Hello people, I hope you are all enjoying your summer. We are in the middle of a heat wave in the UK and roasting gently - it doesn't last very long so it is important to wring every possible moment of enjoyment out of every day. Summer in the UK is fabulous when the weather is good. Because of all the rain we get, the greenery is lush and intense. Most everyone has a garden and those that don't, grow stuff in pots. The owners of the local garden centres are laughing all the way to the bank as the queues at the till grow longer and longer, but we don't begrudge them a penny - do we?!? We went to the Upton on Severn jazz festival last weekend and I wore an Indian gypsy necklace I found in a shop on Ebay - it was from a vendor in the USA and I had it sent to my friend's address and carried it back home with me. By the time it arrived, the glass in the central motif had shattered and I replaced it with polymer clay and embellished it with a couple of bindis I had in my collection - they were bought when I was about fourteen, and they came with a glue with which they were meant to be attached to the forehead. The glue perished a long time ago, but the bindis remained with me only because I am loath to throw away pretty things, and I think I put them to good use. I tried the necklace on - one look at my friend's face and I knew she was thinking "what th........?", but was too polite to say it out loud - well, this picture is for her - yes, it can be worn - well it was worn, and I loved it. Here's a little clip from the morning parade - Mike and I were in the crowd and the dancing was impromptu (although the girls appeared to have a routine practiced and set up) and free for all - down at the end you will find the delightful chap in the red waistcoat - he was a hoot! AbysinniaChristianity in Ethiopia dates to the 1st century AD. The largest and oldest Christian group is an Oriental Orthodox church that was part of the Coptic Church. Ethiopian Coptic Crosses are worn by Christians in Ethiopia, and all around the world. They are cast using the "lost wax method", and bring together a variety of historical influences including Egyptian and Celtic design styles. The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, spanned a geographical area covered by present-day Eritrea and the northern half of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 1137 until 1975 when the monarchy was overthrown in a coup d'état. This necklace was made with a vintage coptic cross - being a heretic/infidel type who would once have been burned at the stake for her beliefs has not made me shy away from beautiful objects, even if they have religious symbolism written into their DNA - and I truly believe that these crosses are the most beautiful I have seen in a long time. I wanted to make a necklace worthy of this pendant and I put together glass, shell, polymer clay, ceramic, haematite, rose quartz and jasper beads in four strands with a beautiful mother of pearl clasp - most definitely a statement necklace worthy of any Caprilicious woman. Birds do it, Bees Do It......I have a number of these beautifully crafted, handmade heart shaped lampwork beads which I plan to turn into pendants. I started with a design in the style of Nicole Hanna, and the design has become embellished and ornamented more and more with each time I have remade it. This time I used bare copper wire to bind tarnish-free enamelled copper, so that when I antiqued the pendant in a chemical bath, the bare copper wire turned black and showed the weave up to it's best effect. I also added a wire coil in tarnish -free silver plate, which I wound around with bare copper - this too turned dark in the chemicals and when polished with steel wool, the whole thing had a contrasting effect that pleased me greatly. Clarice - another braceletLast weekend, I sliced the remaining pieces of the leaf cane I had made, cured the leaves and varnished them to a high shine. I had about 14 'leaves' by the time I was done making holes in them with my Dremel, so I decided to make a little bracelet with a few of them in a free form wire style. I made wire leaves for the back as the polymer clay leaves might be too fragile to withstand repeated injury and the effect is delicate and pretty. I received a substantial slice of labradorite in the post, all the way from Rajasthan. It is at least 3.5" x 2.5" and at first look, I was so disappointed with it. It was only when I took it into the sunlight and moved it about and the labradorescence shined through that I was happy - no wonder the Inuits thought that the Northern Lights were imprisoned in this stone. It reminds me of the silks in India when two different colours are used in the warp and the weft and one can only see the colours with movement. That's all I had time for this week for folks. The sunshine, the garden, the day job and the cats have kept me so busy (although not necessarily in that order) that I have had very little time to play. We have been going out at night picking off slugs and snails with a torch, guarding my Hostas zealously and I have been rewarded by pristine, un-nibbled edges on the lovely leaves. What are you doing this summer, do tell - whatever it is, I wish you all a great time. Catch you next Friday, same time, same place
xx
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Hello readers, nice to see you here again. Ive had the strangest weekend - I was all ready and prepared for a fair which was postponed at the last minute. It was just as well it was cancelled, I cannot imagine that there would have been too many people out and about in such awful weather. But it was weird to be faced with an empty weekend, where I had no plans and nothing to do. One of my regular customers saw Clarice and asked if I would make her another piece, this time with a bracelet to match and I decided to use the 'empty weekend' to make these pieces. I didn't have too many of the leaves I used in the original 'Clarice' but I did have a couple in my stash that were a close colour match. I made the larger leaves last year and the two resulting pieces I made with them couldn't have been more different from each other. Clarice (2)I made a few smaller leaves for the cuff bracelet and covered the with resin I mixed for another project. I love the sheen resin gives to a piece of polymer, but one has to be careful, as it is a very tetchy medium - one little mistake and it will refuse to set, or get air bubbles and misbehave to the extent that it seems simpler to throw away the piece and to start afresh. Also, patience is not my strong suit and I have a tendency to test whether the piece is dry by putting fingerprints all over wet resin (I also drove my parents mad in the car on long journeys). The new owner just received her jewellery as I write this, and here is the lovely message she sent me Hi Neena, it arrived today, gorgeous as always!! Its so nice to have the set, bracelet fits perfectly and is beautifully made. Thanks so much, again ! x When I send a piece of jewellery out, I worry - firstly that it gets to the recipient, and second that she likes it - it is lovely to hear that all is well, and I can relax. Here's the original Clarice - just so you can compare the two. I think they are both lovely in their own way. AfterglowI had never really noticed the afterglow, growing up in India - twilight is but short, the closer you get to the equator, and as it occurred early on in the evening when I was usually busy getting home or studying, or engaged in another such mundane activity it never entered my consciousness. In fact it was when I met Mike and he pointed it out to me, that I began to appreciate the colours of the sky after the sun sets below the horizon. The clay beads in this necklace reminded me of the orange of the sky, they are touched here and there with a silvery grey, and shimmer with a pale pearlescence. I added lapis beads and a couple of ceramic triangular beads to make this pretty daytime necklace that will go with a lot of summer gear, and can be worn well into the autumn. MariposaThe butterfly in this piece is made using a technique called polymer clay embroidery and was inspired by a polymer clay and wire butterfly made by Daniela D'Uva of Alkhymeia. Made in bright primary colours, it reminds me of Hungarian Magyar embroidery. A strange technique which requires the precise placement of tiny pieces of polymer clay on an uncured, soft base, it is not really my cup of tea (once again the patience factor is my downfall), but once I'd got used to it, I had a lot of fun embellishing the pieces that went into the butterfly. And finally, as if that wasn't enough wirework for one week, I made these two pairs of earrings from a design by Lisa Barth. The labradorite is hand carved with butterflies on the front of the stone - I think someone with short hair, or hair that is put up to allow light to play on these earrings to bring out the beautiful flashes of labradorescence would love these and of course, turquoise and copper are a beautiful combination that would look good on anyone. That's as much as I had time for this week folks. The weekend promises to be sunny and we have plans to go to the Upton on Severn Jazz Festival on Saturday. The garden is looking good and we made our annual pilgrimage to the garden centre to open our wallets and allow them to take our cash with impunity - if we didn't make this trip each year, the garden spirits would frown on us and bare patches would grow and spread in the garden rather than flowers and greenery, and that wouldn't do at all - Oh no, it wouldn't. The cats were most unimpressed - they quite like the bare patches in the flower beds, where they can sit and wait to ambush unwary mice and frogs that happen by. Have a fabulous week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Hello folks, thanks for joining me today. I've just got back from the US of A early this morning after a hectic week, visiting with friends and attending a wedding. We used the wedding of the daughter of a class fellow from medical school as an excuse to have a mini reunion and around ten of us got together with as many partners as would brave the occasion. I took the opportunity to visit with an old friend who lives in Boston and take a look around the area. An Indian wedding is a crazy affair, full of colour and chaos, bright silks, and intricate jewellery. The wedding happens in a large hall under a covered structure with pillars, and the main protagonists, their parents and the priest concern themselves with the business at hand. Rites and rituals, the chanting of Vedic mantras and the marriage ceremony happens while the rest of the people at the wedding carry on regardless, chatting, preening, taking pictures and meeting up with friends. Children run around playing tag, mothers sit back and relax, in the knowledge that the kids are otherwise engaged, food and drink is served all day and general mayhem ensues. The coming together of two people in marriage is equally matched in importance by the unifying of the two families involved – and Indian families are rather big and everyone wants to be involved. The poor photographer at this wedding was an American chap who simply had no understanding of what he had taken on when he agreed to photograph an Indian wedding. He kept being run over by tides of humanity - I heard him muttering under his breath 'Oh dear, oh dear' he said, 'what confusion', over and over, like a personal mantra. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him, his plight compounded by the fact that we all fancied ourselves as photographers and there were hundreds of flashes going off and people darting in front of him to get a good click while he was trying to get a decent picture of a moving target. Here I have a few pictures for you - this is what Indian women wear to weddings. Baubles on Christmas trees would have a hard job to win a contest with us! A couple of days were spent exploring Boston, Harvard common and taking a look at Harvard Medical School where my friend is now on the faculty. I had a photograph taken on the steps - which is as far as I will ever get to Harvard Medical School. As my friend is a faculty member, she persuaded the security bloke to allow me to walk around inside for a short while, but he was so uncomfortable, I decided to put him out of his misery and left soon after - Oh well, one can but try! ClariceI made this necklace before I went on holiday but didn't have the time to post it. It is made of polymer clay leaves and flowers from canes I made in brilliant blues and greens on a wire frame, decorated with crystal butterflies. I decided to name the necklace after Clarice Cliff, the much-celebrated artist who painted for Wedgwood in the early 1900's. Her ceramic pieces are brightly coloured, one of a kind, and fetch a pretty penny when sold at auction today. I love the colours she used in her pottery - this necklace is dedicated to her in the fond hope that Caprilicious will one day follow in her footsteps. The necklace is open at the front and so fully adjustable. Before I go, I have to show you the latest addition to my garden - I saw it standing outside a florist one weekend when I went in to work and had to have it - after all my favourite bird is the peacock. Thanks for joining me - I shall sign off now, have a fabulous week and I shall be back here next Friday, see you then
xx |
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