Thank you to those of you who chose to accept the Caprilicious offer of free gift wrapping and delivery to your friends - it was brought home to me how far internet shopping has come over the last few years. My arms were going like bee's wings - wrapping and packing, be-ribboning and posting - not just your presents but mine as well. Besides, I made all my presents, so that went a bit crazy for a moment there. I just wish my handwriting was better - Oh well, it's what's in the package that matters, I suppose. This is one of my favourite Beatle's albums, and having listened to it just as I was setting out on a present making bender, everything I touched turned out quirky and fun - no bling or pretty, sweet stuff was involved - well, very little. Here is some of the stuff I made........... This particular song - 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite' was inspired by an antique circus poster for Pablo Fanque's circus in Rochdale, and the fab four used calliope or steam organ music to make the record sound like it was straight from the fairground. Apparently the song was written on the spot, using a lot of the words from the poster. Once I settled into the crazy mood of the circus, all the stuff I made followed suit. The colours too, came from the iconic cover of the album! My muse was in overdrive, in a bright and crazy mode - I hope the recipients of these have a smile on their faces when they wear them. These slipped out of the pasta machine as well, almost as an aside..... Soraya My very last Afghani pendant went into Soraya - named for the last queen of Afghanistan - a great beauty and a very modern woman, who ended her days in exile in Rome. I put some highly coloured handmade polymer clay beads with it, and added a couple of cowrie shells, to complete the tribal look. This, I think, is the last necklace I shall make in 2013. I shall continue to play with clay and wire of course, it has become second nature to me now to sit in front of the telly with a piece of wire - like Madame La Farge who wouldn't let a revolution disturb her knitting - incidentally, no one said what she was knitting so furiously - I wonder whether she had a grandchild coming that she was making a layette for?? Anyway, Madame Caprilicious will weave her wire till 2014, when I shall be back with some goodies from India and Thailand - you'll have to come back and find out what they are!
Have a fabulous Christmas - and I will catch you next week, same time, same place xx
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Hello all, I hope you have all had a good week and beat the pre Christmas anxiety bug by getting it all ready beforehand. If you haven't, don't forget, Caprilicious offers a free gift wrap service and your gifts can be sent straight out to your friends from here. Last week was all about bracelets - Neelam Modi, of Look in the Bag kick started this orgy of bracelet making by buying one that I had tucked away somewhere, and almost forgotten about. She sent me this lovely collage, and I decided straight away that I ought to make some more in a similar style, it looked so good on her (she is a graphic designer who conjures up the most beautiful silk scarves with her own designs on them, paired with a little piece of jewellery, all presented in a bag that can be used as an accessory, as well as packaging for the scarf - what a fab gift idea). So I looked around for stuff I could incorporate into this sort of bracelet, and here's what i came up with. The first one is a blue agate geode - not dissimilar to the one on Neelam's wrist - except that one was green. I also used an amethyst flower, and a bronzite flower that I got off my friend BN, in a bead swap. I sat in front of the telly the whole week making nets out of wire - I hope you think all that effort wasn't wasted. Then, I had a phone call from my sister in law who suggested I make some more bracelets in the Chinese Whispers mode - out came the polymer clay and these rolled off the table a few hours later..... Sisters go to TeaI played with the face cane, made a week ago and under instruction from Alice Stroppel, I manipulated the cane so I got three different faces from the same cane - I wouldn't say these ladies are beauties - not by a long chalk, but their faces have character ( is that one way of saying they look like old boots!) and they look like they are related to one another - so, 'Sisters go to Tea' was the title of this little offering - since I still have some face cane left, there may be a 'Sisters...' series forthcoming. I think the bracelet is whimsical and fun, and my sense of humour ensures that I will wear it - what do you think? - do you think it's a fun bracelet or do you prefer you jewellery to be more ornate and conventional/sedate?? I think there's a place for both kinds. For some reason, I was a busy little bee and felt like making a few more pieces - every time I took a break from the wire netting, I made a necklace! MirageKyanite and opalite in different shapes and sizes carry the last of my leaf skeletons. Dyed red and blue jade teardrops were added to the leaf with a wire flourish. I love kyanite, which resembles shards of blue cracked ice, with a shimmer deep inside the stone. The molecules are arranged in sheets or layers, which give the stone it's distinctive shimmer - to me it resembles a mirage. MajorelleThe main colour in the Majorelle gardens in Marrakesh is a cobalt blue, which is vivid and cheerful. At the entrance however, as if the architect wanted to ease you into the brightness, is a restful pond in a very different shade of blue. I named this necklace after the gardens, the blue chalcedony in it is such a restful colour. The yellow agate and creamy jasper provide a calm counterpoint. I know these colours are very summery - but the very drabness of winter makes me want to create in Technicolour - and these days people follow the sun for holidays, so there's no such thing as a seasonally inappropriate colour. Rose GardenA song from my youth - Rose Garden! I made some roses for the Caprilicious birthday giveaway a couple of weeks ago - and I made these two fairly robust, so that they could be used in a necklace - much like the wedding garlands worn by the main protagonists in Indian weddings. Along with an Afghani pendant, the necklace looked pretty festive - I test drove it one evening, to rave reviews! I love that I made almost all the elements myself - in fact all the elements except the pendant and the crystal beads and clasp.
This weekend, I will bring out the tree, and put up all my decorations, get all my presents wrapped up and ready to go, and work at the day job - HELP! At least I've posted off my Christmas cards, so there's one thing crossed off the list. Have a good weekend, and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place xx Last week was Thanksgiving in America, Obama pardoned a turkey - though loads of people languish in Guantanamo Bay, it was the turkey that got lucky, and I hope it was duly grateful. But, did you know that the cranberry is probably what the early American settlers were - or should have been, most grateful for?? The Native Indians introduced the settlers to this berry, which was probably the first superfood - cranberries are meant to be high in antioxidants, and prevent heart disease, and were even then, being used as laxatives, blood purifiers, to treat fevers, stomach cramps and anaemia following childbirth. This berry kept more people in good health than a load of other cures such as the application of leeches and other fun interventions dreamed up by the medics of the time. Cranberries are grown in the bogs in places like Wisconsin and Massachusetts and have now made their way onto the table at feasts - once it was discovered that the sour berry could be sweetened - remember the story of the spoonful of sugar, and the medicine?? Cranberry CrushThe beautiful watermelon tourmalines used in this necklace give it it's name. The tiny haematite heishi beads were found in the bead fair in Newmarket a few weeks ago - I think they go perfectly together. I used sterling silver accent beads and clasp - I thought the delicacy of the necklace merited a special treatment. I do not make 'delicates' easily and struggled a bit with this piece, but in the end, I quite like it - I'm sure not everyone wants to make a 'Big Bang' of a statement - there is room for subtlety, especially during the daytime! PersephonePersephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was skipping along, trying out this berry and that, singing softly to herself, when Hades, the God of the Underworld came crashing out of a cleft in the ground, raped her and took her off to live with him - her mother Demeter, was so distraught, she caused all the plants to wither and die and forbid the earth to produce. In alarm, Zeus set up a search party, and found her - her husband was persuaded to let her go - he was made an offer he couldn't refuse - but the wily old dog, Hades had fed the greedy woman with pomegranate seeds (she'd eat anything, obviously) - so she was condemned to return to him for four months of the year. This is meant to be a personification of the story of the seasons, and Persephone is also the Goddess of spring and fertility. The maple leaf in this necklace was picked and skeletonised in high summer this year - I have only just found a use for it. I used my new camera and a new technique to take these pictures, and was mighty chuffed when I was complimented on one of them. I spent the entire weekend playing with polymer clay and a tutorial by Alice Stroppel - trying to make a profile face cane - I had to learn to make tiny eyes, and lips and eyelid canes, and then put them together, stick a nose on it, and Voila! - sigh, if only it was that easy. Anyway, I made two sizes of cane - a big one and a little one, according to her instructions and they now sit proudly on my table. I have yet to decide what to do with them - Alice has some very witty and fun bracelets on her pages - I might draw some inspiration there. I have no time to play with clay during the week, so will have to wait till the next weekend for that. Here are some pictures of the process.......... MidnightThis is one of my favourite genres of necklace - the torque - winding loads and loads of wire and beads around a single 2mm wire with it's integral clasp is very rewarding - this time I used snowflake obsidian fragments - this is lava that cooled very quickly, trapping white inclusions, like snowflakes - adding Czech glass, and a resin rose, a Murano glass leaf and some iridescent glass leaves as an asymmetric focal. The necklaces take a while to make - if you can imagine twisting each bead onto thin wire, and then the whole 'garland' onto the 2mm wire - but the results are amazing. That's as much as I had time for this week folks. I have to make a load of Christmas presents, and most exciting of all, there are plans afoot to hold a little exhibition in India when I go on holiday to visit my family in January.
Have a great week, and I will catch you next weekend, same time, same place xx Caprilicious is all of two years old, today -thanks to all of you for your interest and making this such an enjoyable journey. I hope you like reading the blog, looking at my images and going along with my thought processes, scatty as they are, and that Year 3 will be bigger and better for Caprilicious, - with both you and I having fun along the way, I don't see why not. Mike and I went to the Newmarket bead fair - we spent some time mooching around Cambridge, took a little 'chauffeured punt' on the river Cam, and spent an enjoyable weekend with our friend BN who lives in Cambridge. I have enough gemstone bead stock to last me a long, long time, but I couldn't resist a few beautiful lamp worked glass beads - I know how difficult they are to make, and some of the beads were simply beautiful - it seemed a shame to leave them behind. I don't know what I shall do with them - they don't fit anywhere in my jewellery box - but they were calling out to me, and sad person that I am, I can never resist a call from a pretty thing. Wire hair combs caught my eye at the bead fair, so the first thing I made when I got back was an embellished hair ornament - I think it will look very pretty of an evening, with an upswept hair do - an anti Rapunzel moment. Before we set off to Cambridge, my fingers were twitching so hard, I gave them some wire to keep them quiet - sometimes it's almost as if they have a mind/persona of their own, and need to keep busy - Oh well, I suppose that's a harmless enough addiction. These pendants with wire, druzy and semi precious gemstones appeared overnight - simple designs to keep the old fingers happy................ The copper wire used here was coated with a non tarnish 'enamel' and the yellow fire agate bead suits the coppery browns of the wire - a simple, but effective pendant on a co ordinating organza necklace. Bluish - grey and orange are a great colour combination, and the pendant is very striking. I wired the focal piece with the wire embellished druzy to one side of the frame, leaving a bit of negative space as a counterbalance - this also made the focal stand out from the frame, giving it a three dimensional effect. The Birthday NecklaceI plan to make a necklace every year to celebrate Caprilicious' birthday - something a bit different - perhaps with an expensive focal - something to set it apart from the rest. Last year I made a necklace with a Ghau box and coral beads - it now lives in India, and by all accounts, it's new owner loves it. This year, I picked a pendant with ammonite fossils, a Shiva eye and abalone, set in sterling silver as the focal piece. Loads of pearls and an abalone clasp later, it turned into a statement piece, well worthy of being in the category of a birthday necklace. Aphrodite's TearsPearls are the symbol of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love - pearls were tears of joy that she shed when she was born from sea froth and they translate easily into the symbolism of love and beauty. Aphrodite's followers call her Pearl, or Pearl-of-the-Sea, and she is also known as Venus - who is depicted as being born out of a shell, not as a baby, but a fully grown adult, very naked woman - the epitome of beauty. And this is the necklace by which I chose to wish Caprilicious a happy birthday in 2013! When I look back over the last two years, it makes my heart glad - making one-of-a-kind jewellery has led me to all you one- of- a- kind people; and when you reach back out to me, it gives me a warm glow inside - a heady feeling - and it spurs me to want to make more stuff so I can reach more of you. I have met some fabulous people along the way through Caprilicious - some in person - Maria, Bernadette, Ben amongst others; and some in the virtual world - Lucy, Eilidh, Sravasti, Reshma, Shruthi and Mortira, Linda, Pearl - I would never have 'met' you if not for Caprilicious; people from the polymer clay world - Allison, the Carlton cottage gang - so many of you have made an impact on my life and way of thinking. The number of people I can reach out to depends on me, and what I make - a friend suggested I should buy in more of my components, or get someone else to make my designs up for me ' if not, it will only ever be a small business/hobby ' he advised - but, no, I think the greatest pleasure is from knowing that most of my pieces come out of my hands - be it from polymer clay, wire or from my kiln - I pick my own beads, and make my own jewellery the way I want - and those of you who like my creations and are kind enough to want to wear them will be friends for life. So, Happy Birthday Caprilicious, and catch you sweet readers, next week, same time, same place
xx Last weekend was Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, a three day festival which is the start of a new year in India - a lamp is lit to guide the Goddess of wealth Lakshmi, into the house, some more are lit to show Ram, the exiled prince, the way back to his kingdom, and even more, to celebrate the death of a pesky demon - the myth of the triumph of good over evil - the stuff of good Hollywood/Bollywood movies! My mother phoned me to make sure I had lit the lamp she gave me - so here's proof, mom! And then in the UK we had Bonfire night, where we celebrate either the execution of Guy Fawkes, or honour his attempts to do away with the government, or exult over the safety of the king/monarchy with a bonfire and fireworks - depending on your take on it. Whatever the excuse, it is a lovely time of year - the leaves are gold and brown and crunchy underfoot, the air is clean and crisp, and the fireworks scent the air with their own sharp aroma. Time to bring out the warm clothing, sweaters, UGG boots, gloves, scarves - and jewellery needs to be large and bright, and necklaces longer, to go over winter woolies. To go with the theme of 'lights' i made a pair of wire filigree earrings that I called 'Candelabra' - they are curved gently into the shape of the face to give a three dimensional effect. If you read my blog last week you will know I was blown away by the stuff I learned at Polydays - I just couldn't believe that I had actually made these complicated designs - so I decided to try them out again, just to convince myself that is was possible, and it was indeed me at Polydays. These are the pieces I made - not bad for a day spent playing, huh? Pendants and earrings and even a bead rolled off my craft table - I was most excited! While I was in the mood to play with clay, I made a sheet of coloured clay, graduating from a forest green, to a beautiful dull gold, and I made wafer beads from it. Together with a gold coloured pod shaped bead I made earlier, The Fruit of the Forest necklace materialised in my hands as if by magic. The tiny seed beads between the wafers make the necklace very flexible and comfortable, ideal for wearing over a cardigan. The depth of the shades of green in the necklace is just splendiferous. A Touch of FrostIn keeping with the weather, I came up with a winter white necklace of mother of pearl shell fragments, wired on to a torque - the centerpiece being a trio of clear AB coated crystal flowers and one single red rose. Winter white is a creamy white, richer than the glaring whites of summer, and the mother of pearl casts a beautiful glow upwards onto the wearer's face. These pictures were taken with my new all singing and dancing Nikon 5100 - isn't it a shame that I cannot sing and dance with it - but soon, real soon, I will get the hang of it and then, watch out, my photographs will sizzle! The Peach Blossom PendantLast week I made this pretty necklace, but I had a few rough quartz needles left over. I used one of them in my next little pendant, which I wound with sterling silver wire. Antiqued and polished, it looks sweet on a silver snake chain. An easy piece to wear of a daytime, for someone who has a quiet statement to make. Work has been pretty busy, so I haven't had time to do much else. It will soon be two years since I set Caprilicious Jewellery up and we have come a long way together since then, thanks to you all - I am very grateful. Have a great week, and I will catch you soon, same time, same place xx I woke up this morning with a start - 'where am I ?', was the first thought that popped into my head - of course a large black cat sitting on my head and purring loudly, clarified matters somewhat quickly. Having been rescued from the cattery last night Harold was going all out to impress on us what a lovely cat he is and why we shouldn't dream of ever leaving him again! I feel like I've been in a tailspin over the last few days, fortunately I have the weekend off to recover before I have to go to work again. Polydays 2013 - the Contemporary Coven Organised by Allison Gallant, who was ably supported by her family, and once again held in the village hall in Toddington, Polydays 2013 was like a contemporary Italian coven - all of us bent over our pasta machines instead of cauldrons, casting spells on lumps of clay which magically turned into pieces of jewellery. I stayed with the 'Carlton Cottage Gang' in Broadway once again, and the other five ladies were as much fun as last year. Our tutors were really cool too - Lindly Haunani, who is Hawaiian and Jana Roberts Benzon, a real boho chick from Salt Lake City. Unfortunately I missed the last day with Eva Haskova and Alison Gallant, but I had a short workshop in Paris to attend that day, and then a flight to Venice for a holiday - why did I cram all this into such a short space of time?? - ask me again - the answer is that nothing seems to happen, and when it does, it all comes together at the same time! - I'm sorry if this reads like I am a jet setter - am nothing of the kind, usually. This year it seemed to be all about textile techniques translated into polymer clay - an Ikat cane technique and a Bargello cane - this was originally a needlepoint and quilting stitch - I could never have figured these out for myself - in fact I cannot quite believe I made stuff using these techniques. I Don't Believe It! And then, Jana taught us how to make a Bargello cane and I made the pendant you see in this picture - I am still rubbing my eyes with disbelief! This weekend, I shall make some more stuff using this technique, just to prove to myself that I wasn't dreaming. Too soon, it was time to drive back home, pick up the second suitcase I had packed earlier, and fly out to Venice, via Paris. Planes, Trains, Automobiles .... and Buses and Boats! Venice is beautiful - decaying, distressed, but somehow, miraculously still standing. A lot of the city is empty and derelict, some of the houses and hotels can only be reached by boat and have huge stone doorsteps that hold the tide back. We went to several bead shops, and in one, I found a gentleman who collects old trade beads - when he saw how excited I was, he let me wear one of his precious chevron bead necklaces and even took a photograph of me in it for his records - I don't think he's seen too many Asian women get so excited about his collection- it was so heavy, my neck hurt when i took it off! The glass in Murano is exquisite - but expensive! - and having been treated to a demonstration of how it is made I can understand why. Unfortunately cheap Chinese imports are everywhere, even in Venice, and the art is dying out. We took the obligatory gondola ride, had coffee at Cafe Florian in St Mark's Square and paid six euros each extra on the bill just to listen to their music (shocking I know, but a once in a lifetime experience), and drank Bellinis at Harry's Bar. We needed a few more days to see all the sights, but saw quite a lot of the place, having taken a couple of all day walking tours - any more and we would have ended up completely bankrupt - Venice, we soon found, is one of the most expensive cities in the world. I dragged Mike out to Burano on the vaporetti - he grumbled a bit, but the colours on that little island soon changed his tune - we just loved the quaint little place. We got chatting to a resident - he didn't seem too thrilled with his life - once the tourists disappeared of an evening, he said, there was nothing to do on the island - oh well, I suppose you can't have everything! Once we had been to colourful Burano, the beauty of Venice seemed even more drab in comparison. We had to look for colour in the local markets, in the fruit and vegetable stalls - but we could find nothing to rival the colours of Burano. Time to pack for home soon arrived - and our wallets heaved a sigh of relief - as did our clothes which were fitting a bit too snugly for comfort after all those gelatos, pizzas and pasta!
I'm going to finish some of the projects I started at Polydays this weekend, and get ready to go to work next week, hopefully having lost the weight I put on whilst on holiday. Catch you next week, same time, same place xx Seven Ways to Make a Statement Hello readers - relax now, I'm not about to give you chapter and verse on fifty ways to wear your jewellery - I wouldn't want to bore you, and besides why go for fifty when just seven will do?? I'm often told 'Oh, you can carry it off, but it would look odd on me', so I thought I'd write a few pointers down if you want to give statement jewellery a go.......
OK, homily over now, let me tell you about the pieces I made last week. Walk on the Wild Side This necklace is in fabulously wild fuchsia pinks, bright greens and cobalt blue - the pendant is from Afghanistan inlaid with colourful glass, complemented by polymer clay beads - little wavy chips, and a couple of faux trade beads. This is just the kind of necklace that could be paired with jeans and a tee for an afternoon at the pub, and with your LBD and Louboutins at night - a go-anywhere necklace - well, perhaps not to an office - the bells on the chain fringe of the pendant might just put your work colleagues off a bit, although they would certainly see ( hear?? ) you coming! White Russian Since the end of the Cold War and the toppling of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a chromium bearing diopside, (originally found in eastern Siberia, close to the diamond mines) has become available as an alternative to the much more expensive emerald. The green in this stone literally glows - however, in larger sizes the tone can be very dark. Careful cutting is required in the larger sizes to keep the angles slightly shallow to maintain the colour. In smaller sizes the color is exceptionally vivid and fresh. I found an extremely contemporary pendant, set in silver, with chromium diopside, contrasted with mystic quartz, onyx and an agate druzy, and paired it with a string of fluorite. The greens in the fluorite beads were a bit too muted, so I added another string of acid yellow tinted, tiny seed pearls and onyx beads - this seemed to lift the colour value of the necklace, and set the beautiful green in the pendant off beautifully. Now, this one will definitely go to the office with you, as well as on an evening out. Oh, and a White Russian is someone who comes from the area of Russia now known as Belarus, and also a cocktail made of vodka, coffee liqueur and cream, or a strain of marijuana! Timbuktu Timbuktu is a town in Mali in West Africa - spindle whorls are African trade beads made predominantly in Mali. Spindle whorls have been used worldwide for thousands of years, originally as tools in the cotton spinning industry to increase or maintain the speed of spin. In more recent years they have become much sought after as interesting beads and incorporated into the very fashionable genre of 'Tribal' jewellery. The whorls were made from clay, amber, antler, bone, coral, glass, metal and wood. Local materials such as chalk, limestone, mudstone, and soapstone, have been used in those found in Mali and Guinea. Used as weights for traditional cotton spinning, the whorls are fitted at the bottom of the spindle shafts, which are used as supported spindles to spin very fine threads. The bottom tip of the shaft rests in a small bowl placed in the weavers lap or on a table to one side. As you can imagine, the clay/wood whorls are quite heavy and can be difficult to wear in a necklace. I designed mine out of polymer clay in three pieces, joined together to make a hollow, light bead. Strung on a handmade red and gold Kumihimo braid, they make a very effective, elegant and light daytime necklace. The beads, though light and hollow are robust and give the impression of being chunky and heavy, which is an integral part of the tribal look. These red beads with a silver motif, made of polymer clay last weekend, and the blue chips will go into a necklace next week. Polymer clay is a very addictive medium, and I am increasingly seduced by it - I love the process of working out how something is made - the more complicated the better - there is so much fun to be had! That's it for this week folks, catch you next week, same time, same place
xx 'When a woman puts on a heel, she has a different posture, a different attitude. She really stands up and has a consciousness of her body.' I was raised to be a mouse, shy and quiet, dressed in simple clothes that helped me to merge with the crowd - that was the way good little Indian girls were brought up when I was a child - very Victorian - unfortunately, my personality wouldn't be repressed and the mismatch when "I" escaped was sometimes very odd. Eventually, I said to myself, to hell with being quiet and nondescript - I shall be me - and then, it was like a weight dropped off my shoulders - I was free! The habit of being shy and quiet though, has been ingrained into me, and rears its ugly head when I am in a roomful of people I don't know - that is when I need my piece of statement jewellery to give me a boost with a soupçon of extra confidence, and help me regain my equilibrium. When I make a piece of jewellery for the Caprilicious Woman, this is what I aim for - the wearer walks tall, knowing she wears a distinctive piece of jewellery, marking her as a feisty, interesting woman, who cares about herself, has ideals and dreams and is capable of taking her destiny in her hands and running with it - she is the 'Caprilicious Woman'. Just as your Louboutins give you that 'attitude', a piece of Caprilicious jewellery should help you stand out from the crowd, be noticed and most importantly, feel good about yourself. Mike and I watch Some Like it Hot, with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon at least once a year - it is a standby favourite for rainy Sunday afternoons, along with Singing in the Rain, and Top Hat. Isn't Marilyn cute?? Apparently she was four months pregnant when she shot this scene - I couldn't tell - clearly, she has some really good foundation garments on here. I was looking to use these Moroccan Berber tarnished silver metal beads I recently acquired - they are large but light, as they are hollow. Teamed with a couple of hot pink agate beads, and rough cut black tourmaline, I used fuchsia pink pearls as spacers - I had to call this necklace after my favourite film. Some Like it Hot I used both my little point and shoot camera and my brand new Nikon to take these pictures - I can see why I am going to enjoy the Nikon once I understand it better - just now it feels like I am driving a car for the first time, coordinating all it's functions seems like an impossible task. Sruthi Singh, a design blogger who calls herself the East Coast Desi, featured our house and garden on her blog - she was curious about how the design ethic in the decor of the place I live in matched up to the jewellery I make. You can read her article here - the photographs were taken by a friend, and the piece was written by Sruthi. Don't forget to leave a comment on her blog - she will be really chuffed to hear from you. I took delivery of these exciting and colourful pendants from the Afghanistan/ Turkmenistan area and decided to make some colourful beads to go with them. Armed with a tutorial from a Russian polymer clay artist, Ms Kopilka and my extruder, I set out to put some really bright colours together and see what happened. The extruder reminds me of an implement from my mothers kitchen, used to make deep fried savoury snacks. I have never made these snacks myself, my excuse being that I don't deep fry anything ( although this hasn't stopped me eating them!) I find it really ironic that I, the most un-domestic goddess, am now using kitchen implements in my avocation that I would never have dreamed of using to cook with! This is how the beads from this technique came out - pretty colourful, eh? I still have loads of the cane I made in the picture above and more beads to come from it later on. I also made some Kumihimo braid using Chinese satin thread and nubbly sari ribbon fabric .......... Turkish Delight The first of these beauties went onto the Kumihimo braided cord, which I then festooned to my heart's content with coins made of shell and pewter - very pretty, with a tinkle and a rustle reminiscent of belly dancers in Istanbul. As the story goes, people threw coins at the feet of Ottoman street dancers, and having nowhere else to store them to protect against theft, the dancers sewed the coins into their belts and scarves. After a while, it became an issue of prestige - the belly dancer with the most coins was obviously the best one, so they began to wear their coins attached to their clothing, visible for all to see, as a sort of clanking, rustling, curriculum vitae cum bank account. They add rhythm and colour to the costumes and the dance, and I certainly think they suit this necklace down to the ground - what do you think ?? It would have been a boring necklace without them, in my opinion.
That's all I had time for this week, folks, stay well and have fun, and I'll catch you soon, same time, same place xx Welcome, readers, to the Caprilicious Blog. Wandering around the garden centre last weekend, I fell in love with the most beautiful statue of Kwan Yin. We have a small garden, and didn't quite know where I would put her - but she simply had to be brought home. I have never felt so strongly drawn to an inanimate object, and with a few surprised glances in my direction, Mike dutifully trotted off to order the statue and pay for her delivery. The serenity of her face is almost infectious - and of course, we could all do with some of that - serenity, not an infection! Last week, I made some squiggle earrings - they were tacked on at the end of the blog. They were very difficult to make, and of course, it is always a nightmare to get free form earrings to be equal and opposite and mirror one another exactly. However, the degree of difficulty was a challenge, and it seemed to work out - more or less - they are light and pretty, but don't accurately reflect the amount of work that has gone into them, or the degree of difficulty. Perhaps, that's as it should be! My friend BN tried on a pendant I had made earlier - Bluebells - and said it was a bit big for her at 2" in diameter. She wondered if I could make a smaller one - once again a challenge, as most of my pieces are on the larger side. Both of them are here for you to compare - Bluebells, and Baby Bluebells. I do so enjoy rising to a challenge, and with both pendants patinated and the patina preserved with micro crystalline wax, I cannot decide which one is best - can you?? At this point, I should have given up wire work, and gone on to something less onerous on the hands, but instead, ploughed on with a Ssssssserpent! With four lengths of copper wire, each about 2 feet long, the serpent slowly but surely wound its way around my neck, with frequent stops to rest my fingers. It took over ten hours to wrap and shape this necklace, and finish it to my satisfaction. When presented to a Wire Workers group on Facebook, the notifications on my page went wild for a couple of days - they understood the work that had gone into it, and were gratifyingly enthusiastic.
NaginaThe legend of Nagina, remembered from my childhood was that snakes partner for life, and if one of a pair is killed, the image of the 'murderer' stays on the retina of the dead snake, which only another snake can see. The female of the species being deadlier than the male, and all that, Nagina would hunt out the murderer of her spouse, and from then on, his days were numbered. Perhaps the male snake just goes off and finds another spouse and does not bother with all this exhausting avenging of the beloveds death jazz ( or am I being sexist here??). This legend was made into a Bollywood movie in the late eighties, with Nagina transmogrifying into a beautiful woman ( of course!) who sang and danced and swayed like a snake, every time a flute like instrument was played, with many costume changes, including pale grey contact lenses when in snake/woman form, and writhed orgiastically, morphing back and forth from snake to woman in order to wreak her revenge. The song is on You tube - she came over all peculiar and unnecessary as soon as she heard this instrument and looked like she was about to do herself a mischief! If you want to see it, you will have to find it on You Tube - I refuse to have it on the blog - type the word Nagina into a You Tube search, and voila! I foreswore wire for a while after this, my hands and wrist hurt so much, Mike had to massage them to get the circulation going again. One of Gerry's friends at the jewellery party gave me a box of beads from a necklace she had loved, but had sadly broken - some of the beads were missing, and she asked me to replace them with coral and turquoise, and make her a symmetrical necklace, about 18" long. Symmetry is not my strong point, but hey, the customer is always right! So, here goes..... These pictures were sent out to her and I was gratified to find a message in my inbox saying she loved them. The Wings of LoveThese earrings were sitting forlornly in a box, waiting patiently for a new home. Their chance to shine came the other day when one of my old friends walked in with her son, looking for a gift for the son's teacher. Gratifyingly, the young lad fell in love with so many of my pieces - he is about 11 years old, and he oohed and aahed over the pieces I was showing his mother - he was the best salesman I could have hoped for - he got his mom to buy a couple of items for herself, and just flipped out over the colours on these wings. I showed them the remaining wings in my stash, and pictures of the stuff made earlier, and his mother ordered a pendant to go with these earrings - all I can say is, K can you come work for me?? and what a lucky teacher! For those who haven't seen them before, these are the wings of an Indonesian beetle - the wings are collected after it dies, and made into jewellery - they are not coloured or varnished - this is nature in all her beauty - no wonder they are called 'Jewel Beetles'. The beautiful iridescence of the beetle wings will endure and remain splendid for many decades - examples survive from India that are over one hundred years old, including use as decoration in Victorian tea - cosies. This week has just flown by and the weekend is here again - I am down to work at the day job on Saturday, and hopefully it isn't raining on Sunday as we have plans to go to the Upton on Severn Jazz Festival. That's all I have time for this week, have a great weekend, catch you same time, same place
xx Hello, I hope all of you reading this are having a good summer - in the UK, we are about six weeks behind the rest of Europe, hopefully we will be paid back in October when it lasts six weeks longer than it does on the Continent - but, somehow, I don't think so, do you?? I made a necklace with graduated coral heishi beads and a single fog quartz focal - I loved the idea of a fog contained in a bead - I wish we could do that, come winter. A load of people liked it - and thank you to those that did. However, one lady put a comment under the picture 'Gaudy!', she spat! I chose to think she got the spelling wrong and actually meant 'Gaudi'! People are the strangest creatures - if they don't like something, they seem to have a compulsion to make sure the designer knows it - I wonder why? They could vote with their feet, or fingers in this case, and just click over to something that suits them better. One lady saw fit to comment that my little flight of fancy about a pendant I had made was 'pure BS' and that I should 'cut it out' - a lesson in good manners was in order, I think. At the end of the day, all designs are born from somebody's flight of fancy - I just verbalize mine, is all! Anyway, let me show you some pictures of Parc Guell in Barcelona, designed by Gaudi - I say vibrant, some say gaudy...................... Rouge I think she meant Gaudi - don't you??? If not, I invite her to use her finger.......... Petite Fleur
Ammonite Ammonites are cephalopods that lived 240 - 60 million years ago, and are now extinct. They are related to the cuttlefish and octopus, and are thought to have lived in shallow water, as the predator of the day. Many specimens found in Madagascar and Alberta display iridescence. These iridescent ammonites are often of gem quality (ammolite) when polished - ammolite is very, very expensive. I just love the little critters, and buy them whenever I can - I do not understand my fascination with them, as I usually look for highly coloured objects. I decided to make some up as earrings in polymer clay, using a faux Raku pottery technique - this involves the use of real gold and silver foil, alcohol inks and layers of transparent clay - so I played, and these are what I made....... The little elongated shapes were from left-over veneer, and I shall make earrings out of them. I made so many ammonites, that I offered them up for a swap on a jewellery makers swap shop on Facebook, and got a string of coral in return for four beads - a win, win result! The last little critter was turned into a pendant with a bit of wire work to one side, and a wire embellished leather thong - very now, I think. Charis Charis is a Greek word for grace - and specifically relates to the three Charities - goddesses of beauty and were Aphrodite's attendants. When Aphrodite rose from a cushion of foam in the sea and reached the island of Cythera, where the Graces were, they dressed her in jewels, placed her in a chariot, and led her to Olympus, where Aphrodite became one of the Olympians. They were Aglaia (Beauty or Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good Cheer), the daughters of Zeus and the nymph Eurynome. Considered the embodiment of grace and beauty, they brought joy to gods and men and inspired artists. This story inspired artists like Botticelli and Rubens, and I thought this necklace could easily be worn by one of the Graces in the painting below - it is simple, and elegant. I have been busy producing little earrings and pendants - a friend of mine up in Cheshire has offered to invite her friends round to a jewellery party for Caprilicious - my very first! I am anxious that I must get the mix right, and have something for everyone - I don't want anyone to go away disappointed, since some of them will be driving a fair distance to see what I have on offer. These lovely ceramic flowers and donuts are in pretty summer colours, and I hung them on suede cord that can be tied around the neck - the donuts have contrasting suede tassels and lamp work beads, and look like Chinese lanterns. Miles and miles of wire has been wrapped this week, and my hands are quite tired and sore. If you want to have a closer look at the pieces I have made specifically for the party, here's the link :- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.512787555442719.1073741880.171880539533424&&l=fc852cbf61
I am at work at the day job all weekend, and hopefully it will remain quiet enough for me to make a few little bits and bobs - I want to make some butterflies and dragonflies in wire - I just love them and they are so right for summer. Catch you next week, same time, same place - have a lovely week in the meanwhile xx |
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