before, but not quite so many - I shall be thinking up new ideas so that there are a variety of designs. That's as much as I have had time for this week, folks. Thanks for stopping by, and I will catch you next week, same time, same place. Happy Valentines Day xx |
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