Hello people, how have you been this week? We've had a mini heat wave and it has been quite difficult to function - we are simply not used to it in this country and homes and hospitals are insulated for warmth. Still, even though it's sweltering in the heat of the sun, it has been the most enjoyable week. We haven't been able to travel abroad, but Mike and I have found the quaintest little café where we can sit under the shade of an awning and watch the world go by. People-watching is one of our favorite activities when we are on holiday and Europe has such a wonderful café culture - and now we have it at home, in the UK. Hot Summer NightI remembered a long ago trip to Marrakesh (time to go back), the colours were so vivid I can recall them as if it was only days ago, rather than twenty years. The Djema El Fnaa, the tiles, the gardens - oh, they took my breath away. I often pick up Moroccan pendants, charms and beads from a belly dancer who travels there regularly. Although she hasn't been back since the pandemic started, I had a pendant, vividly enameled in the cobalt blues and reds typical of Morocco that I picked up from her earlier on. There were even a couple of beads in my collection that matched. Teamed with slab nuggets of pale green dyed howlite, I achieved a very satisfactory result. I can imagine wearing this necklace on a hot summer night, sitting by a body of water sipping on a tall, cold drink in a floaty white dress. I do declare that my core temperature went down a couple of degrees as my imagination ran riot. When the name came to me, I remembered a song I first heard in the late 70's from a rock opera by Meat Loaf. I loved the song then but when I hunted down the video, couldn't bear to put it on these pages - Meat Loaf is as Meat Loaf does, I'm afraid - he's not the most handsome of men (and that's being kind)! I went for a version with the lyrics written in gothic script instead. I'm very excited as this week, we're going to have our regular annual barbeque after a break of a year for the pandemic. This year is going to be bigger and better than before and I will spend all week prepping for it. I make copious lists - of invitees, of the food, shopping lists, tasks and their delegation - you name it and I have a list for it. Making lists is half the fun of throwing a party, in my opinion. It's also the best way to tackle a mammoth task without forgetting anything, one step at a time! That's me for this week, folks. I'll try and get a little post out next Friday, but if I can't, do keep your fingers crossed that the weather gods are kind to us. This year I've even plumped for a little marquee in case of rain, but am hoping that it will just be a precaution, not a necessity. Catch you soon, Until then xx
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Hello, and good day readers. I hope you are all keeping safe and well and out of danger. In ten days time, we will be allowed more freedom than we have had for a long time - but I think I'll take a rain check on it and wait just that bit longer before venturing out into the world. I feel a bit institutionalised and overwhelmed - to suddenly have the freedom to go to the movies or a theatre, or to meet up with friends in a pub - EEP! Just a bit too difficult to digest. People about to be released from prison usually experience fear, anxiety, excitement, and expectation all mixed together, and I'm sure you will all recognise one or more of these emotions in yourself. I certainly do, although I've worked throughout the pandemic and gone in every day, met people and done all the things I did before Covid hit us, albeit now in a mask and visor. The only member of our household who was happy through the pandemic restrictions and will most certainly be cross when they are lifted is Wilfred - he loved having us at home, waiting on him hand and foot, at his beck and miaow! SerenityTo calm myself down I made a serene necklace of pale green, graduated amazonite, with just the right amount of brown veining running through the beads. Crystal Vaults tells me that 'amazonite beckons in captivating shades of turquoise-green, promising to soothe the spirit and calm the soul. Its energy is as powerful as the river for which it is named, and as bold as the legendary women warriors with whom it is connected, yet it tempers aggression, tames the irrational, and stills disquiet. It provides harmony and balance. As a powerful talisman of healing and prosperity, Amazonite has been used in jewelry and cut into beads since the time of the early Mesopotamian cultures.' And the write-up goes on amusingly to say, 'Hide an Amazonite in a child’s or teen’s bedroom to encourage tidiness, and keep a dish of Amazonite on the kitchen table to persuade others to assist more with chores.' Do try it and see if this tip works for you. I contrasted it with a large vintage Moroccan copper bead, set asymmetrically to one side. All this week I've spent an hour or two every evening patiently sewing tiny beads onto a piece of printed velvet, which I will eventually turn into a bracelet. Obviously, it's going to be a while before I finish it - I have yet to completely pick out all the yellow bits and will then fill in the rest of the colours. I hope it works out as I have envisaged, but it will definitely be a long time before it is done and dusted. I have draped the velvet over an aluminum form which is how it will be held in shape once it is completed. I'm going to end here - it is about 230 am - we got caught up in watching a movie on Netflix and it's time I went to bed. Have a great week people, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Don't Blame it on the Moonshine, by Caprilicious Jewellery (with apologies to the Jacksons)10/5/2019 Hello folks how's tricks? I hope life is treating you well, wherever you are. I've begun the countdown to my little pre summer break and although it is still a little way away, I am now raring to go. In the meantime, I played with my beads as usual. MoonshineMoonshine is any kind of alcohol, usually whisky or rum, that is made in secret to avoid high taxes or outright bans on alcoholic drinks. The term "moonshine" comes from Britain, where it originally was a verb, "moonshining," that referred to any job or activity late at night. Whisky is aged in casks until it becomes a clear amber liquid, but moonshine is cloudy because it is not clarified and is drunk as soon as it is distilled. Moonshiners distilled the stuff where there was a ban on alcohol and bootleggers sold it, while rum runners were smugglers who moved the alcohol around on boats. Did you know that moonshining was responsible for the start of car racing? Bootleggers in the 1930s, '40s and '50s took to driving cars packed with moonshine through the night to avoid local police. Their mechanical skills developed as they learned to drastically increase the horsepower of their vehicles to outrun the authorities and eventually these vehicles were used in motor car racing! There, another interesting but useless fact for you! And all because I named a necklace after a cloudy intoxicating liquid! One of my long term clients was talking about a peach coloured dress she was going to wear at a wedding and wondered if i had any piece of jewellery that might go with it. I didn't, but it got me searching for beads (any excuse!) and I fell in love with a strand of moonstones, cut into what are called tyre or wheel shaped beads. The strand comes in three colours, in the usual white, a pale grey that resembles labradorite and peach. I bought a half strand as the stuff is eye wateringly expensive, and when it arrived, made this piece, adding a little cabochon of peach coloured druzy and loads of tiny vintage gold tone seed beads. The baroque pearl came from Bangkok, where I bought a strand of these pearls, each one is about 1 cm long. I didn't have any peachy beads to hang the pendant so used more baroque pearls with tiny peach seed pearls in between. The clasp is pretty special, too. Lucy's Bead Soup NecklaceLucy sent me two bracelets of colourful gemstone chip beads and asked me to create 'something'. It took me ages and ages to actually put a necklace together - every time I made something else, I found little beads that could possibly go into a piece and popped them into a box. When the box was full, I rummaged in my stash of polymer clay beads and found a pendant, created long ago by following a tutorial from Iris Mishly that comes all the way from Israel. I never told her I was sending it to her early on this week. I haven't heard from her and I'm hoping that it is because she's on holiday and not because she hates it and will never speak to me again for ruining her bracelets! The Penannular NecklaceThe word 'penannular' literally means a circle with a break in it, and the pendant I used is a penannular brooch or fibula from Morocco, enamelled in vibrant colours, I hung it on a necklace of oval lapis lazuli, each bead appears to be twisted on itself, they are really cut beautifully by the lapidary, whoever he/she was. I added tiny drum shaped coral beads to increase the colour quotient and three huge Nepalese beads that are beautifully textured. The fibula had to be wired so that the pointy bit (that isn't terribly pointy anyway as it is probably meant for a shawl or as a hair ornament) sits at the top, tucked away into a bead cap. Shiny Shibori EarringsMy inner magpie was very pleased with these. They are little inverted triangles filled with shiny clear crystals and little bows of pale green and pink Shibori ribbon. I edged it in a vibrant pink/purple as it was little too pale for my liking - I'm afraid I don't agree with the phrase 'pale and interesting'. That's me for this week folks, I haven't anything else to show you. I hope you've enjoyed your read and will come back for more.
Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then, xx Hello folks, how are you this week? I've been tending to my husband who has been struck down with the longest lasting, worst man flu in Christendom, or so it seems. But while he slumbers, medicated with antihistamines and other cold remedies, I have time to create, right? Yes, that's what I figured too! So I dosed him with meds at regular intervals and got on with it. RusticanaIf you've read my blog on my return from Bangkok, you will know that I went to the Palladium mall there where I picked up a few things for Caprilicious. My sister in law was with me and she bargained the traders down until we got what we felt was a fair price - the process can be exhausting, because we have no clue how much an item actually costs - just a ballpark figure where one starts at just below half the asking price and works up. However, my sister in law is made of stern stuff, and she started at one third the asking price, which sometimes made me cringe, but everyone enjoyed the process and we came away happy with our purchases. The Afghani pendant in this necklace was bought from a tiny shop in this rabbits warren of a mall, where we rummaged around in a great big knotted, balled up stash until we found something we liked. The pendant is teamed with vintage glass beads from Ghana, a Moroccan enamelled bead and a couple of polymer clay beads I made myself. Rusticana is not a brightly coloured piece, but retains an air of rustic sophistication I like. Rose ArbourA brass stamping, imported from the USA is surrounded by a stylised wirework climbing rose in this pendant. I hung it on a necklace of chunky carnelian and a couple of copper beads, made in the style of silver Bali beads which I bought in a job lot from an Indian trader ages ago and have been saving for a special piece such as this one. I call the earrings below my faux stained glass earrings - they were made by attaching a piece of Japanese rice paper to the back of the earring and colouring it with alcohol ink and many layers of varnish. I made them ages ago, but only just found the time to make them up into earrings with little crystal dangles and ear wires. The paper is translucent although you cannot tell this from the photographs below. I've had some beautiful micro pave components come through the letterbox and I shall be making some pretties for my Bling! pages next week. I am so looking forward to using these lovely components.
Having put these words down, I'm off to catch the train to Manchester tonight, as I am at interviews all day tomorrow. That's me for now folks, have a fabulous week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello folks, how are you today? It's been an odd sort of a nowhere and nothing week here - totally unremarkable, with not much happening out and about around me. The weather has turned decidedly cooler but it's not yet time for our annual holiday. I've felt as if I've just been marking time, waiting for something to happen. I got a subscription to Amazon Prime having given up on Netflix which seemed to have only B movies and watched movies back to back after work. One of those I watched was Frida, a biopic of Frida Kahlo, played beautifully by Salma Hayek. Some of you might remember that I went to see an exhibition of Kahlo's artefacts and dresses in the Museum of Modern Art in Milan. She is an iconic figure, who knew how to dress for effect; the flowers and ribbons in her hair, the chunky rustic jewellery, embroidered blouses and Mexican skirts in vivid colours - Kahlo really understood the power of image. Reportedly, she spent hours in front of the mirror, and regularly enjoyed the chance to shop - as well as commissioning the making of particular garments. Throughout her life she used her wardrobe choices as a means to play with perception, helping to define how she occupied space as a woman, as well as an artist. Frida Kahlo’s image resonates to this day. She is frequently referenced online, with those startling portraits reposted frequently. In particular her love for flowers worn distinctively in her hair as a tiara right on top of her head are extremely iconic, bold, brilliant, and often joyous: part armour, part mirror, part performance, part visual language and I decided to make a necklace inspired by them. Frida's BloomsThe teardrop shaped coral beads when strung together, appear like a garland of petals. I picked a string of beads that matched the coral in a pendant I had in my stash, For once I picked out all the elements I meant to use in the necklace, and put them together in a sort of 'mood board'. I usually start with one element and pull the others out of my collection of beads and findings randomly when I open a drawer and they stand up and yell for attention, but this time, I was a bit more organised, having thought things through. The pendant, of silver, came from Indonesia and has a beautiful slice of lapis lazuli and a turquoise cabochon, with the little coral dangle I mentioned earlier. Last week I made faux amber beads from polymer clay and this week I put the necklace together with the Tagemout pendant. The lady I made it for was gratifyingly appreciative when I sent her photographs and it is winging its way to her as I type. The young lady in this picture in one of Caprilicious' best friends - she sent me this picture of her wearing one of her many statement pieces, on her way to a show in London. I love it when people send me pictures in their Caprilicious statements. The smile on their faces gives me such a buzz. Another of my repeat customers wrote to me saying how gutted she was to have missed out on owning this necklace. This lady has recently had an operation on her knee and I felt she really needed a boost to her spirits, so I made her another one. When people enjoy their Caprilicious Jewellery and come back for more, they touch a chord in my heart - to love Caprilicious is to love me, as after all, it is my alter ego - a tiny piece of me goes into every piece of jewellery I make. That's me for this week, folks. Have a lovely week, and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello readers. British Summer Time is here, the clocks have sprung forward an hour, so it must be spring. However nobody told the weather, so although it is daylight for longer which is always nice, it remains cool and a bit rainy. I've been making multi strand statement necklaces all week. For some reason these colourful necklaces have caught my imagination and I have been unable to settle for simple pieces. It must be the juxtaposition of contrasting but harmoniously coordinating colours that has tickled the fancy of my subconscious mind. HarmonyDeep purple titanium coated quartz spikes and green dyed coral harmonise in this necklace and a little citrine glass acorn pendant adds a touch of whimsy. Although the purple spikes are dramatic enough, I piled on the colour, layer after layer until I was satisfied that it would hold no more. MajorelleThe Majorelle gardens in Marrakesh are twelve acres of bursts of colour, huge cacti, pools and streams that tinkle merrily, Art Deco buildings painted a deep blue - 'majorelle blue', and yellow. Exotic and peaceful, these gardens contains the Islamic Museum of Marrakesh and are owned by the Yves St Laurent foundation. People sit there in the shade and read or picnic, relaxing away from the hustle and bustle of the city. When this beautiful pendant arrived, I knew I would take as inspiration my photographs of these gardens from a long ago trip. This trip down memory lane makes me want to go right back. Lalibela Lalibela is a high place of Ethiopian Coptic Christianity, still today a place of pilmigrage and devotion. "Lalibela is history and mystery frozen in stone, its soul alive with the rites and awe of Christianity at its most ancient and unbending. No matter what you’ve heard about Lalibela, no matter how many pictures you’ve seen of its breathtaking rock-hewn churches, nothing can prepare you for the reality of seeing it for yourself. It’s not only a World Heritage site, but truly a world wonder. Spending a night vigil here during one of the big religious festivals, when white-robed pilgrims in their hundreds crowd the courtyards of the churches, is to witness Christianity in its most raw and powerful form." Lonely Planet The cross in this necklace is inlaid with ebony and decorated with ancient carved symbols. I used coral - red cylinders, and white teardrops, as well as lapis, haematite, seed beads and tiny African trade beads to show it off. All the necklaces on this page have little baroque crystals dangling from the back of handmade extender chains as I can't see any reason why the back view shouldn't be as pretty as the front. These necklaces appeal to the bohemian side of my soul and I think they will bring a lot of pleasure to the ladies who eventually own them. While you read this, I shall be in Chester, a medieval Roman city about two hours from us in northwest England. It was founded as a Roman fortress in the 1st century A.D. and is known for its extensive Roman walls made of local red sandstone and Tudor style half timber buildings, a photographers dream. I have a couple of days off and we thought we'd try somewhere different - we normally end up in London, but given recent events we thought we'd keep well away from big cities. I'll have loads of pictures for you next week, but I'll say goodbye for now. Have a great week, and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place.
Until then xx Good day readers, I trust you are well today. I have some exciting news to tell you this week. Over the last year I've been trying to get Caprilicious into a bricks and mortar venue in the UK, rather than being exclusively available online. This has proved to be a lot more difficult than it sounds. For one thing, I do not live in London where I imagine all the action is, and secondly, I have a full time day job which precludes me from spending large amounts of time contacting people and visiting prospective outlets. Despite this, I have tried my best, phoning people nearby and emailing boutiques and galleries within easy driving distance of Warwickshire without much luck. And then one day, Mike was out and about as is his wont, and met a lady who was the manager of an art gallery in Warwick. He got talking to her and told her all about my jewellery. Although they don't usually stock jewellery at the gallery, she gave him her card (either he impressed her with his impassioned plea on behalf of Caprilicious, or she was trying to get rid of him before a casual chat turned into The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). I didn't really think anything would come of it, but left it till after Christmas to shoot her an email with a photo of one of my pieces. OMG, you could have knocked me down with a feather, she mailed back saying she loved my work! After a couple of phone calls, we drove down to Warwick with a selection of my nicest necklaces. Toni Ballard, the manager of the Mitchell Gallery is a painter herself and has had a number of successful exhibitions. She and her partner Tom Mitchell, also an artist, run the gallery with a great deal of enthusiasm. Being creatives themselves rather than simply business orientated, they understand the need to create beautiful things and the pride I take in what I produce. We arrived dragging a suitcase behind us, like a pair of gypsies selling pegs from door to door and Toni must have wondered if we were planning to move in. I had all the necklaces boxed up and that necessitated the suitcase, although I did feel a bit awkward, turning up with it in tow. She got me to open the case up in the front room of the gallery and settled herself on the floor on a kilim, rooting through the contents. Tom hovered over us, obviously uncomfortable that his front room had turned into a souk, but she was unrepentant, picking one, and then putting it back and picking another, with a great deal of excitement and pleasure. She was gratifyingly enthusiastic about the jewellery and picked ten of the best necklaces. I'm sure we will do well together, her enthusiasm has to rub off on people and I know she will do her best by Caprilicious, because she loves the jewellery I make. GrappaI had these luscious fluorite teardrops in my stash for about four years, as well as the hand carved pumpkin shaped beads. I had no idea what I was going to do with either strand until it came to me one night to combine the two with a lacy Moroccan bead. When the necklace came together, it looked like a bunch of ripening grapes and I called it Grappa after the sweet liqueur served as a dessert wine in italy. This one never made it to the website, I took it in to the gallery and Toni pounced on it almost immediately. As I was putting this edition of the blog together, I had an email from Toni. She has already put the necklaces out and sent me photographs of the display. I love her enthusiasm! That's me for this week, folks. I have a couple of days left before I fly out to India. I will of course catch up with the blog while I am there, but it might be a couple of days late.
Have a lovely week and I'll catch you sometime next weekend Until then, xx Hello folks, and how are you today? Have you been watching the Presidential campaign and the debate?? Truly!! I cannot believe that morons and/or the morally corrupt will have their finger on the nuclear button for the next five to ten years - the world is going to hell in a hand basket, whichever one of them wins! I rushed off to rummage in my stash of gemstones and began to bead around them furiously in an effort to alleviate the pain behind my eyes. CaribaCariba is a necklace made from sea sediment jasper tusk beads in beautiful greens and browns reminding me of a tropical sunrise. The pendant was made from three cabochons of solar quartz, surrounded by beads and soutache braids in coordinating colours. The beads themselves are unusual and the whole ensemble is very fetching. Making it certainly took my mind off the world's troubles. DuskI do so love pearls - their luminescence when worn close to the face gives one a healthy glow. However, I'm not keen on granny's pearl necklace - I like mine to have a modern twist. On a visit to China, we visited a government run pearl farm, and watched as they injected particles of sand into the oysters before lowering them into freshwater pools to wait for the pearls to form. I didn't know that pearls were merely Calcium Carbonate - how depressingly mundane! The Chinese eat ground up pearls as a calcium supplement, grind them up for face powder and add them to lanolin, beeswax and cocoa butter to produce face creams and exfoliants, as well as antiseptics. Drilling holes in pearls can be tricky as the calcium is likely to crumble if handled wrongly - which is possibly why tiny pearl beads can be more expensive than the larger ones. The pearls in this necklace are dyed in grey with an iridescent sheen, and drilled from side to side at the top, which means that they hang in a manner that suggests a double string. A hand carved mother of pearl shell clasp worn to one side like a corsage complements the piece beautifully. Hand fulls of waxy prehnite teardrops were strung onto all three strands, and the necklace was finished. MamouniaLa Mamounia is an opulent hotel in Marrakesh, originally a palace built in the 12th century. Prince Mamoun who owned it turned it into a hotel in the 20th century and it certainly is one of the most beautiful and opulent places I have visited. We were fairly recently married and Mike took me there, sat me down in front of the grand piano in the foyer and played 'As Time Goes By' for me, the romantic sap that he is. I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed by the beauty of the hotel - the floors are so shiny that I swear that one could see the underwear of the women who walk upon it in skirts! The enamelled amulet in this necklace comes from Morocco, and the beads are bamboo coral teardrops dyed a vibrant green, reminding me of the beautiful gardens surrounding the Mamounia. The large coloured beads are cat's eye's - they have a reflective fibre-optic thread running through them that gives them a sheen. I've now booked my annual trip to see my mother back in India and will take some of my jewellery back with me for my third show in Bangalore. I do look forward to meeting old friends and relaxing in the environment that I grew up in and remember with great fondness and the rose tinted glasses of the retrospectoscope.
That's me for this week, folks. Have a fabulous week, and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello readers, I hope you have all had a good week and are ready to relax at the weekend. I have been slowly getting over the visual overload of the last week - so many sights, so many statues and pieces of art, so much to take in that the photographs I took were only a drop in the ocean of memories I wish to hold on to. We went to the Ponte Vecchio, a 13th century bridge over the river Arno. It connects the Oltrarno ( the artisan district) to the main city of Florence. Butchers initially occupied the shops but the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. In the 16th century the Vasari Corridor was built on top of the bridge by the Medici rulers of Florence to move freely and safely from their home in Palazzo Pitti to the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi, which is when the butcher's shops changed hands to become goldsmith's shops. As the rents were very high, the goldsmiths extended their shops outwards and they still hang over the water as if by magic, in a charming, higgledy piggledy manner. I peered into the jewellers windows as we crossed the bridge. They had hundreds of Euros worth of silver and gold in them and at first I was quite fascinated. Unfortunately there was no place to sit down and a load of other people including pick pockets, street vendors who shook fists full of leather bracelets in your face in an alarmingly threatening manner if you didn't look like you'd buy from them, a colourfully dressed African man who informed us that 'Yoo arrr maai fadder and yoo arrr mai maader', and tried to extract money from us to care for his siblings, presumably also our children, caused us to walk briskly away and seek refuge in a cafe on the other side of the bridge. Pity, that, I'd have quite liked to have spent a bit more time there. And then I found Angela Caputi - a fabulous boutique in the artisan district selling art statement jewellery made of resin, lucite, and acrylics. Her jewellery has caught the attention of haute couture stylists and museums. She is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, at Museo degli Argenti and Galleria del Costume in Florence. Very contemporary and hi-falutin', but the prices - OMG! they made me go weak at the knees - given the materials used, they were highly overpriced, but I guess one is paying for the store in the centre of Florence and all the other overheads, as well as the name. I took in all the beautiful things around me and came away shaking my head muttering, like the woman from Goodness Gracious Me, ' I can make this at home for nothing!!' Well, of course I cant, but it gave me solace to think so. Moroccan MelodyThis is a necklace I had planned before I went on holiday. I made the faux amber beads myself out of translucent polymer clay coloured with alcohol inks, antiqued and inlaid with 'coral' and 'turquoise' and 'repaired' using wire. The Moroccan amulet is extra large and very colourful and needed the balance of the large amber beads. I added a bit of colour with red resin beads - I figured that if Angela Caputi can do it, so can I! Delicate Darlin'I saw a necklace on a tourist in Florence and immediately thought of a way I could create a similar one using beads I recently rediscovered when rummaging around in my stash. I think there is a method to my madness as far as the untidiness of my work surfaces goes - I have the compulsive need to tidy up as I go along and while doing this find strings of beads bought long ago and forgotten, just waiting to be found. I sent off for Czech glass flower beads to match and when they arrived put them together with a beautiful little silver clasp. These little embellishments make a piece for me - a pretty clasp, a charm dangling from the back of the necklace, a beautiful focal bead. I collect them obsessively and jealously, and am slow to release them, which is a bit stupid, I know, but hey, a girl has to have some fixations in her life. Little lever back earrings with a couple of the left over flowers finish off this ensemble. Well people, this has become the story of Little and Large! I hope you have enjoyed your read and liked the pictures of Firenze I had for you. That's me for the week, I'll catch you next week, same time, same place. Until then,
xx Hello readers, thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me today. I've been very busy with the day job this week, attending a Congress in Birmingham which meant getting up early and taking a train in, as it did not seem worth the effort to drive and have to look for parking in the City Centre each day. I also spent a day showcasing Caprilicious Jewellery in a Handmade Jewellery Group and received some very gratifying comments and sales. The weekend was spent playing with clay, as usual, but this time I had an order to fill with specific colours and sizes. I usually make whatever I like with no other specification than what I feel like doing on that particular day. This time, although a lot of fun, it was a bit anxiety making - would I get the colours right? Would she like the pieces I made? I had never done this before and had no idea of the prices I ought to charge either, and in the end I decided to leave it to the lady. Well, to cut a long story short, she loved them when I sent her photographs, and we were both very happy. Of course, my over developed anxiety bone will not let me rest - I mailed the flowers out to her earlier on in the week and now I worry that they will get to her in one piece, that she will like them when she has them in person, and that they look well in her jewellery. During one of my periodic trawls of the Web, I found a poem and enjoyed it so much I felt I ought to make a piece of jewellery to be named after it. I wrote to the poet, Dianne Regisford, and she asked to see the necklace. When I finally had it ready, I sent her pictures and she graciously agreed to let me use the poem from her website, and she very kindly sent me a couple of photographs of herself to use on this blog too. I was also requested to use her full title when I published the poem on the Caprilicious blog. Nomad SpiritSo, here then is Nomad Spirit, as interpreted by me in Beadwork and Soutache! Blue and brown is not a combination I have ever played with before, but the iridescence of the ammonite fossil and the lustre of the pearls raised the game of the browns in this piece. Lila Gnawa music is a rich Moroccan repertoire combining ritual poetry with traditional music and dancing. The Lila is is a rich ceremony of song, music, dance, costume, and incense that takes place over the course of an entire night, ending around dawn. The ritual enables participants to enter a trance state, in which they may perform startling and sometimes spectacular dances. It is by means of these dances that participants negotiate their relationships with djinns either placating them if they think they have been offended, or strengthening an existing relationship. The maâlem or Master Musician, by burning incense and playing musical instruments, calls the saints and supernatural entities to present themselves in order to take possession of the followers, who devote themselves to ecstatic dancing. It all sounds like a load of fun and an all nighter with a difference - but it is a very serious matter for believers. Tribal Fusion!! Often found attached to a fibula which is essentially a cloak fastener, is a Tagemout. This is an egg-shaped bead which ranges in size according to prosperity and is decorated with filigree and enamel. It is a symbol of fertility. Coins are usually attached to it, symbolising wealth and I attached Afghani coins that I had in my stash as this pendant bead came without them. Apart from the black agate beads and the colourful ceramic beads, I made the others from polymer clay. The faux beeswax amber beads were inlaid with wire 'repair' joins, and turquoise and coral clay and then distressed and antiqued to imitate real ones, and the lapis beads are polished to a high shine. A Tibetan chant burned into a piece of bone which came to me as a gift when I purchased beads from a vendor ages ago, and has sat in my collection waiting patiently for it's turn to be used, was dangled from a chain at the back of this necklace from a copper clasp I made myself from wire. That's me for this week folks, I hope you have a fabulous week and I shall catch you next Friday, same time, same place
Until then xx |
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