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
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Hello folks, how are you this beautiful weekend? I'm heaving a sigh of relief because we have managed to come through the junior doctors strike safely and in one piece. All of us pitched in and worked hard, but the main thing was that everyone was safe and well at the end of the week. I even found the time to put together a simple necklace - it is simple, and not as highly colourful as my usual offerings, but I found these unusual slices of rough cut agate from a bead shop near me - the stones seemed to smile at me and invite me to pick them up. I brought them home and looked at them carefully - the lapidary artist had cut through the strata of agate vertically and pierced the slabs in the direction of the cut. You can see the layers of rock at the edge of each bead and it is a symphony in dark grey, black and white, with a few oranges and browns thrown in. I wanted to add a bit of colour - I usually add a chunk of bamboo coral to contrast with monochrome but then I saw this lovely handmade bead in my stash. This bead was made at a Polymania workshop - I think it was Loretta Lam who taught us how to make a large but light double sided bead, and embellish it in various ways. I polished it up and Voila! Here was the perfect contrast to my agate beads. Encounters in StoneI'm not known for my flights of fancy but these stones really did speak to me - they called out and sang. There was no way I could leave the shop without them. I hope you can understand how this necklace enticed me in a primeval way. I even tried it on before going to work on Monday, and I'm very pleased with it. That's me for this week, folks. I leave you with a photograph of a magnolia tree in bloom that grows in the hospital courtyard. I've worked there for 23 years and only noticed it for the first time a couple of days ago. Isn't that terrible, the way we rush about our business without spending a moment to take in our surroundings? We truly have no time to stop and stare. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll catch you soon, Until then xx Hello everyone, how is 2023 treating you? I hope you all had a great New Year's celebration, whatever you did. I was working, so took in some food for the people at work and celebrated with them. Fortunately the weather improved for a while and getting about wasn't a problem, although this week has been cold again. I haven't been able to get to the blog for a while due to pressures of work and life in general, and many apologies for that. However, I hope to be back to write at least a couple of blog posts a month - I'm going to stop kidding myself that I will be able to do more. Life has become so busy that I can't seem to spare the time to play with beads. I have mentioned the bead embroidered piece that is still is in its 'fugly' phase and I just have to wait until I can decide whether I want to tear it up or carry on. Just now it sits on a necklace bust, glaring at me, willing me to pick it up and do something, anything, with it. Instead, I decided to sidestep it and for my first piece of the year to use a strand of dragons vein agate that I'd been hoarding for a while. I love the look of dragons vein agate - the stones themselves are tactile and smooth, and the markings look like they have been taken from a magical and fantastic tale. I tend not to buy brown coloured stones and am attracted to bright and colourful ones as a rule. However, these were so pretty, I bought two strands. One of them was paired with a pendant of hand carved white jade in an effort to brighten the piece but I wasn't satisfied until I added a crystal in a beaded bezel to the lower edge of the pendant. A few pearls, some Tibetan shell beads, capped with silver and a handful of little blue Japanese seed beads to brighten the necklace even further and, Voila! it was finished. When I tried it on after the addition of the little crystal teardrop, it seemed too long to me and I shortened it. It now looks like something a sophisticated woman of the world would wear to a luncheon date in a posh restaurant. LadyThis week, I'm planning to play with black rainbow pearls - I love those oil slick colours. And then maybe, I shall go back to the fugly one and make a decision, one way or another. I can't bear to look at it anymore, sitting there, crying, 'Me, me, me', every time I walk by. That's me for now, people. I'll be back in a couple of weeks, same place, same time.
Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll catch you soon. Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you today? We are sweltering in the lovely heat as I type - sweltering sounds awful, right? However, the alternative in this country is shivering! There you go, sweltering/sweating/melting/drooping/wilting/whatever - all those words sound much nicer to me than shivering/blue fingers, noses and toes/umbrellas/macs/cardigans and the other horrors that usually go with the words summer in Britain. And, the bonus is we can switch off the heating for at least one day! I've spent my life in the UK with the heating turned up full blast - winter or summer, I wear T-shirts, light dresses and flip-flops around the house and hubby has got used to what he calls 'Bangalore temperatures' - no mismatched socks and oatmeal coloured cardis in my house! We are dressed in hope-inducing summer gear all year round. And now the cost of living is going up! The government does nothing, and there's a rash of cr*ppy advice on every website and newspaper from supposedly sensible authors who usually write articles about investing your money sensibly. These self styled 'money-gurus' now write tips like putting bricks in your toilet cistern so that you can save on water, and what you can do with potato peelings. And then, you might hopefully save enough to follow their by-now obsolete investment advice. I'm told there's even an app that you can download so you can get a 'mystery bag' from the local supermarkets - if you're really lucky you can cook an egg over a candle and eat it with browning cauliflower stalks leftover from the supermarket. So why shop online? Why buy jewellery? Where would you go in it? These are the questions I've been asking myself. I will never stop making stuff, I don't think - it gives me a lot of pleasure to create pretty things. I used to wear my jewellery to work, until the lovely lady from Infection Control took me to one side and put a compelling argument to me - what is euphemistically called a 'respectful challenge' - that just means that the sentence doesn't end with an 'or else', but you know there's one, just the same. Oh well, that is by-the-by. I will still make my beauties, even though I might not be able to wear them every day. Women shop and buy jewellery online because everyone is owed a treat - and sometimes it's nice to own a nice object even though you can't wear it immediately. You know it's in the cupboard waiting for you when the occasion arises - and it will come, believe me. We've been through recessions, wars and problems before and the world has survived. My mother still talks about the time when she could buy a bunch of bananas for a rupee - which is about 10 pence in todays money - however, she is 95 years old, and I'm glad she can still remember anything at all. Caprilicious is chock full of pieces that one wouldn't find in a regular shop and is less expensive than many boutiques. And though the flow out of my door has been stemmed by the fabulous Mr Putin's war, it will not stop and I will not raise the prices of my stock because I don't think it's fair on the Caprilicious women who shop with me. Aegean BlueThis three stranded necklace is made of blue agate cubes and tiny seed pearls. I love this blue, which is reminiscent of Peruvian opal, it has the instant effect of cooling you down. Perfect for the days when you are drooping in the heat with a white dress, it's also great in the winter, worn with darker outfits. I like the fact that it is versatile and can be worn to a party at night, yet isn't so showy that it couldn't be worn to the office when you need a boost to your confidence levels. While the Agean sea is but a bay of the Mediterranean, their colours are completely different. The bottom of the Aegean is made of limestone and the pale rock reflects the light differently, causing it to be much lighter than the Mediterranean sea. I'd love to be in Greece, sitting by the seaside, a glass of something tasty in my hand, watching people go by. That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you on the Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello people, how's tricks? We're looking at a heat wave apparently - and I'm thrilled - except that the UK Met Office says "A UK heatwave threshold is met when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold." Three days?? Hmm!!! So, just three days, then - or more? Who knows. When I ring India, I'm told just how hot it is and how no one ventures out during the day; and I remember that Indian children are brought indoors when the sun is shining - and here I am, straddling two cultures, waiting for the sun, and yet having to be coaxed outdoors sometimes, because the memory of my childhood. The adage Mad dogs etc etc; still lingers in my psyche. I've been playing with tiny little beads for ages, but haven't a finished piece to show you. What I do have however, is a simple necklace of striking mustard yellow slabs of agate strung with a Kenyan brass Sun bead and faceted carnelian spacers. I love slab nuggets, and always have a piece on my books. They are not everyones piece of cake - they are large, in your face, and shriek 'look at me'. They are also beautiful, and deserve to be looked at, can be work with simple ensembles - T shirts, plain colours - however, because the necklace is ostensibly so simple, it can easily be worn with multicolour prints - the piece is at home anywhere, anytime with any outfit. Sunshiny DayEach slab is a beauty in its own right - I buy strings of agate nuggets in many colours and enjoy wearing them myself. I'm having a little break - I will be in London for a couple of days as an examiner for the RCOG exams. Mike and the cat will take care of each other and I shall meet old friends, network, and meet a couple of Caprilicious ladies. I am really looking forward to it after my disaster of a holiday to Amsterdam that never happened. Have a good week folks, I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you? It's Friday again and I'm happy to be back with you. The week has been sunny and bright - plenty of time for the garden to grow and flowers to bloom. This week, I spent time finishing the piece I started over ten days ago, and I think it looks lovely - see what you make of it. My friend and Caprilicious lady Danielle came up from London and we had a bit of a photo session. She is such a fabulous model and enjoys striking a pose that it is so much fun to take pictures of her. That's me for now, folks, the weekend beckons and promises to be long and lazy with nothing planned apart from lounging around. Have a fabulous weekend and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello all, how are you? Less than a week left to Christmas, and I hope everyone is ready for the big day. I've spent the week packing parcels, writing cards and distributing gifts like a demented Mrs Claus - and it is all done and dusted bar Christmas dinner - for which I still have to shop! Ah well, there are still five days to go and I'm sure we can codge something together. I finish work at the day job on Tuesday afternoon and I am already looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet. Windswept WavesI wanted to use a string of chisel shaped agate beads in a necklace that I've been saving for a special moment. The agate beads are rugged and have a wild beauty that reminds me of the jagged rocks around the coast of Cornwall or the Blue Grotto off the coast of Capri. I wanted to contrast the masculinity of the agate with a feminine, frothy, frilly pendant and spent a long time looking for the perfect piece but then realised that I'd be better off making my own. I wrote about the beginnings of the piece last week, here, and can now present the finished necklace. The smooth ceramic beads from Greece, the rugged, masculine agate chisels and the feminine, frilly pendant - a necklace of delightful contrasts, colour and texture. Toni Ballard, from the Mitchell Gallery in Warwick where I displayed my jewellery until they closed their physical gallery, contacted me to request a pair of earrings to match a turquoise necklace she purchased last year. I was a bit sceptical as didn't think I could match the blue of the turquoise in her necklace to any earrings I might make without the necklace in front of me to ensure a perfect colour comparison. I picked a design by Nicole Hanna and made the wire the predominant feature, using small turquoise beads. I put it in the post and held my breath - two days later I had a reply from Toni - she loved the earrings and I could breathe again. She will send me pictures, she promises, and I will share them with you when she does. I've been playing with wire and beads, and have a half finished piece, which should be ready for the blog next week. Have a fabulous Christmas, won't you, relax and have a load of fun with family and friends. Feliz Navidad from Caprilicious and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello people, how are you. It is raining outside, and the clouds are grey and the sky threatening more rain. Added to that my knee is giving me a bit of gypp. So, not much to celebrate here, then! Why do I feel all excited and smiley in spite of this? Well, I caught sight of the Pantone colours for fashion for the autumn of 2019 today - and they are rich and vibrant, very me, very Caprilicious. Usually I look at the predictions and go "Pshaw!!", and carry on with my own colour combinations. I simply cannot seem to create in colours that resemble fust, must, or dust! I just get creative constipation and the ideas wont flow one little bit. Now rust is another matter, I love the oranges and burnt sugar colours that come from the oxidation of iron. This week I made a couple of necklaces in the Pantone colours for 2019, even before I knew what they were. Prescient, or what?? Autumn/Winter 2019/2020 colours reflect a new level of colour complexity; sophisticated and strong; a meaningful palette of colour that empowers and instills confidence. Displaying endlessly varied combinations, colour stories exhibit a mix of nuances, creating the feeling of freedom to create one’s own personalised identity. Rich tones, indeed, and the words 'confidence and empowerment' are close to my heart as that is what Caprilicious sets out to do. Strong women who express themselves freely are in the majority in the Caprilicious Tribe, and the rest of is made up of ladies who use my jewellery as a sort of armour, something to aid them in their quest for self confidence. Either way, the word 'empowerment' is fitting in the context of statement jewellery in general and Caprilicious, most definitely. Agate is a rock consisting primarily of crystalline silica, alternating with microgranular quartz. It is characterized by its fineness of grain and variety of color. Most agates occur as nodules in volcanic rocks or ancient lava in former cavities produced by volatile gases in the original molten mass. They were then filled by siliceous matter deposited in regular layers upon the walls. Agate has also been known to fill veins or cracks in rock. Such agates, when cut transversely, exhibit a succession of parallel lines, giving a banded appearance to the section. Many agates are hollow, when deposition has not proceeded far enough to fill the cavity, and in such cases the last deposit commonly consists of druzy quartz, with the apices of the crystals directed towards the free space so as to form a crystal-lined cavity or geode. One of my customers picked up a graduated string of the most beautifully banded peach and cream coloured agate on a visit to Pompeii, and my instructions were 'do something with them.' Such an ambiguous instruction can be nerve wracking, but hey, I'm always up for a challenge. The lady in question is quite exacting in her requirements and isn't keen on the asymmetrical vibe that Caprilicious brings to the table, but yet likes my jewellery. I generally have to remake a few elements of my jewellery to suit her but I'm always accepting of the 'customer's always right' (even when I think she's wrong) dictum so I go along with it. The beads are graduated but the depth of colour does not follow the graduation. Another problem when attempting to make a non asymmetrical piece. I decided to follow the graduation in the bead size rather than the colouring and see what transpired. The paler beads are almost cream and I sought to raise the colour quotient with a copper wire pendant made from one of Nicole Hannas designs. The addition of little gold tone seed beads and a matching clasp finished the necklace but the central piece looked dull when I added a creamy round agate from my stash, so I replaced it with blue/green crystals. I tried an orange tone teardrop, but this mango yellow bead seemed to do better in both raising the colour stakes and in coordinating with the main agate beads in the necklace. The large central beads remained unused, so I put them into a simple piece on a memory wire so that the necklace sits close to the neck like a torque necklace. A contrast with gently faceted blue colour enhanced jade beads and silver tone spacers completes the piece. Once again, the symmetry of the bead sizes had to be paramount rather than the colour variation. As for the Unfinished Business from last week - it remains unfinished, although I've made one more of the beaded tubes during the week.
That's me for this week folks. Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello, good people, it's lovely to talk to you again, and thank you so much for joining me. I've been working hard at the day job and was consequently looking forward to a weekend off, but alas, am having to work again due to sickness in the ranks. However, the weather report is good, so all is not doom and gloom. I don't generally do sales, but I've found that I have too many earrings in my stash - quite a few were sold at the show at Leamington Spa, but I didn't have the room to display them all, and loads of them came back home with me, and they were most grumpy at being back in the large shoebox they currently live in. So just to give them a chance to be fostered to a good home, I've got them on sale till the 1st of August. Arctic Spring Idly flicking through channels on the TV, as you do when there's nothing interesting on, I saw a program about the Arctic Tundra. The Arctic is almost entirely covered by water, much of it frozen into glaciers and icebergs, and these are solidified freshwater. In fact, the glaciers and icebergs in the Arctic make up about 20% of Earth’s supply of freshwater. Most of the Arctic, however, is the liquid salt water of the Arctic ocean basin. Some parts of the ocean’s surface remain frozen all or most of the year. This frozen seawater is called sea ice which is often covered with a thick blanket of snow. The Arctic has the largest concentrations of mineral deposits – copper-nickel ore, platinum and rare earth metals, phosphorus, chromium, diamonds, silver, gold among others. In the spring, after the long, dark nights of winter, icicles melt and as the sun gets higher in the sky, the flowers of the Tundra begin to bloom, the majority of them are mosses, grasses, shrubs, and lichen, which grow close to the ground and can withstand the inhospitable climate. While I was researching this theme, I found a painting called Arctic Spring by a Swedish painter, Joacim Broström. His abstract of an Arctic Spring is beautiful, but made all the more interesting because he rarely uses paintbrushes, preferring instead to use household objects - pipette bottles, straws, toothpicks, plastic bags, and cardboard, among others. So, this is my interpretation of an Arctic Spring The pendant is a slice of agate, surrounded by a bezel of silvery seed beads and AB coated crystals, tipped with tiny seed beads in pink and green. The bail is a long strip of woven silver beads, dripping with silvery 'icicles', their tips melting into crystal teardrops. There are a few Czech marguerite flowers in pink and pale green, to signify the pink saxifrage which is the very first flower that comes up in the spring. The necklace is made of quartz shards, delicately colour enhanced in a pale pink and green. It is meant to be worn close to the neck so that the pendant gets maximum visibility. I was so pleased that it was picked up a couple of hours after I posted it on instagram by one of my regular customers. The lady in question will wear it beautifully I'm sure, and get a great deal of pleasure from it. By the time I'd finished Arctic Spring, my fingertips were sore and I had no mojo left, so that's me for this week. Have a lovely week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello folks, nice to see you again today. I am in sunny Bristol as you read this, at a NHS conference surrounded by midwives and obstetricians. It has been three days and I will soon be back home with hubby and the cat who are waiting patiently for me. On Sunday, I shall reveal the new collection for Autumn - showy necklaces that can be worn over winter clothes and sweaters - the Caprilicious Line of Lagenlook jewellery. I've been hard at work putting this small collection together and as I've made most of the elements myself, I've really enjoyed assembling them. I decided to ask one of the midwives who works in the unit to model them for me and she was happy to oblige. She came by on Tuesday after work, with a bag of her linen dresses and patiently changed outfits and jewellery while I clicked away. She looks fabulous, don't you think?? So, 'what's different about this range?', I hear you ask. Well, for one thing, the pieces are meant to wear with winter gear, although they can of course be worn all year round - in the throes of winter, I usually bundle up in warm sweaters and loads of layers. These can be quite heavy and the last thing I would want is a weighty necklace to make matters worse. Winters are drab and depressing, what with the rain and snow, mist and fog, dry skin, runny noses and frozen extremities. To make matters worse, the clothes are usually dark and monochrome, so the injection of a bit of colour into the proceedings never goes amiss. I always like to wear a vibrant piece of jewellery to brighten up my day and give my outfit a bit of ZING! So here's a sneak peek at a couple of necklaces I made for the Lagenlook line - the rest will be on show on the website and Facebook page on Sunday the 24th. Blue SkiesIn the meantime, I shall leave you with the only necklace I made that does not belong in the Lagenlook Collection. The beautiful agate slab nuggets were sent to me by a friend in a bead swap and I couldn't resist putting them in a necklace. I guess it will have to be worn when warm swaddling isn't a necessity. The pendant is a work of art with a mosaic of abalone, black lip oyster mother of pearl, and a Siva Eye at the centre. There are some very lustrous beads, pearls, blue agate, blue silvered glass beads, and loads of seed beads along with the beautiful black and translucent agate slab nuggets. I love interesting shaped beads and these are a delight to look at and to touch. Do come and visit the website on Sunday when the Lagenlook line will be up and running on it's own page.
Have a great week and I'll catch you mext Friday, same time, same place, Until then, xx |
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