Hello folks, how are we today? I've been gearing up for my annual visit to India and working at all the things I need to set in motion at the day job to hold my place until I return in a few weeks. However, I still found time to play with baubles and beads. I will be carrying some of my choicest pieces back to Bangalore and have invited a few of my favourite people to come and see them. MonarchThe title refers to the butterflies which are a focal point of this necklace. It is a deceptively simple piece, with faceted onyx beads, a diamante clasp and the butterflies. I won't say any more about it, and leave you to make up your own mind. I think you'll agree with me that it is a beauty. ZenThis necklace sprang from a visit to the Jangchub Ling Buddhist Centre in Stratford Upon Avon. It is a very peaceful place where they teach meditation to anyone who would like to get away from the hustle and bustle of life and living. I got talking to one of the teachers, who is also a monk and we talked about Caprilicious, among other things. I learned to knot pearls a long time ago, but found it a tedious activity. I felt sufficiently enthused to come back home and make a meditative mala necklace. Malas are made of 108 beads (or derivatives thereof - 18, 27, 36 or 54 would be acceptable numbers). Knots placed between the beads make it easy to handle and keep count of the number of mantras chanted during a meditation. The mala is made up of gemstones or beads that are meant to be infused with the energy that’s channeled into them through a mantra repetition. The guru bead is the bead that the tassel will attach directly to. The guru bead symbolizes the student-guru relationship and three more marker beads are placed around the mala at regular intervals. I was instructed to say an affirmation at each knot and when I finished, I took it to Stratford and it was washed in distilled water to cleanse the amazonite beads, and my friend the monk said a prayer over it. I used sand polished matte amazonite beads to increase the tactility of the necklace, and knotted them with contrasting orange linen. On reading about amazonite on Crystal Vault, my go-to bible for such matters, I found that apart from being pretty the stone is also meant to have soothing properties. I invite you to use the link above if you want to read about it. I must tell you a bit about the Guru and marker beads - they are made of hand carved Bodhi seeds from Tibet. They are carved into the shape of lotuses which are symbols of peace. The Bodhi tree, a central symbol in Buddhism, is a sort of fig tree under which the Buddha found enlightenment. I'd never seen Bodhi seeds before (I've never seen a Bodhi tree either) and was quite excited to find them on a website I was visiting when I was researching my Mala. That's me for this week, folks. Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place - well, I'll be middair as you read next week's edition, and I'll endeavour to keep going with little snippets each week until I'm back home.
See you next week, then Until then xx
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Hello readers, thanks for joining me this week. Caprilicious went tribal - bold and bright seemed to be the order of the day - every time I reached into my stash, my hands came out full of components for tribal jewellery. Pendants from Afghanistan are the basis of this collection - they are vintage, and a bit battered and bruised, but looking all the better for it. I replaced some of the crystals that had fallen out and cleaned them up a bit, but no more - the patina of age is what makes them special. Combined with brand new polymer clay beads made at Caprilicious, they evolved into one of a kind pieces of jewellery. BanjaraBanjara was made using faux turquoise and lapis lazuli beads from Lynda Moseley's tutorial, and the faux ancient glass was made from a tutorial by Ginger Davis Allman. Both these techniques were great fun to use and produced credible results. The Banjaras are Indian gypsies found all over India today, known for their colourful dress, ornaments and bangles. There is talk that they originated from Afghanistan, which explains why some Banjara jewellery is similar to that obtained from there. DeekshaDeeksha is the initiation into a monastic order, or preparation for a religious ceremony by the guru handing his disciple a mantra, and teaching him the art of meditation. I used faux Tibetan mala beads made at Caprilicious using polymer clay - the beads are strung into malas of 108 beads and used much like a rosary by Tibetan monks. RathiRathi is the Hindu goddess of love, lust, passion and sexual pleasure. She was married to Kama, the Indian equivalent of Cupid. She is often portrayed holding a bow made of sugar cane - perhaps she was carrying it for hubby as she was his assistant - in those days, Indian women didn't mind doing the fetching and carrying for their partners, even if they were goddesses. Today's woman might have something to say about that! As befits a goddess of carnal love, she was very beautiful and sexy. Curiously, she is depicted in more than one drawing I have seen, riding a composite bird-like creature made of semi-naked women. Whether this has some sexual significance given Rathi's day job, I have not been able to ascertain - but I would imagine it does - perhaps she was holding onto them for hubby, along with the bow - who knows? The necklace was made of tiny lapis lazuli and golden quartz nuggets, interspersed with coins that are embellished with glass. Red Hot Chili PeppersThis is a fun necklace in two strands, made of African vinyl trade beads, carrying a pendant from Afghanistan. Folklore had it that vinyl beads were made from old records, but they are actually made from an early rubber product called Vulcanite. Vulcanite is a hard, moldable rubber that has been formed by “vulcanizing” natural rubber through a curing process that involves high heat and the addition of sulfur. The 'chili peppers' are little polymer clay beads made at Caprilicious over a year ago, waiting patiently for just this moment! The fastener is a box clasp given to me by my friend BN - she received a bunch of these from China with Mabe pearls all set awry - I dismantled them, threw away the Mabe pearls and filled the space with polymer clay, and I think this one is rather pretty, don't you? By this time, I was all Triballed out and felt the need to make something from another genre - just to prove to myself that I could! I had made this next piece a while ago but didn't really like it. I realised that what I disliked was a couple of large shell beads I had used in the centre of the necklace - I whipped them out, and Hey! Presto, I loved it. CalderaThe beautiful blue agate druzy set in sterling silver with blue topaz reminded me of the caldera in Santorini - a caldera is a crater-like depression in the land caused by its collapse following a volcanic eruption. The centre of the stone has the typical druzy crystals that glitter like sugar in the light. I added blue topaz, pearls, pyrite and lilac crystals to the pendant - all the colours of spring. That's me for this week folks, have a fabulous weekend and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place
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