Hello readers, it is finally here - the date of the exhibition. I am posting this before I go out this morning to Raintree to await my public. Wish me luck, won't you, please? Caprilicious Shall go to the BallBorrowed FineryPeople kept asking me if I had made/designed this jewellery - I wish!! This time, all that glisters WAS gold, and was borrowed from my sister in law who was kind enough to lend me anything I desired from her collection. I enjoyed dressing up - Cinderella had a good time at the ball. Indulge, the supplement to the Indian Express, a newspaper in Bangalore printed this article about me last week. The Editor, Jackie Pinto was at school with me, although not in the same year. She loved my jewellery and was kind enough to get one of her reporters to write this little piece - unfortunately Caprilicious was misspelled, but still, it works well enough. I ran a little workshop at Itsy Bitsy in Bangalore - one at each of two branches - the ladies who came along went home with a necklace, a memory wire bracelet and a pair of earrings. The youngest student was ten years old! They all said they had fun - I know I certainly did and would repeat the experience in a heartbeat. Itsy Bitsy has a fabulous selection of beads, and I came home with a bagful of some very exciting finds which I chose well before my students arrived - I got some really pretty ceramic beads, and have mentally designed my next necklace - I just need to get back home to find the focal bead which is already in my stash. Just now I feel a bit like a whirling dervish, arms and legs moving in a blur, a complete one woman band. There have been so many last minute hiccups, but it is now, Showtime!! Keep everything crossed for me and I will tell you all about it soon. Have a great week and I will catch you next week, same time, same place
xx
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Hello readers, thanks for stopping by. I am now back home in the UK, and have spent the day unpacking and putting stuff away. It's bad enough unpacking clothes when you come back off a holiday - this time, I had jewellery too, left over from the exhibition, and of course more beads and stuff I had picked up in the wholesale markets in Bangalore - not for the faint hearted, those markets, I can tell you! That meant, of course that the website had to be updated, and the Facebook page - you must think jeez, this woman is never satisfied - I am, I am - you can tell by the smile on my face when I rattle the almost empty boxes of stock! To those of you who supported my endeavour, even if it was just by rooting for Caprilicious, thank you very much, it was much appreciated. The exhibition, in my opinion was a success - the jewellery was well appreciated and most people who wandered in to take a look went away clutching a few goodies. Mike, my other half, stood by the board, soaking up the sun and doing a 'roll up, roll up' - when he saw people walk by - persuading them to go into the shop to see his wife's 'beautiful, hand-made jewellery' - and that strategy worked - loads of them couldn't resist this gentle persuasion ( they just aren't used to Englishmen doing that any more, having forgotten their colonial past - or perhaps just too young to remember the silver tongued English that got them tied in knots, years ago), and they came in, liked what they saw and walked out holding a bag full of Caprilicious - thanks Mike! A whole bunch of friends swung into action on my behalf in Bangalore - lending me display items, sending out my invitations to people on their mailing lists, publicising the event to their friends. My friend Sheela came to help me set out my stall, and stayed to help out at the event, so Caprilicious was ably supported by a fabulous team of volunteers. The air conditioned venue is almost a little mall, with exhibitions popping up twice a week on average, so customers tend to drop in on the off chance that they might find something interesting to buy. The beautiful old bungalow, with well tended grounds, and a little cafe serving light bites to peckish customers provides a cool haven for shoppers who are looking for that little special 'something' that sets them apart from the hoi polloi at the next party or social event - and man, do those Bangaloreans socialise! We set up by 10 am on the first day, and for the first hour and a half, it seemed like no one was going to bother to turn up - and then, all of a sudden, there were what seemed like torrents of people flooding the little room where my stall was laid out. A lot of them were friends and relatives, who had in turn brought their friends, but there were quite a few people who had no knowledge of what Caprilicious was all about. I was unable to carry any display aids from home, so relied heavily on stuff donated by friends. I wandered around my mother's house pouncing on unwary ornamental boxes, emptying them of their contents, so I could take them with me. One of my friends gave me some fleece like material she used in a shop she once owned - I did wonder if it would look a bit like adorning a sleeping polar bear with jewellery - but hey, beggars can't be choosers, and I accepted anything thrown my way gratefully. In the end, although the display wasn't necessarily what I envisaged, it was much better than expected. One of my cousins arranged for her publicist to put little write ups in all the local papers, and that worked really well - quite a few people turned up saying that they had read about the exhibition that morning. Another cousin brought two car loads of her lunch group, and they all obligingly spent their money with gay abandon. As all this happened on the first day, I worried that the second day was going to be quiet - but as it turned out, just as many people came, and it was extremely satisfying to watch people I did not know make some extremely complimentary remarks about Caprilicious. We were so tired, we went to bed by 9pm - all that smiling and chatting to strangers certainly takes a toll on the energy levels. But, at pack up time, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had significantly less than a third of my stock remaining. My sister in law did some last minute shopping, and then my sister decided to buy up a whole bunch of pieces from the left over stock! Eventually, my suitcases came back virtually empty, and I had a huge smile on my face - yippee! Then the painful part - I had to take all the jewellery that was sold off my website, and update my Facebook page - ah! the pain that goes with being successful! Now back, safe and sound, all unpacked and a wash on the go, website and Facebook page updated, all that remains is a long soak in the bath to wash the travel dust and weariness out of me. I have to move my mindset from being a jewellery designer to a gynaecologist within the next 24 hours, as they are expecting me at work, all bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow morning, well rested after a three week holiday and raring to go. I have performed this juggling act every day for the last couple of years, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Catch you next Friday as usual, same time, same place xx This week, I hoped to write to you from downtown Bangkok. A few Thai massages, a spot of retail therapy, a bit of sight seeing was going to get me into good shape for the onslaught of what is coming at me next week. But, c'est la vie, the good people of Bangkok decided to have a riot instead, and we had to cancel our plans at the last moment - perhaps they knew we were coming! Since I wrote last, the jewellery exhibition machinery has lurched forward into top gear with a great deal of crashing and groaning - but now, everything is good to go - all I have to do is set up shop on the Monday and open my doors on Tuesday, and hopefully get a halfway decent response. People have been dropping by saying they aren't around on the day, and could they have a look - and have gone away holding a few bits and pieces, which has cheered me up no end - I just need a few folks to walk through the doors, and I am hopeful of a successful event. If any of you know people in Bangalore, please pass on the invitation to my exhibition. The Grow Your Blog PartyVicki Boster writes a blog called 2 Bags Full - all about her 'adventures in travel, knitting, and the blessings of my everyday life'. She hosts a blog party where those who write a blog register, go a visiting each others blogs, and perhaps follow the ones they find interesting - I thought Caprilicious ought to go to the party. And since this is a bit like spreading the word using jungle drums, I signed up for a giveaway - a piece of jewellery entitled Jungle Drums seemed most apt. As I am away from home, I wrote this part of the post a while ago, well before the date so that I would be sure that Caprilicious did not miss out - she shall go to the ball!
Next week, I shall be on my way back home - once again torn in two, no different from others who come from the Indian diaspora - in love with India and all things Indian, but home is where the hearth is and wherever you wander there's no place like home - enough of the cliches and puns - I go now to borrow a couple of mannequins from some friends who own a jewellery shop and to put some final touches to the arrangements for Tuesday. Wish me and Caprilicious luck, readers, and keep everything crossed for a successful event - I will be sure to get some pictures and tell you all about it. See you next week, same place, same time (ish! - jet lag permitting). xx Hello, readers, here we are in downtown Pune, or Poona, as it was originally known. I thought I'd give you a quick update on the preparations for the forthcoming exhibition. I already had so much planned for the three weeks while I visited with my family, that adding a jewellery exhibition to my frenzied schedule seems like an act of masochism. The first hurdle was to pack all my jewellery as best I could, and then hope that it all made it to the other side in one piece. It took me a while to muster up the courage to open my cases, but by and large, everything was intact - thanks to the guy who invented bubble wrap, no doubt. I had picked out a venue, sight unseen, but when I got to it, didn't think that Caprilicious would fit the ambience of the place which was heavily laden with Indian antique furniture. A quest for another venue took us to Raintree, an old Raj style bungalow, renovated beautifully with dedicated exhibition space. Once we settled on that, the machinery was cranked up to a dull roar - posters, invitations, packaging, phone calls, mailing lists - OMG! my feet haven't touched the ground. This colonial style 75 year old "bungalow" with its beautiful garden and shop space was a dream-location for a show. The owner is ever so obliging, and bent over backwards to help in any way she could. Neelam Modi, my advertising whiz kid friend remade my invitation for me, and the cards have now been posted out. I have had a restful couple of days with my sister, and will go back to Banglore, refreshed, to sort out yet more of the minutiae - before I have a short trip to Bangkok - the hard life of a jet setter! I don't know how they cope - I am going to need another holiday once this one is done. I did have time to pick up some delightful silver beads to bring back home with me, and will be on the look out for more. I'd best go now - to get on the flight back to Bangalore and sink my teeth into yet more preparation for Caprilicious' big day. Thanks for stopping by, and do keep everything crossed for Caprilicious, wont you?? Catch you next week, same place, same time
xx |
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