Hello people, how's tricks? The sunshine's back in the UK and things feel like they are looking up at last, with the weather, the vaccination program and the slowing of the Covid infection rates in the UK. Now, all we have to do is to wait for the rest of the world to get there so that we can begin to think about travel and all the other things we have hitherto enjoyed. Poor hubby has had hay fever - we have some beautiful flowering Hawthorn May blossom trees in front of the house and the masses of pollen they release every spring, as well as the sunshine and warmth have conspired against him. He even missed our first trip since lockdown began to the pub, being dosed up with antihistamines and sniffing himself to sleep. My next project was to be an embroidered cuff bracelet, but it has been so busy at work that I was unable to bring myself to face a tube of beads or even a needle. I picked up a pendant that was actually one of a pair of earrings made by the Hmong tribe in China. It has a low silver content and is pretty heavy for an earring. The term 'Miao' is used today by the Chinese government to denote a group of linguistically and culturally related people (including the Hmong, Hmu, Kho Xiong, and A Hmao). Both men and women from the Miao tribes wear the most fantastical jewellery and put on a beautiful show for the tourists wearing what looked like the entire silver reserve of the country when I was in Xian, many years ago. I have a couple of the necklaces myself, but the earrings are too heavy for me - stretched earlobes must be in fashion out there! Blue and white decoration first became widely used in Chinese porcelain in the 14th century, after the cobalt pigment for the blue began to be imported from Persia. I always thought Delftware was the definitive blue and white porcelain, but no, the Chinese made it first. It was widely exported, and inspired imitative wares in Islamic ceramics, and in Japan, and later European tin-glazed earthenware such as Delftware and in the 18th century, European porcelain. The yellow beads are of resin and the asymmetrically placed red bead is dyed howlite. I like the added zhoosh the flash of red contributes to the piece. Here are some pictures from a little photoshoot over the weekend we spent with a friend who originally came to me through Caprilicious. We hadn't seen each other for a while and by the time we actually went out into the garden, the light was fading - I'm not 100% happy with a lot of the photographs. I have picked out the best ones for these pages. That's me for now, folks. Have a wonderful week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx
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Good day readers, and thanks for joining me once again. This has been a crazy, busy week. It started with being on call at the day job all weekend, and it didn't stop all week. Consequently I wasn't able to play with clay or make anything that would take time and effort, I just managed little short bursts of jewellery making activity. This is a video currently making the rounds on Facebook. Given my love of peacocks, I thought I'd share it with you here. KalikaI've written about Kali or Kalika before but here is yet another version. Kalika, the dark skinned goddess with her tongue hanging out dripping blood, and skulls hanging around her neck (she was the original head hunter) was an incarnation of Parvati or Mrs Shiva. There once was a demon who was making a real nuisance of himself, and he had the power to clone himself a thousand times stronger with each drop of blood that touched the ground (no one ever let him loose in the kitchen with a paring knife)! The gods knocked on Shiva's door to sort the demon out, but he was busy meditating and tended to get very irritable when he was disturbed. So, Mrs Shiva, who was in the middle of her ironing and a bit annoyed with hubby herself, took the form of Kalika, strode out, beat up and decapitated the demon, and stuck her tongue out and hoovered up every drop of blood before it touched the ground - Bish Bash Bosh - no more Mr Demon! Unfortunately, the demon ran on 100 proof alcohol, and Kalika got so drunk she ran amok, like people spilling out of a nightclub in Sunderland on a Saturday night at 2am. She ran around shrieking and screeching, knocking people down, and draping their heads and limbs around her neck. Shiva had to be roused from his meditation to control the missus and when he tried, she trampled on him too - well, serves him right, he ought to have taken the call instead of sending his wife out to do his dirty work, I say! The blue-black titanium coated quartz nuggets reminded me of the Dark Goddess, and she is also associated with the peacock feather. The sheen from the titanium coating is fabulous, and shimmers in the light, my photography may not do them justice. Énergie Solaire (3&4)Two beautiful slices of stalactite, or solar quartz arrived in the post and they joined the first two pendants I created a couple of weeks ago. The Hmong PrincessThe Hmong (pronounced her-mong) people were immigrants from Tibet, Siberia and Mongolia, before migrating to China where they settled down in areas around the Yellow River. They are now found in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand as well as China. To make a necklace, workers have to solder over a hundred small threads together, some as small as a pin hole. These craftsmen work long hours and are skilled in molding, weaving, twisting, and soldering. Both men and women wear the most beautiful jewellery and I first saw this when I went to a pageant in Xian - the jewellery was so excessive and fit for a princess with elaborate head dresses and waist belts. At this juncture, I would like to introduce you to the legend of Nia Ngao Zhua Pa, 'a Paragon of Hmong Femininity'. This entertaining blog is written by an ex effects animator, and deals with "Rejected Princesses - Women too Awesome, Awful, or Offbeat for Kids' Movies" and is a very interesting and humorous read. I took one look at the picture of the Hmong princess above, and thought the pendant needed something more intricate than black agate beads to set it off - after all it is used to embellishment on a grand scale! The crystalline beaded wire beads add a bit of interest and sparkle to the necklace.
That's it for this week, folks - have a lovely weekend, and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place xx |
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