Hello people, how are you today? Britain was supposed to be basking in a heat wave this weekend, but unfortunately this turned out to be a fake news. I wonder if the Met office was giving us a false sense of wellbeing, so we'd all go down to London and line the streets in the hope of watching Royalty strutting their stuff. In any event, they needn't have bothered - those who wanted to go would have been there with bells on, whatever the weather. The Queen has been out on the balcony, but couldn't manage any more celebrating, but everyone else had a great time. I enjoyed the two day break and chilled out at home with hubby in the garden, my cat and my beloved beads! Quite a few people wrote in to me to ask about the burning of the Sanctuary, which I talked about in last week's blog. Hubby didn't want to go for some mysterious reason, although I did, so we watched it second hand - here are a couple of short clips for you. I thought it was incredibly moving, that they burned out such a beautiful creation in an effort to heal an entire community.
As I explained to you last time, I've been beading around several little cabochons for a few weeks now, and I set them into a single piece - to me it resembled a Catherine wheel, with the central oval cabochon and the others seeming to spin around it. I decided to give it a fringe of golden seed beads, dripping with citrine teardrops. And when that was finished, I thought it needed more and I added another layer of fringe, this time in a medley of blue seed beads, with pale blue agate sprinkled generously through them. It was meant to go onto a torque initially, but I felt it could do with a more opulent necklace, and a string of peach quartz, coated with titanium vapour seemed to be the ideal match, with a few seed pearls thrown in for good measure. I found a few dichroic glass cabochons in a pot - I must've bought them years ago - I wonder what I was storing them for? Perhaps they were waiting for a rainy day. The colours are so beautiful, I can't think why I didn't use them earlier. Well, that stops now - they have come back into circulation and will appear in some of my next few pieces, methinks. I'm off to spend the rest of the 'Jubilee Weekend' with the hubby and cat. That's me for now, have a great time if you're out celebrating and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place. Until then xx
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Hello, and good day to you, lovely people out there in the ether. It's nice to see you here, in a world far removed from Covid, disease and death, where only pretty things and fun jewellery exist in a surreal, parallel universe. Now that lockdown is opening up in the UK, cautiously but with a ponderous certainty, we are all praying that the public health bods have got it right, and that the government has finally paid attention to the science. I have no wish to flirt with death, or carry it home to watch as loved ones suffer. It has taken me three weeks to cover this tapestry of a bracelet with beads and I now declare that not another bead will fit onto it. I showed you some pictures in the last couple of weeks and here are some of the most recent. The last picture shows the piece of velvet that was encrusted with beads, carefully following the paisley lines of the design. It will probably take all of next week to convert the strip of fabric into a bracelet. AzureThis necklace was created from the memory of past holidays - remember them? We went away in silver tin cans to warm blue seas and people-watched on beaches. The blue agate and electroplated quartz in this necklace would be perfect on holiday. Here are some pictures from one such holiday - I invite you to people-watch with me in the warmth of the Cinque Terre, not far from Florence. The Cinque Terre, five towns, is a string of five fishing villages perched high on the Italian Riviera in the region Liguria, which until recently were linked only by mule tracks and accessible only by rail or water as cars can only reach them with great difficulty from the outside via narrow and precarious mountain roads. It comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over the centuries, people have built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the Ligurian Sea. Our trip took us on a train from one village to the next, watching the beautiful (and not so beautiful) people sunning themselves on the rocks and diving into the azure sea to cool off. One would have to be closely related to a mountain goat to live there - climbing those steep stairs and paths would kill me off, although it was fabulous to visit for a day or two. Blue and silver are almost made for each other, don't you think?
Anyway, that's all I have time for, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello, lovely people, how are you doing. It is the summer solstice and we haven't had a summer yet, I think they forgot to tell the sunshine. I for one have given up on the weather to amuse me and have got on with other things, in the main preparing for Warwickshire Open Studios at the end of June and binge watching Killing Eve on the BBC iplayer. Villanelle Luke Jennings's 'Codename Villanelle', began as a four-part novella published between 2014 and 2016, and has been adapted for the small screen by the BBC - it is called Killing Eve. The first series was written and produced by Phoebe Waller-Bridges of Fleabag fame. I loved Fleabag, but don't generally watch 'spy vs spy' type drama, but gave it a chance because of Waller-Bridges association with the project. I totally fell in love with Villanelle, the charismatic cold blooded psychopathic assassin played by Jodie Comer. It is very stylishly written and acted, and Villanelle is in turn spiky, sassy, funny, vulnerable and hard as nails. The obsession between the assassin Villanelle and her detective hunter Eve, was fascinating, and Mike and I binge watched both seasons of the show, all sixteen shows of it and we couldn't get enough. I hear that a third season has been commissioned, and can't wait for it to be with us. I'm obviously not alone in falling in love with this psychopath - I found this short clip on YouTube of her being a crazy, kooky, childlike but chilling killer. This necklace reminds me of her - it is spiky, fun and interesting, of branch coral in black and red, offset by a large electroplated quartz bead. Of course, once it was made, I had to wear it and my little phone camera was pressed into use.
That's all I made this week, folks. Killing Eve and Villanelle swallowed up all my time, as well as curating my stock for the event at Leamington Spa at the end of the month. I'm off to London this weekend to learn a new, fun technique and I'll tell you all about it next time. Have a fabulous week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello folks, how are you today? I've loved the sunshine we've had and have spent a lot of time outdoors, digging the garden and pulling up weeds. It is now beginning to look fit for purpose and I can relax. The red hot poker is the first flower to come out every year in late spring/ early summer, and the first one is out, with loads of buds yet to bloom. When it is lovely and sunny, I seem to always make a floral necklace and the colours I use are bright and cheerful - I don't choose this path, it chooses me! I would love to make beautiful abstract geometric shapes, I really admire jewellery makers who can do this and glorify negative space, but what comes out of my hands? Flowers!! Never mind, at least flowers are pretty and everyone loves them, not just me. Blue MangroveThe early part of the week was a bit cold and damp, and this is the piece of jewellery I was inspired to produce. I made my first ever wire Tree of Life anchored around a slab of agate druzy that has been electroplated with titanium. I had recently taken delivery of quartz nuggets, also plated with titanium and they seemed to fit together beautifully. When I finished the 'tree' it reminded me of mangrove trees growing in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. Mangrove swamps are found in tropical tidal areas including estuaries and marine shorelines. High tide brings in salt water, and when the tide recedes, evaporation of the seawater in the soil leads to increases in salinity. At low tide, the roots are alternately exposed to increases in temperature and drying out from the sun, and cooling and flooding by the tide. For a plant to survive in this environment, it must tolerate broad ranges of salinity, temperature, and moisture, and only a few species have evolved ecologically to make up the mangrove tree community. Mangrove swamps protect coastal areas from erosion, storm surges, and tsunamis. The massive root systems are efficient at dissipating wave energy, and they slow down tidal water enough so its sediment is deposited as the tide comes in, leaving all except fine particles when the tide recedes. And then the weather picked up, the sun came out to play and all was well with the world - followed closely by the flowers that came out of my imagination! Showtime!I wrapped flowers made of bright colour enhanced jade beads on a branch of tiny leaves that I had coated with cold enamel ages ago. Jade flowers and leaves of Czech glass were wrapped on this frame and hung on a necklace of lapis lazuli rough nuggets with yet more dyed jade. The flowers and berries are luscious and I added a tassel to give the piece a playful look. The necklace is pretty close to the neck, so that the pendant dangles over the decolletage - this necklace is probably best suited to a simple dress with a close neckline. I bought a new iPhone and the camera is quite fabulous. I've been using the camera to take pictures in portrait mode and it works on selfies too. I've mentioned that I will be at the Pump Rooms in Leamington Spa from the 27th to the 30th of June and I made some beads to display there at an event called Warwickshire Open Studios. I made the beads up into necklaces and wore them to work - here are some pictures taken using my new iPhone XR I made some more beads in scarlet and gold, they're yet to be finished and strung. Next week, perhaps. Don't they look almost edible? Like apples, or even ripe tomatoes, perhaps? That's all I had time for, people. Have a lovely week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hiya readers, thanks for coming back to the Caprilicious blog today. Easter came and went and everyone scoffed their chocolate eggs and hot cross buns - squillions of calories all in one large collective gulp. I was curious about the Easter egg and tried to find out it's significance. Apparently, the custom of giving eggs at Easter celebrates new life. For Christians the egg is a symbol of Jesus' resurrection, and when they are cracked open they symbolise the empty tomb. Eggs are rolled by children as a symbolic re-enactment of the rolling away of the stone from Christ's tomb and they are painted (originally red, but now in every colour imaginable) to commemorate the blood of Christ. The Easter bunny is a throwback from pagan times when the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, Eostre, had a hare as her companion. The hare symbolises fertility and rebirth, and so does the egg. Later Christians changed the symbol to the Easter bunny which is fluffier and cuter than a hare. While everyone else was eating their eggs, I was being industrious and making up a few pieces of jewellery for the Handmade Fair. Everyone who reads this blog know that Caprilicious is going to the fair, but if you've just joined us, welcome, I have put this poster on these pages just for you, in case you should wish to come to it. This week I was attracted to shiny - all the beads that came out of my stash were shiny, quartz chunks and needles electroplated in a precious metal or titanium vapour. I felt like the proverbial magpie that is supposedly attracted to shiny objects. It started with a remake of my fantasy flower out of bronze clay. I went very slowly and carefully and was rewarded with a large flower that fit in the palm of my hand, about 5" across when I finally opened my kiln up. Here it is, strung on a necklace of Titanium coated quartz needles. By this time, 'shiny' had engraved itself deep into my psyche and everything I was compelled to make was that way inclined. Without ever making a conscious decision, I was soon well on the way towards making part of an evening wear collection of necklaces. Both the Hamsa pendant and the beautiful tassel came from Turkey and I made all the clasps myself, to add further interest to the jewellery. The brown rough cut nuggets in the tasselled necklace are gold vapour coated quartz and they have a lovely dull sheen that a still photograph cannot really do justice to. While my bronze clay flower was going through it's cycles of creation and drying before going into the kiln I sat with Mike and watched a couple of old musicals while I stitched beads around an ammonite fossil, to end up with this cuff bracelet. The bracelet has an aluminium form inside it to keep it flexible, light and adjustable. I also put together another version of Berber Sunrise, with faux amber beads, some of which I made earlier right here at Caprilicious and others that I bought in India. The pretty little green patinated beadcaps came from the USA and the enamelled bead came from Morocco. And that's a wrap for this week, folks. I aim to finalise the way my stall looks this week - it has to be stylish but simple to set up and I have a friend who is going to show me how to do this as she is a 'visual merchandiser' and knows all about these things. Have a lovely weekend, I'm on call at the day job and hope it won't be too busy. Take care of yourselves and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place,
Until then xx |
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