Hello readers, happy Friday to you all. As this blog post goes out, I will be at a Health and Safety lecture at the day job, and riveting it will be too! Oh well, I shall just have to make up for it later on and have a lovely relaxing weekend. I have had a satisfying week creating a few pieces of jewellery so I can't complain. Folies BergèreMost people go to the Lido on the Champs-Élysées or the Moulin Rouge when they hit Paris as a tourist. However, the Folies Bergère, established in 1869, is still in business, not far from the Moulin Rouge. It was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s and the gaieté girls and their dance routines are legendary. I was lucky enough to go to all three institutions on various trips to Paris and was just blown away by the spectacle they put on. The women are barely clothed in the conventional sense, but their headgear and beads with feathers and sequins and the fabulousness of their routine ensures that it is not in the least bit pornographic, but just amazing. I made a pendant using solar quartz and colourful soutache braids, with multi colour gemstone and glass seed beads to go with a strand of lapis lazuli slab nuggets that I bought in Jaipur. The stones were so beautiful, I felt compelled to work hard to make a pendant worthy of them and name the resultant necklace after the spectacular dancers at the Folies. I've agreed to have a stall at a couple of events to support Sophia - the Pregnancy Loss Support Service at the George Eliot Hospital. They are having their fundraiser at The Labour Club, Stockingford on the 23rd of October and possibly another one in December just before Christmas. The ladies who run the group are very compassionate and give of their time and energy freely, and I've agreed to take Caprilicious to both events. I've been making little earrings and necklaces for the stalls. Here's a sneak peek at a couple of the items destined for the events. The events are also in support of Ariana's Hope, a non profit organisation that raises awareness of Edwards' syndrome or Trisomy 18, a condition incompatible with life. If you have a moment, do click on the links above and even better, if you can, come and say hello and support the events. People with healthy babies can't even begin to imagine the heartbreak that comes with problems like these, so do support the cause and check out their Facebook pages. That's me for this week, folks. I've made a few pairs of earrings but have yet to antique them and take pictures - perhaps I'll show them off next week. I shall schedule the blog to be posted tomorrow at 10 am, UK time - at that point I will be listening to an extremely riveting lecture at the Statutory and Mandatory update at work - if we don't attend, we are not allowed any other study leave for the year and our appraisal paperwork is not signed off, so there's no escaping it. I just hope it rains tomorrow, I'd hate to spend a lovely sunny day bound to a chair in a darkened room, and anyway the garden could do with a good dousing.
Catch you next week folks, same time, same place, Until then xx
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Good morning folks, I hope you are all getting ready for the weekend and in good fettle. Life has been hectic at Chez Caprilicious - I've no clue how the week has vanished in a flash. I've had guests at home all last weekend and had a friend round to help with the left overs during the week. Time has flown by in a haze of steam from the dishwasher as I loaded and unloaded the machine that has worked valiantly overtime without complaint. Hubby's old back injury has played him up which meant I am chief cook and bottle washer - sometimes it is good to touch down and realise just how much he does around the house, allowing me to flit from bead to bead like a demented butterfly. I hope he'll be better next week and I can get back to my usual routine. He's getting a load of TLC from your's truly, and I can tell you that it is quite draining - I am beginning to get 'compassion fatigue', in common with a lot of medics who have to deal with illness in the home after a day of being compassionate at work. One of my friends at the weekend said she was going to a wedding and picked out some jade beads and ordered a necklace to go with an outfit she intended to wear. She likes her jewellery simple and though she picks up quite a few pieces from Caprilicious, they are usually for gifts. This one was for her and I showed her some of my silver from Jaipur and we settled on a design for her necklace. The jade is from China, silver from Jaipur and the little silver spacer beads are 99% silver from Bali. This girl likes to wear matching jewellery and asked for a simple pair of earrings. I made the simplest soutache design I could with a 6 mm freshwater pearl and seven jade beads, throwing in a few tiny seed beads for embellishment. I sent these pictures off to my friend and there was radio silence for a couple of days - Oh Ohh! that usually means trouble, I thought! Sure enough, I got a call a few days later - she wondered whether the earrings were too elaborate and could I possibly make her something simpler please? Personally, I think the earrings are very pretty and as they are smaller than a 10 pence piece, will be perfect - but of course, the customer is always right, and that has always been my motto. I persuaded her to take a look at the earrings in person before she dismissed them outright. I can just as easily make another pair - a little silver flower frame in wire with jade beads stitched onto it will be an hours work if she hates these, but of course, I'm banking on her falling in love with them! Interpreting another persons ideas and dreams can be difficult at the best of times - it is so much easier to work to a drawing - especially when the person who places the order has a very firm idea in their mind, but does not verbalise it for one reason or another. The remit was 'something simple' - and most Caprilicious women who wear my jewellery will recognise that these earrings are my idea of 'simple'. However, now that I am looking at them again through my friend's eyes they are anything but! I am sorely tempted to make another pair - the flowers I talked about earlier and send them out instead but perhaps she will try these on and fall in love with them! Perhaps, deep down I'm hoping for a Capriliciousification and to have a new convert to the cause - who knows what's in my subconscious? Where is Freud when you need him?? What do you think folks? Do leave me your thoughts and I will follow your advice. My friend has gone on holiday so I have a couple of days to sort this out. Last week the editor of Bead and Jewellery magazine sent out the proofs of my next tutorial - this one is for the necklace above made of polymer clay faux textile petals called Midnight Tango. I think the issue comes out next month, and I am most excited. The original necklace lives in Bangalore, India with my friend Sheela, and I took her permission before submitting the project to B & J. That's me for this week, good people. Have a lovely weekend - I shall be working and hopefully all will be quiet at the OK Corral. Catch you next week, same time, same place,
Until then xx P.S. please, please leave me a comment about the soutache earrings and what I should do with my little dilemma, thanks, N xx Hello again, readers, how are you all today? Britain is in a frenzy of anticipation - Team GB is not doing so badly at the Olympics in Rio and people are glued to their television sets. We are not that into sport and have taken advantage of the sunshine to relax in the garden and I made a few pieces of jewellery. I was watching reruns of Series 3 of Absolutely Fabulous. Jennifer Saunders wore a beautiful necklace through most of the show and I fell in love with it - it is bright, bold and colourful, and big! So very Caprilicious! I decided to have a go at trying to make it out of polymer clay. I looked for a still picture of the necklace but could find nothing that was remotely of any use, it was as if the bloody woman moved on purpose just to keep me from getting a good look at it - I had to watch the recorded show over and over, making drawings to help me - my lack of drawing skills are legendary and even the simplest shapes elude me. I eventually decided to make it from memory in colours that caught my eye and when I went to hang it, I found a Nepalese thread work necklace that seemed perfect! An international effort, if ever there was one. I asked Lorena Angulo, a Mexican artisan jeweller from San Antonio in Texas, whether she knew if the cascade of hearts signified anything and she replied that it looked very much like a Milagro heart - Milagros are religious folk charms that are traditionally used for healing purposes and as votive offerings in Mexico, southern Spain and in other Latin American countries. They are frequently attached to altars, shrines, and sacred objects found in places of worship, and they are often purchased in churches and cathedrals, or from street vendors. Milagros come in a variety of shapes and dimensions and are fabricated from many different materials, depending on local customs. A lot of Lorena's work is influenced by her origins and she often makes these Milagros (or would that be Milagra?? who knows??), beautifully carved from precious metal clay. I'm playing this on the blog today - just because..... It's a fabulous song and I love Alison Moyet, enjoy! The Little Miss CollectionI bought these silver pendants with the most beautiful semi precious stones in Jaipur during my last holiday in India. I had no idea what I wanted to do with them, so they just sat in a box until one day, suddenly, Ms Muse remembered them and seemed to know how exactly how to string them. I used the three butterflies to make pretty necklaces which would be ideal for young ladies, and of course older ladies who are young at heart! The gemstones in these pendants are really pretty a Little Miss would look lovely in her first piece of heirloom jewellery. Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books, best remembered for the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers. The simple and humorous stories, with brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations, have been part of popular culture since 1971. The stories are set in a fictional universe called "Misterland", which is inhabited by the Mr. Men and Little Misses themselves, as well as some ordinary human characters such as shopkeepers, doctors and postmen. There are also various animals and Walter the Worm appears frequently. The characters are human in their behaviours and attributes. After Roger's death, his son wrote a few more books in the series and in April 2004, his widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters to UK entertainment group Chorion for a reported £28 million. Little Miss SunshineAmetrine pebbles carry the butterfly pendant which has the most beautiful topaz and citrine gemstones and a few left over ametrines went into earrings to match. Little Miss FabulousThe butterfly is made in two colours of topaz and an amethyst. I strung it simply on a silver chain, and added little dangles in peridot, apatite, jade and amethyst on either side of the pendant. A little pink jade butterfly finishes the pendant, dangling from the extension chain at the back. Little Miss MoonlightThere isn't really a Little Miss Moonlight in Hargreaves's series, but who knows, they might just make her up after this. This butterfly has iridescent moonstones as well as amethyst and turquoise and is strung on a necklace of square labradorite beads, with tiny pale pink seed pearls between the labradorites. I even made some earrings to go with the necklace. The box clasp, enhanced by a little moonstone also came from Jaipur and is very, very pretty. I see these worn to a prom, or at a first dance, gifted to a bridesmaid or even worn by the bride. It is nice for young girls to develop an appreciation of fine things that they need to take care of and cherish, and a simple piece of heirloom jewellery may be one of the best ways to start. That's me for this week folks. Have a fabulous weekend and I shall catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then
xx Hello folks, thanks for taking time out with me today. As always it is lovely to chat with you awhile. The weekend sounds promising with the forecast of a heatwave but one never can tell with the climate in this part of the world and this is why we are always obsessed with the weather. Our small talk is peppered with 'Nice day, isn't it?'s and if we're feeling optimistic but it is bucketing it down, people go 'nice weather for ducks', as if that is some compensation for being half drowned. However, one cannot expect a green and pleasant land without a few (lot) drops of rain! If any of you are following the blog and wondered if Charlie my cat ever came back - the answer is sadly no, he hasn't. I've registered with various websites for lost animals in the area and postered all the local shops and that's it, I'm afraid, I shall have to accept his loss as final. Still, I have my beads and baubles to console me and I decided to force myself to play with them. A string of iridescent peach quartz needles was the focus of my attention and I picked out all the beads I had to go with them. I have always loved the combination of orange and peach with grey - to me it seems very sophisticated and subtle - very grown up. Peachy KeenI bought the string of iridescent grey glass beads in the USA last year and the silvery grey clasp is carved from Mother of Pearl, and exceedingly beautiful. I like the idea of an untidy and carefully planned disarray so I moved the strands around until satisfied that it appeared as if they looked like they had been artfully thrown together. Some of the elements are shiny and the others have a matte finish in contrast and they go well together in this lovely statement piece that hugs the base of the neck like a collar. EarringsI made some earrings to go with this necklace - they are simple and made in the same colours. I don't really hold very much with wearing 'matching' pieces of jewellery - to me it seems like trying to diminish attention from the statement piece around your neck. I think that if you are wearing one piece of beautiful jewellery, the rest of your body should be unadorned - or if you wish to wear another piece, it should be as far away from the main action as possible, perhaps around your wrist? That's just my opinion, what do you think?? I'd love to know because people ask me if I have earrings to match, and I have to explain myself all the time. Polymer clay roses I made in vibrant shades of yellow and orange went with lampwork glass and copper 'tornado' beads to make pretty bohemian earrings. That's a wrap for this week folks. Have a lovely weekend and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place. Until then
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