Hello everyone, how are you this weekend? It's been a busy week, but hey! What's new? There have been a number of evenings out - what's with everyone? Every time I say the word 'diet' in my head - I don't even have to say it out loud, and I get loads of invitations that I cannot refuse to parties and pubs and clubs. While it's good for my social life, it certainly isn't good for the waistline and another diet bit the dust. Oh well, there's always Monday (again!). I went back to my bead drawers to find inspiration this week and found a half string of Desert Rose beads. Every time I use them in a necklace, I play Sting singing his extremely haunting melody. However, I found a clip of Faouzia, a Moroccan artist, singing the Sting cover and pulled it through for you to listen to. She also sings it in Arabic - you will find it on You-Tube should you fancy it. The last time I used them I added handmade dark maroon polymer clay beads, and this piece now lives in Boston. This time I thought I'd try a lighter effect and found blue quartz in an 'Aha!' moment. I guess the only way one would find water in a desert would be in an oasis or a mirage. MirageIf you fancy a read about the Desert Rose, here's an article for you. I think this necklace is just as beautiful as the last - I love the blue quartz and always have a strand in my stash, they are so elegant. I'm off to work with my plants in the garden - there's a bit of weeding to do. Fortunately I tend to over plant, so there are usually very few weeds to pull. Somehow the dang things seem to manage a few shoots that I work on every weekend when the sun is out. 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 lovely folks, how are you? Thank you to everyone who picked up pieces in the birthday sale - those of you who haven't, please feel free to take a moment to browse as the sale goes on till the 14th of November, pick up some early Christmas presents for yourself and friends - there are plenty of inexpensive pieces, especially on the Mixed Media/Daywear page that would be eminently suitable as gifts - remember, there are only 43 days to go! I love this song and video by Sting and CHeb Mami. It brings all the romance and mystery of the desert into our collective consciousness, as do the beads in this weeks piece of jewellery. I was taken with the Desert Rose a number of years ago when I made an attempt to recreate them in wire. A friend of mine, on reading my blog post bought me a desert rose when she saw one in a shop on her travels. Imagine my excitement when I saw beads of Desert Rose - I had to buy them, of course I did! You might wonder what I'm getting so aereated about. Close your eyes and imagine a wind blowing in a desert, whipping up sand that finally settles in nooks and crannies in rock formations. The grains of sand are packed tight against each other and every molecule of moisture extracted by the baking hot sun. What we have in essence is a fistful of silica that has been compressed so efficiently that it has become a dense, hard, permanent structure, carved by the very elements that it is made of - the sand, whipped up by the wind. Desert Rose is also sometimes called Gypsum Rose, Selenite Rose, Rose Rock, Gypsum Rosette, or Sand Rose and is found in many deserts in Algeria, Australia, Spain, Morocco, Mexico, and Africa. It is a stone that molds your character and help you grow and improve as a person. If there’s any kind of stagnation in your life, it will be eliminated by this stone. The energies of this stone will also strengthen your natural intuition. It will give you more motivation and initiative to pursue your goals and dreams. If you want to read more about it, this article should be of interest to you. The dark blood red beads in the necklace were made in-house, from Ultralight polymer clay and then given a surface treatment that makes them gleam in the light. They serve as a fine contrast to the Desert Rose beads, as well as making the necklace lighter and more comfortable on the back of the neck. If you love unique pieces of jewellery, this is a must have - a head turner and conversation starter, for sure. I've agreed to take part in the Earring show in early December and I've been putting together a few pairs of earrings - they aren't finished yet, so I'll have to show them off next week.
That's me for now, folks. Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx 'Some People Grumble that Roses have Thorns, I am Grateful that Thorns have Roses' - Alphonse Karr27/7/2012 I love roses - there were so many fabulous rose bushes in my mother's house at one time, and when I moved to the UK, I tried to replicate that garden - alas, I had not factored in their requirement for sunlight, and planted them willy nilly - needless to say, I was a very disappointed rose non - grower! In later years, I took the trouble to study floriculture, and realised that all my borders were in the shade, and roses were never going to do well in my garden - Phew! that was that, at least now I knew what I was doing wrong, I could stop my doomed efforts to have a rose garden. Now I just buy them in Sainsbury's with the weekly shop, and that satisfies my soul. When I set up Caprilicious, I used a picture of roses in all my banners, business cards, Facebook and Etsy shops - I suppose you could say, I overdosed my soul with roses. I learned to make polymer clay roses and to use them in some very pretty ways. I strung them together in a necklace, wired them into ear cuffs - I put them anywhere I could - it would appear that I made these pieces when I was feeling particularly romantic - a lovely melody, or a sweet gesture from my husband perhaps, would set me to thinking of roses. In one of these moods, I crafted the Enchanted Garden, which had a contemplative little face set in a rose strewn necklace/collar. A friend of mine saw it and asked if I could make her a bracelet - she will visit me from the USA in August, and I endeavoured to make a cuff bracelet, using a method described by the fabulous Donna Kato. I was given carte blanche with the colours, so made them a bit brighter than the Enchanted Garden. Donna Kato uses a wire armature cured into the basic bracelet to provide strength and flexibility, and the whole piece is cured on a form. Embellished with the roses and leaves, and when buffed, sanded and varnished, it is good to go! The final piece is pretty, and both flexible and strong, and I am quite pleased with it. I will finish it off this weekend, and you can have a look at it next week. It needs a bit of paint, and varnish, and I have not had the energy this week - best to do paint work etc when in the mood, or all that effort will be vain and the bracelet will have to be junked! Desert RoseA Desert Rose is formed in arid desert conditions, when gypsum, selenite and barite form fan shaped crystals in rosettes due to naturally occurring cleavage planes, especially from the evaporation of shallow salt basins. I saw a picture of these beautiful natural sculptures, and tried to recreate them in wire. I added some leaves and a pod shaped dangling pendant to the rose for added interest, and made a couple more roses to create a pair of extremely simple danglers on long kidney ear hooks. Sting had this fantastic song called Desert Rose, and I have included it here - but I think he is singing of yet another kind of desert rose!
I promised myself that I would endeavour to make at least one piece of jewellery out of silver, to add to the Caprilicious Silver Collection. Missed the deadline last week, so made two pieces this week, playing catch up with myself. My raison d'etre for jewellery making was to create fantastical pieces out of wire and other components, that were at once wearable, and affordable. Unfortunately, the 'affordable' part of that statement has, so far, precluded the use of silver wire - I use so much wire in my statement necklaces, that at today's prices for silver, they would have to become heirloom pieces. One day, perhaps, but not just yet! I have had to content myself with the use of pretty, tiny gemstone beads - to my surprise, I find that the smaller the size of the bead, the higher the price is likely to be - and of course small faceted beads cost a bomb! So, I choose carefully, and I find unusual shapes, sizes and colours will that set the Caprilicious Silver Collection apart. I made these earrings with Sterling silver wire, labradorite, peridot and apatite beads, and added a Swarovski crystal dangler - just to lift and brighten the piece. It is light and pretty little piece of jewellery, but, because of the gemstones and their colours, is extremely fetching. |
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