Hello readers, how are you? I am writing to you from sunny Nice, the sun is shining here and all is well in this part of the world. We were here a couple of years ago, and I wrote about it then - you will find that post here, if you fancy a quick recap. My lovely nephew just qualified as a dentist and this trip is a little treat from his aunt and uncle for having kept his nose to the grindstone for so many years. We are at Le Negresco on the Promenade des Anglais and have had a really fun time for the last few days. It will soon be time to return home, we go back to the UK in a couple of days, and he goes back to India with his mother, in time to start his first post as an intern. We took a trip to Monte Carlo, and went to the Casino - fortunately, we got there at around midday, and were allowed to take photographs as the gambling only starts at 2pm after which photography is not allowed. I am not a gambler at heart, and that was fine by me, although I think the other members of the party would have been happy to chuck a few pennies at the tables - after all, the House always wins! I enjoyed the ambience, and took loads of photographs. One needs photo id and to pay 17Euros to be allowed in and once I'd paid up, I wandered around, clicking away happily. We did all the usual things, walking into the old town, wandering the antique market, a drive to Eze, the little village outside Nice perched on a hillside, and walked miles and miles around the Côte d'Azur. I know I shall need another holiday to recover from this one and have taken the precaution of booking a couple of extra days off work when I get home. I took some of my unisex jewellery out to Nice and got my nephew to model the pieces for me - I always think a live model is best, but unfortunately cannot always find one to wear my jewellery when I require it. I even tried it out in black and white - which ones do you prefer? Have a lovely week, folks, I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx
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Hello readers, welcome back to the story of my week - this week was dominated by metal clay - I put my big girls pants on and strode out into a brave new world. Well, it wasn't quite that easy, being the cowering timorous beastie that I am - but almost. Why is it that when I am in a class, everything seems to be so easy? It all flows like clockwork and bish, bash, bosh, I'm looking at a lovely piece of jewellery. Once I get home, however, everything that can go wrong, does, and I am pulling my hair out in large chunks - I just hate this part of the learning curve and need to force myself to get on the ladder. Anyway, there I was, a-shaking and a-quaking, but determined to do it. I mentally hitched my pants up high and dove into a new packet of silver clay, having drawn a little design onto a piece of paper. This gave me hives, right at the very start as I cannot draw a straight line with a ruler, but I carried on and eventually after a few false starts, I made what I thought would be a couple of pendants, but changed my mind halfway and turned them into asymmetrical earrings. I have wanted to try out this design format for a while and had a lot of fun playing with it. Eventually, on Sunday night they were almost done, but I was exhausted and didn't put them in the kiln for fear of making an error due to tiredness. SeafoamI learned the Bargello technique from Jana Roberts Benzon a couple of years ago and made this bead using the last pieces of material I made at the class. I simply put the bead away until I could make up my mind what I wanted to do with it. Put together with hand carved jade in a pale green, black engraved onyx with Chinese lettering and dragons picked out in gold, and a few African Baule lost wax beads, my Bargello bead assumed its rightful place in a beautiful fusion necklace. Unisex Jewellery for Eco WarriorsI've always been fascinated by arrowheads, one of the most primitive implements made by man - the ones I acquired are a bit more contemporary, and chiselled from agate in shades of cream, beige and grey. I wrapped the arrowheads in copper wire which I then antiqued and polished and hung on a leather thong. I think they are suitable to be worn by both men and women and from these humble beginnings, I have a small range of unisex jewellery. This Maori warrior face is hand carved bone, and came all the way from Indonesia from Indounik. I have had him for ages, and think he looks rather splendid wrapped in square copper wire which I twisted with a pin vise to give an interesting curly-haired look. And finally, the metal clay pieces I crafted so carefully were ready to go into the kiln. I held my breath, put my big girls pants on and waited with bated breath till the kiln beeped at me - 'come and have a look, don't be such a scaredy cat', it said - and I did, and it was fine - phew! I thought, as long as I still had those pants on, I might as well try out a bit of soldering, and that worked as well - OMG! I will tumble and polish the earrings and have them on the website at the weekend, and on this page next week. I shall go now and rest my weary head. The stresses and strains of the week have almost done me in, but I shall carry on with clay, now that I've been bitten well and truly by the bug. That's it for the week folks, have a fab weekend, and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place xx |
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