Helloooo everybody, how are you? It is Caprilicious' 5th birthday this week and we are celebrating. Thank you, all of you, those who like Caprilicious' efforts, those who read and/or follow the blog, and those that like wearing my jewellery - Caprilicious and I thank you very, very much! To celebrate, I am hosting a giveaway as usual on the Facebook page. All you have to do is go to the page, like the picture linked to the giveaway and share it to be in with a chance of winning the pretty freebie. The Annual Birthday GiveawayThe ornate wire work hearts were originally designed by Nicole Hanna and are made using antiqued copper wire. They are hung on an organza ribbon and could easily be hung on a longer necklace should you so wish. Patience PaysLast week, I was trying to make a couple of copper flower pendants from Prometheus copper clay as I posted the blog. I had already managed to break off a bail and had to repair it and put it back into the kiln for refiring. I left it to cool over 24 hours being too anxious to rush to open it. In fact it was two days later that I opened the lid of the steel firing pan to find that I had been successful in making a viable piece of jewellery. I was so happy when I found that I had done it! The pendants needed to be scrubbed, put into the rotary tumbler, and polished up. In the finish, I had two gleaming flowers that I was very proud of! I couldn't wait to string them into necklaces. Having pulled out half my bead stash and taken design guidance and instruction from hubby, I made the first necklace. Georgia on my MindAs this particular flower was an experimental piece, inspired by the flowers of Georgia O'Keeffe and Lynn Cobb, I thought the title fitting. Ms. O'Keeffe has many paintings that inspire me and I think I might just be looking at some more of them again, fairly soon. The poppy in the picture was painted in 1927. She believed that due to the fast-paced lives people live, they merely glance at flowers, but never really observe their exquisiteness. She wished to give people who live such rushed lives the experience and the feel of the true beauty of flowers by creating large floral portraits with very little background. “Still-in a way-nobody sees a flower-really- it is so small-we haven’t time- and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” __Georgia O’Keeffe I thought the necklace was beautiful and was most gratified when a colleague instantly fell in love with it and snapped it up. The second flower is a lotus. I ruffled it's layers of petals, in a manner of speaking and the initial beads I chose seemed to indicate that the necklace would be an ethnic style piece. Orange agate teardrops, rudraksh seeds, copper Bali beads, African vinyl trade beads - they all have an Indian flavour, and I thought that this was OK because the lotus, or Tamara is the national flower of India. It was when I went to make the second strand that my subconscious mind went haywire, Ms Muse picked the strangest bedfellows to the first. However, in the end the whole piece is fun and colourful and seems to work just right! It has a Latin-American feel, probably because of the orange ceramic hearts and blue ovoids. Christmas Shopping Fair and Charity Event |
So, that was that - except I haven't given up! I've bought another 600 gms and having watched yet another video, I sent for steel measuring cups as small vessels to dissolve the bismuth in. We live to fight another day! |
While I turned the house over obsessively looking for my agate beads and gouges, Diwali arrived, as did Halloween. I found a couple of ceramic ghouls, which the house gremlin had hidden from me for about an year and decided to use them in a pair of Spooktacular earrings before they were misappropriated again.
I also found little handmade glass chillies that I had intended to make into earrings for Diwali. The chilli peppers came from one of my intermittent internet trawls for unusual components. They reminded me of the strings of chillies and lemons that people hang in their doorways in India and I searched online for glass lemon beads which were eventually sourced on Etsy all the way from Riga, in Latvia.
It turns out that the lemon/chilli string is meant to keep away Ahalakshmi who is the sister of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of fortune and prosperity. This ugly sister unfortunately comes to the party bringing poverty and misery with her, unlike her nicer sibling, and she is most unwelcome. To keep her out of the house, before she can walk in and settle down on the couch, they serve up her favourite sour and hot food right at the door, so that she gets her fill and leaves without needing to come indoors - hmm, there's a thought!
Of course the little glass chillies also look like the strings of fire crackers we used to play with as children - I'm not sure how we survived to tell the tale as Health and Safety was not something that was at the forefront of our minds.
Mr Gremlin relents - Autumn Bliss
I found them - Oh, was I pleased! I had this necklace in my mind and when I couldn't find the leaves I simply couldn't think of anything else I wanted to make - a sort of creative constipation. My brain stubbornly clung to this one idea, even though I tried to coax it into thinking I shouldn't waste time searching for the leaves and I'd find them on another occasion, probably while I was looking for something else. I had already picked out the buttery yellow, waxy jasper needles and little frosted handmade glass beads to match and I think they look great together. Neither colour is bright, but together, they Zing! I saw some outfits that they would go perfectly with - what do you think?? I like my jewellery to contrast with, rather than match my clothes, but that's just me.
That's it for this week folks. I'm glad the weekend is here and I hope that the gremlin goes to sleep for a while. I can't be doing anymore with a hunt for stuff that I know I have put away safely and cannot lay my hands on when I need them.
Talking about hidden treasure, have you been one of those taking part in the Treasure Hunt? If not, do make your way to the 'Treasury of Statement Necklaces' and look for the code on one of the pages which will entitle you to a 15% discount. The Treasure Hunt is on till the 14th of November.
The code is on a copy of this picture, and all you have to do is go and find it.
Talking about hidden treasure, have you been one of those taking part in the Treasure Hunt? If not, do make your way to the 'Treasury of Statement Necklaces' and look for the code on one of the pages which will entitle you to a 15% discount. The Treasure Hunt is on till the 14th of November.
The code is on a copy of this picture, and all you have to do is go and find it.
Catch you next week, same time, same place,
Until then
xx
Until then
xx
Follow
The Caprilicious Jewellery Blog
Author
I'm Neena Shilvock, and I'm crazily addicted to jewellery.
I've been designing and making quirky and interesting statement necklaces for over ten years and my passion hasn't cooled off one little bit - in fact it has got worse, such that I even dream jewellery.
I'd love to get to know kindred spirits like you, so drop me a line and I'll get back to you, and who knows, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Write to me at jewellerybycaprilicious(at)gmail.com
Find me on Instagram
Find me on Pinterest
Contact me
I would love to hear from you - please leave a comment on the blog or send an email to jewellerybycaprilicious(at)gmail.com