Hello everyone, how are you today? We've just come back off a lovely break in Paris and I have gone back to work feeling refreshed and relaxed. I guess I really needed the time away from the day job. It was really warm and humid in Paris, and all we did was to go from cafe to cafe, drinking Aperol Spritz's, listening to the buskers, and relaxing in the sunshine. There was, I'm told a haze of fine dust from the Sahara high in the atmosphere, giving rise to some beautiful sunsets over the Parisian skyline. It was unseasonably warm and humid so we ducked into the Galeries Lafayette to take another look at their beautiful ceiling and went from floor to floor breathing in expensively perfumed cool air. Hubby checks out watches and tries on hats like most women try on shoes, so we spent a good hour or two not buying anything and then went onto the rooftop for a light lunch and to take in the views of the Paris skyline. There was the obligatory visit to the Notre Dame which looked so sad without it's beautiful spires although there was evidence of loads of work being done with scaffolding and tall cranes all around it. They had brought the statue of the Virgin Mary outside as the church itself is closed and there were a number of women kneeling around it rolling their rosary beads around in their fingers and muttering their Hail Mary's in various languages. The spire ought to be back on by the time the Olympic Games come to Paris in 2024 and I hope it will be just as beautiful as the original again. Hubby hadn't been to see either of the famous Parisian spectacular shows at the Lido or the Moulin Rouge. Unfortunately, the Lido closed it's doors in September 2022 so we ended up at the Moulin Rouge to take in the can-can dancers. I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it too much, having been once before, many, many years ago. They made us queue for about 30 minutes, the food was indifferent, the chairs tiny and uncomfortably hard and cramped and the show, tired - but that's just my opinion. Mike enjoyed it, so, mission accomplished. There was a lazy afternoon spent at the Pompidou centre which houses the museum of modern art and a huge library. I wanted to go back to the most interesting building I've ever seen, with its structural system, mechanical systems, and circulation exposed on the exterior of the building. Initially, all of the functional structural elements of the building were colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red. I saw it when it first opened in the early eighties and fell in love with the idea of an 'inside out' building and the interesting Tinguely fountain outside. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the fountain was drained for restoration, and the works of art in the fountain looked deserted and forlorn. I'm a great fan of the art by Niki de Saint Phalle and the fountain was such fun, with the water spraying from whimsical sculptures to the sound of music by Stravinsky. Alas, there was none of that on this occasion, but the street performers and cafes were enough to make it an interesting afternoon. This is what it should have looked like - but hey, one can't have everything! Pic courtesy of Pinterest There were the obligatory walks in the Marais district, around Montmartre and of course, the Eiffel Tower. Now I'm back to work, I feel so refreshed and ready to go. One underestimates the power of a good break - the two years of Covid got us out of the regular routine of taking time off between fraught situations to release all the tension that builds up inside. I even found some time to make a piece of jewellery and photograph it for these pages. SaraThe pendant is a little slice of ametrine, topped with a faceted aquamarine. When held against the light the ametrine is pale and almost transparent, but when worn against another colour, or even the colour of skin, it seems to spring to life. I hadn't realised this, so I looked for beads in my stash to give it an injection of colour. The quartz needles pick up on the blue aquamarine and contrast well with the ametrine. As I photographed it, I realised that wearing it gives the ametrine a new life of it's own and I had worried needlessly that it was too pale. The little clasp is set with a blue topaz. That's me for this week, folks. Have a fabulous weekend and I'll catch you soon. Until then xx
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I come home each day dog tired, but feel the need to play with my beads and if nothing else, to plan new jewellery. Sometimes, I get to actually make stuff, but these days, I veg out in front of the telly. A bit of discipline is needed, methinks. Jewellery making gives me a real buzz - the very thought of something created from almost nothing is a great mood elevator - and I thought I'd discovered something about myself until I read an article about Effort Driven Rewards. I came upon jewellery making when I was at risk of drowning in a severe depression and it would appear that perhaps it came to me at just the right time. Have a read of the article and see what you think! SerenityI didn't have the time to make an elaborate necklace, so when I found a minute, I put this one together - it is made of clear quartz rough nuggets and an eccentrically placed blue agate focal. The blue agate slab nugget is gently faceted, and on looking deep into it, I felt as if I was staring into the depths of an azure ocean. It is complemented by a couple of oxidised silver tone beads all the way from Vietnam. The raw, rough nuggets of clear quartz give the necklace a very interesting look and are separated by little turquoise beads. Clear quartz is very sought after and it is sometimes called 'the master crystal'. If this article is true, it is well worth wearing, but even if it isn't, it is so pretty - a win either way! That's me for this week, folks. I wish you a wonderful weekend and I'll catch up with you soon.
Until then, xx Hello, folks, and welcome to the Caprilicious Blog. I received a fabulous email from someone yesterday saying how much they loved the jewellery and reading the blog. It was great to read that, as I often think I'm totally wasting my time and that all these words are going out into the ether to be forever lost. Just that one kind soul has given me the will to carry on - if nothing it keeps the writing muscle in my brain from going rusty. I used to blog every weekend until I took up a management post at work alongside the clinical work I still do. I haven't much time to play with beads and metal, but when I do, it is just as much fun as ever. This week I pulled out a number of strands of coral, lapis and turquoise dyed howlite, to go with a bunch of artisan created Nepalese charms that I have had in my stash for nigh on 6-7 years. They were amongst a bundle of beads I picked up at an exhibition - ever so pretty, but I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to do with them - until now. NavyaBright and pretty, this necklace is strung onto a toggle clasp so that it looks like the layered necklaces that are so popular, without giving the wearer the dilemma of working with multiple clasps and tangled up strings of beads. It will go easily over a white shirt, or in its neckline, just as well as it will brighten a roll-top collar in the winter. A necklace for all seasons, then - there can't be too much wrong with that! Our fridge has died (well, it's getting aspirations beyond itself and has decided it is actually a freezer - everything is frozen solid, including large containers of milk) so we have no fresh food in the house. We decided that until the repair-guy can bring the part back to sort it out, we would eat out. We're off to Pestos for a nice Italian 'small-plate' Sunday Lunch today in a few minutes. It would appear that the Universe is conspiring to sabotage any diet or weight loss plan I might have - every time I even think the word 'diet', people invite me out, my social life picks up immeasurably and now, even my fridge is working against me. Woe is me! Thrice woe! It would appear that I'm destined to remain a roly-poly for a while longer. That's me for today, folks. Thanks for dropping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll catch you shortly,
Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you this weekend? It's been a busy week, but hey! What's new? There have been a number of evenings out - what's with everyone? Every time I say the word 'diet' in my head - I don't even have to say it out loud, and I get loads of invitations that I cannot refuse to parties and pubs and clubs. While it's good for my social life, it certainly isn't good for the waistline and another diet bit the dust. Oh well, there's always Monday (again!). I went back to my bead drawers to find inspiration this week and found a half string of Desert Rose beads. Every time I use them in a necklace, I play Sting singing his extremely haunting melody. However, I found a clip of Faouzia, a Moroccan artist, singing the Sting cover and pulled it through for you to listen to. She also sings it in Arabic - you will find it on You-Tube should you fancy it. The last time I used them I added handmade dark maroon polymer clay beads, and this piece now lives in Boston. This time I thought I'd try a lighter effect and found blue quartz in an 'Aha!' moment. I guess the only way one would find water in a desert would be in an oasis or a mirage. MirageIf you fancy a read about the Desert Rose, here's an article for you. I think this necklace is just as beautiful as the last - I love the blue quartz and always have a strand in my stash, they are so elegant. I'm off to work with my plants in the garden - there's a bit of weeding to do. Fortunately I tend to over plant, so there are usually very few weeds to pull. Somehow the dang things seem to manage a few shoots that I work on every weekend when the sun is out. That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll catch you soon. Until then xx Hello, folks, how are you today? It's raining cats and dogs out here, but it's warm and toasty indoors. The weather is Europe has gone crazy with a heat wave hitting the mainland, and the UK drenched in a swathe of rain - oops! I forgot we aren't in Europe any more! Never mind, at least the plants will get a good drenching and our little lawn will come back greener than ever. I had very little time last week for creative pursuits but I did manage to pull out some extremely pretty druzy beads hiding away in the back of a drawer and make this two stranded necklace with them. Druzy Quartz forms from repeated evaporation of silica-rich waters on the surface of an existing stone, rather than forming directly. This coating takes millions of years to form, as the silica deposits continuously re-crystallize on the surface of the stone. That’s why it’s mainly found inside geodes and seams in the bedrock. They’re considered a second-generation formation since they form separately on the surface the stone that they’re coating. Druzies are beautiful in their own right, but they are often enhanced in a chemical process called Chemical Vapor Deposition in which the druzies are exposed in a gaseous environment that contains a metal like titanium. During the process the metal bonds on a molecular level with the mineral resulting in a spectacular rainbow of colors. By varying the metals and process a host of colors and shades are created. The most common compound used is titanium but others are cobalt, Silicone-Dioxide, gold, and silver. These beads look like an oil slick has spread on water - the electric blues and vibrant golds of the oil slick are replicated in them and I teamed them with artisanal Nepalese beads, inlaid with turquoise and coral. The Oil Slick NecklaceI have been collecting materials for my next embroidered necklace - bit by bit the beads, colours, focal elements are all coming together and the piece will probably be started off this weekend. I have yet to decide whether this will be a full blown necklace or just a pendant, but I'm favouring the former. The elements have been in my cupboard for around ten years, and I've finally found a way to use them. You'll just have to wait for the pictures as they come out one by one - all I will say is that this piece will be a seascape, or at least, something related to the sea. Ideas are still swirling around in my head as I'm still unsure of the how and what - all I know is which of my stash is coming out to play. That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll catch you soon.
Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you? I hope all goes well with you. I've been busy at work and down to London (more about that later) at the weekend, so I haven't had the time to turn my thoughts to any creative pursuits. It's been all go to work, come back home, go to bed, rinse and repeat. I've really missed my beads and having an unaccustomed day off seemed to be the time to pick them up again. My garden's suffered somewhat from neglect as well - I found a pot which hubby has been diligently waterning and feeding with tomato feed, only to be proudly growing a splendiferous display of large weeds. The poor man has no clue and waters everything constantly without discrimination! Fortunately I caught it before the flowers set seed, or they would have spread everywhere and been impossible to control. He's also moved the pots around and put the ones that require shade in the sunlight and some of the leaves were scorched, so I've been moving things around again with the help of the handyman. Hot RocksI picked up some lava beads - they were remnants from a necklace I made earlier, that never made it onto these pages. It was picked up almost straight away by a friend who was visiting from India, who in turn gave it to a close friend of hers. I'd been meaning to put another one together for ages, and this seemed to be the perfect time. Anyone who is constantly making stuff knows that Stage 1 is to decide what you're going to make and Stage 2 is collecting the beads and implements together. In my opinion, these are the two most difficult and time consuming stages - once past them, it's a much easier task to put the piece of jewellery together with a few variations along the way. The first Stage is the hardest to navigate, especially if you don't write an idea down as soon as it comes to you. The necklace takes it's name from the lava beads that go into it. Apart from the lava beads, the necklace has Tibetan teardrop elements, bone, turquoise, coral, faux amber resin beads, conch shell beads and is a riotous melee of colour, texture and fun. It is held together by the large toggle clasp that is sturdy and safe. As I mentioned earlier, we went to London at the weekend. As usual, with all our little trips these days, everything that could go wrong, did - there were no spaces in the cattery and my neighbour kindly stepped into the breach, our hotel booking was cancelled due to maintainance issues, and we had to make another reservation. There were absolutely no seats on the train when we finally got on it and the air conditioning was faulty and leaking causing the driver to apologise for the 'water features' - the whole journey was a nightmare. However, we went to a show - The Greatest Night of the Jazz Age - and it was simply fantastic. Of course, it was par for the course that the return journey was awful too - the train terminated in Northampton and we had to get out and transfer to another one. However, the show was a fabulous spectacle and we really had a good time. See for yourself - I have a couple of videos for you. That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll catch up with you shortly.
Until then xx Hello folks, how's tricks? I'm skipping around the house with the sun beating down on us for the moment. It is such a mood elevator to have sunshine for a change, isn't it? However, if we didn't have the rain and snow, would we enjoy the sun quite as much? The garden is coming on in leaps and bounds, and I can't wait for the weekend. One more meeting this afternoon, and I'm done. I have friends coming round for a meal at the weekend and need to get prepped for that. Those Summer NightsThe beautiful weather got me in the mood to make the necklace I'm about to show you. I have a passion for unusual beads and beads with interesting markings. This piece has both and I'm quietly pleased with it. Some of the solar quartz beads are hollow at the centre, and I had to insert tiny seed beads to cover the beading wire in the middle of each stone which was a tricky endeavour, accompanied by the usual soundtrack of swearing at the beads as they refused to do my bidding and jump onto the wire obediently, but I'm glad I took the trouble. Bare beading wire is never a good look. That's me for this week, folks. Have a fabulous weekend, I'll catch up with you soon. I'm off for a little sojourn in the garden before I have to start chopping and stirring for my guests. See you soon, Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you? Are you all enjoying the stumbling beginnings of summer? I do hope the weather makes it's mind up and plays ball pretty quick - I'm fed up with grey skies and sweaters. The flowers are showing up, though - we took out two box plants at either end of our little border on the front of the house, and the extra sunlight, although weak, has caused the rest of the plants to turn into a jungle. I'm just going to let it happen this year, and see how it all grows. I was going for the cottage garden look, and most definitely not a jungle! Hubby bought two lovely pots to replace the box shrubs but I'm yet to find plants to put in them. ScherezadeThe Sultan Schakhriar, convinced that all women were false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first night. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by entertaining hubby with fascinating tales, for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally allowed her to live (after which she promptly took a lover - she loved to live dangerously, this girl. However, that's another story). This was the brief introduction that Rimsky-Korsakov wrote (not the last bit, though), intended for use with the score as well as the program for the premiere of his beautiful, haunting piece of music that I have loved since hubby introduced it to me. I watched the ballet set to this music, and there came the inspiration for my next piece. I have put the ballet on here for you - for those who love classical music, start from the beginning with the orchestra, but those of you who love the dance form, you will find the actual ballet if you fast forward to 12:26. Do have a look, I guarantee you will love it. I saw these pink dragon's vein agates on a website and the markings on the stones excited me, and I've held onto them for a while now until I found the perfect idea. The beetles wings seem to set off the colours, as do the crystals. I reckon it is fit for a princess or Shezada - which is where the name Scherezade comes from. I was on my way to my camera, when I saw Wilfred sitting on a chair in the living room - I got him to try it on, but he wasn't very impressed, for some reason - philistine! Right, folks, that's me for this week. Have a fabulous week and I'll get to you as soon as I can.
Until then, xx Hello everyone, how have you been this week? Last weekend was a bit damp, but I'm hoping that this one will be better as my garden is crying out for weeding and planting into the bare spots where the frost has killed off my perennials. A trip to the garden centre is written in my stars (as well as a massive bill). A lot of our garden is permanently in dappled shade and it is quite a challenge to find plants that flourish there and are disliked by the slugs and snails that love shady, wet corners. The necklace I made this week was commissioned by my bestie - she walked around a market in Boston, USA, and saw a necklace that she fell in love with but walked away from because she is a careful buyer and doesn't impulse buy like the rest of us (me). She used to drive me crazy when we went shopping as young women, with her shopping technique. 'I want this one, but in another colour and another print, in a different material,' was the constant refrain. She took a grainy picture of the necklace and sent it to me - could I make one like it, please? I do not like to copy another person's work, however, this was basically a string of interesting beads, and the challenge was to identify the beads, find them, and then restring them for her. And so the work/fun began. She told me that the beads were a really pretty shade of pink. I guessed that they were most likely rhodochrosite, although her dreadful photograph was pretty inconclusive, so I sent her pictures of the beads I found. I got a question in return - why rhodochrosite and not rhodonite? What was the difference? Obviously, as a scientist and researcher, she wasn't going to take my word for it; thankfully I knew the answer. Both rhodochrosite and rhodonite are predominately pink. What sets them apart visually tends to be the veining and banding. With pink rhodochrosite, white or gray bands typically run across the stone. They tend to be mainly parallel to one another. Pink rhodonite, on the other hand, has dramatic black smudges. Rhodonite commonly has a notable matrix of black manganese oxide, which contrasts dramatically against the pink. While there is some veining, it doesn’t tend to create the distinct parallel lines one finds in rhodochrosite. The next task was to actually find the right beads - I hunted high and low - shops in India, China and the USA were scoured for these beads at a reasonable price. I even bought some from China, but they were the wrong size and have since been used in another piece, Melange. I looked on Etsy but the prices were prohibitive. Eventually I found a string of beads at a wholesaler in Oregon, USA and had them sent out to my friend, who thankfully said that she approved! Now we had to find a way of getting them to me, and the finished necklace back to her. Fortunately, she found someone who works in the UK, but was going to conference in the US in April who kindly agreed to carry them to me. Pushpa's Pink NecklaceI added a few chunky, rough nuggets of strawberry quartz, a couple of silver tone beads that ought to age and tarnish well with time and a rhodochrosite seahorse clasp that has been sitting in my stash for a few years now. This was not part of the original remit, of course, so I was careful to make the piece so that the clasp could work to one side, should she wish, or at the back if not. I'm quietly confident that she will like the clasp, however, it can always be changed if she doesn't. To my mind, one doesn't go to a jewellery designer for an 'ordinary string of beads kinda necklace!' There has to be something that sets my pieces apart from the run of the mill, and it would grieve me to be accused of being that. The clasp has been cut so that part of the ring is slimmer than the rest, so that it fits easily under the chin of the seahorse, and once it is in place, the ring is turned so that the necklace remains secure due to the weight of the beads and because the thicker part of the ring cannot escape from under the hook/chin. So, what d'you think? Will she like it? Do you? I've also been sewing beads onto my next piece, a few at a time. For the first time, I had a design in mind when I started, and drew it out onto the felt - much good that did me, though, because I've already altered it thrice since I started! I might have it ready for display in a couple of weeks. For some reason, I've picked pink as the predominant colour once again. However, I have a cunning plan to water down the 'pinkness' of it so it doesn't look too girly - this is most definitely a grown up's necklace.
Have a wonderful weekend, folks, and I'll catch up with you later. Until then xx Hello folks, I'm so happy to be here today. The sun is shining and the weather is getting warmer. Last weekend hubby and I decided that it was warm enough to go and sit outdoors at our favourite cafe in town and watch the world go by over a glass of wine and a little bowl of triple cooked chips. We insured against a freak cloud covering over the uncertain warmth of the watery sunlight by overdressing - layers and layers of clothes went on until we resembled Sumo wrestlers. We rolled into the cafe only to find that there were no freak clouds and we were sat in mini saunas of our own making - we probably lost a couple of pounds just through sweating into our layers ( I only wish it were that easy!). The onset of spring always brings hubby out in bouts of sneezing - he cannot cope with the pollen from the May blossom, but it is hard to get him to stay out of it. By the time the slightly warmer weather arrives, all of us in the Western hemisphere are fed up of huddling indoors and want to shed our clothes like snakeskins and go out in the weak sunshine. Fortunately he seems to get over his allergies once the blossom is gone and is free from the sniffles for the rest of the summer. The flowers have started to bud and the whole place is beginning to resemble a garden, which is a change from the wasteland it resembled a few short weeks ago. This necklace is inspired by the flowers that I am looking forward to with all my heart. The name of course comes from the song by James Taylor - someone who's music I was first introduced to in my childhood, who is still going strong in his seventies. BlossomI have had these beautigul handmade glass beads embellished with little flowers in my little bead hoard for ages. I am totally in awe of people who can manipulate glass to make something so beautiful - imagine the heat of the furnace, the burns that are inevitable and tubes of glass melted to a toffee like consistency and then twisted and turned at arms length to become these beauties. If you've never been to a glass blower's yard, I'd urge you to do it sometime. I couldn't resist wearing the necklace, as you can see, and it truly is pretty. The earrings were made earlier, when I first got these beads. I hope you are all planning a lovely Bank Holiday weekend - I plan to rest up as I've had a couple of hectic weeks at the day job, and I also have a bead embroidery project brewing in my head which I shall start up tonight. All the 'ingredients' have been assembled and it's time to get started. Have a fabulous weekend and I'll catch you soon,
Until then xx |
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