Hello folks, how are you? I haven't been able to keep up with my regular weekly blog posts for a while now, and I apologise for that. I've taken on extra responsibilities at the day job and am working harder than ever before - however, making jewellery brings me so much peace and joy that I try to do as much as I can, when I can. I've also begun to make more complex pieces, the making and engineering of which can be quite tricky and requires meticulous planning. I don't want to end up just stringing beads together - while that is instantly satisfying, I love a challenge - making my own beads, bead embroidery, and creating something totally different is the Caprilicious way and I intend to stick to it. When I string beads together, I want the focal piece to be something that came from my imagination, not someone elses design. This isn't always possible, of course, and I get lazy too - but I do try, I do! Over the last couple of weeks, I've been making a hand woven sunflower - the petals are made from little Czech seed beads that surround a dark crystal centre, there are little green sepals at the back and the whole piece was finished and ready at the back end of last week. All of this week was spent watching tutorials on how to make leaves - I finally found one that suited my requirements and made a pair of Russian leaves in a stitch called diagonal peyote - learning and perfecting a new technique gives me so much joy, but equally takes a lot of time, with much muttering and swearing - all the minor irritations of the day fade away in comparison to a little leaf that just doesn't want to sit right because of a stupid error I made with the number of beads, and I have to undo the whole thing and start again. Sweet Sunflower SmileI attached the sunflower to a five strand choker with tiny invisible stitches, close to the neck, just slightly off centre, and the leaves were attached to the next strand under the sunflower, so that when worn, the whole thing looks like it was made together. This one has been a lot of hard work, lots of new learning, and lots of fun. I hope it brings a smile to the wearer too! That's me for this week, folks. I'm going to spend the rest of the day cutting up the mangled remains of the 'failed leaves' I made and salvage the beads - those emerald green hex cut beads are so pretty, I wouldn't want to lose any more of them - some of them have already disappeared into the no-man's land that is the settee, and even more into the forever hell that is the floor, only to resurface when hubby decides to walk barefoot to bring up something from the kitchen! I will give it a rest for another week, I think - I have plenty to do at the day job, what with the junior doctor's strike looming tomorrow.
Take care, and I'll be back shortly, Until then xx
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Hello everyone, it's nice to catch up with you again. The high(low)light of this week was my cat, Wilfred bumping into a tray of seed beads, and they rolled everywhere. I had beads all over the floor and decided that come what may, I was going to pick up every last one. Oh, if I didn't love him so much, he would have been dead meat! The air around me was blue as I swore and muttered under my breath. Fortunately it was just the one colour and size - I didn't have to sit and sort them out into separate piles. Poor Wilf realised that he'd done wrong and went and hid inside a cardboard box that had arrived with jewellery boxes in it and had to be tempted out with morsels of food by hubby. The rest of the week was occupied by putting those very same beads to use and I made a sunflower out of them. This is the first time I've made an entire flower using herringbone stitch and it was a bit of a daunting task. However, at the end of seven days, I've made a credible flower - whether it looks like a sunflower or not! For some reason, the beads in this tube were two distinct shades of yellow. Perhaps I bought a mixed lot, I can't remember how that came about. I separated them as I sewed and tried to make the petals with the paler shade at the tip and the brighter colour at the back. I hoped the second colour would be all but invisible, but I'm sure if you look carefully at the flower, the two colours will become immediately apparent. The next task is to teach myself how to make Russian leaves so I can give this flower here some company on the necklace I intend to make. It looks quite a difficult task, so if I fail, the 'sunflower' is on its own with no apologies from me - at least I tried. I'm off to watch that video now, so wish me luck. That's me for now, have a wonderful week and keep warm, whatever you do. It sounds like it is going to be really cold in the UK.
Catch you next week, hopefully with a finished piece of jewellery with the flower, plus/minus a leaf or two! Until then, xx Hello good people of the internet world, thank you for dropping by today. I hope you've had a good week and enjoyed every moment of it. The days have gone cooler and there have been sprinklings of rain, but in general, the UK is still basking in the glorious summer we've had this year. I've almost forgotten about what it feels like in winter, and who knows what is to come with all the anxieties about global warming. I wrote a tutorial for Bead and Jewellery Magazine in early 2017 called Sunflower Smile - to write the tutorial, I had to photograph the steps as I went along, and then, once the article was accepted, send the finished product to the magazine for it to be professionally photographed. The tutorial was published and the beads returned to me. I've had the sunflowers since then - I used one and the necklace was picked up at the Handmade Fair. SInce then I've run into a complete block about what to do with the other two. I bought some grey agate druzy slab nuggets a few weeks ago and when they arrived I wanted to make something entirely different with them - different from anything I've ever made, and different from anything anyone else is likely to make. I think I've achieved my goals with this piece - there can't be that many polymer clay sunflower and slab bead necklaces in the world! Sweet Sunflower SmileThe colourful beads at the back add a bit of zing! to the piece. In Greek mythology, Apollo – that handsome god of the sun – was the subject of adoration of a nymph who sat and gazed at him every day. Eventually, the gods took pity on her and turned that nymph into a sunflower, which is why sunflowers always appear to be yearning for the sun. Sunflower centres are actually made up of thousands of tiny flowers, which then grow into seeds. It is said that if you place a sunflower seed under your pillow, you'll wake up and discover the answer to any question on your mind. The Morning AfterThe markings on the pale grey dragon's vein agate in this necklace look like a bloodshot eye, the morning after a great night out on the razzle. The blue agate has a bit of light tracery running through it as well and together, they make a very pretty picture. The two brushed metal beads and the sweet little clasp set with a black onyx only make it prettier. Once again I rescued a potentially drab grey necklace, this time with touches of blue and silver. One of my clients requested a necklace with a Tagemout bead - she saw one I made earlier and asked for a similar piece. It took me ages to find a suitable Tagemout, and I spent some time over the weekend making the faux amber beads in the necklace. Polymer clay is a chameleon substance which is readily manipulated to resemble glass, gemstones, amber and other materials. The Moroccan Tagemout bead was strung with faux amber in the necklace I made a couple of years ago. Amber doesn't surface in the Sahara, due to a scarcity of ancient pine forests and was formed on the shores of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe and shipped onwards through Italy. It was packed onto the backs of camels by indigo-shrouded Tuareg traders, who carried them deep into the desert to exchange for gold. These faux amber beads are meant to be old, and fashioned some time back in the 19th century. Their surfaces have a crazed and weathered patina and appear broken and repaired. Many have been broken in half parallel to the stringing hole. Tiny strips of decorative silver are hammered across the break to make them whole. Little pieces of 'coral and turquoise' are inserted into the niches in the 'amber' as a decoration. The beads are now ready to be made up into a necklace, possibly next week. Translucent clay coloured with alcohol inks and embossing powder. The beads were rolled, embellished and cured. Each bead was sanded with 3 successive grits of sandpaper, and antiqued Buffed and polished, and finally ready to use. So, there you are then. That's what I've been up to this week. What have you been doing? Do tell.
Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Thank you to everyone who voted for my design 'Glacial Fantasy' in the Artbeads Jewelry Design Star Competition. It only went and won!! I am speechless and so, so, so, thrilled. I was informed by email, and they have had my details as well as a couple of other designs from Caprilicious for their website. When I hear more from Artbeads.com about the official announcement, I will let you know. In the meantime, I have another pair of earrings made, to complement Glacial Fantasy - the first two were not deemed 'delicate' enough, and I was politely requested to think again - the customer is always right - right? So.........
I thought Betty was a bit lonely, so I found her a friend - meet Barbara - she is a half bust, but what is especially nice about her is that I can insert an earring so I can get a good picture of the way the earrings dangle from the ear lobe. I had just made this pendant with a red banded agate stone, and I hung it around Barbara's neck - her neck is a bit scrawny, but, hey, anything's possible if allowed a bit of artistic license. The pendant looks huge around Barbara's neck, but that is because she suffers from turkey neck disorder, but one mustn't mock afflicted chickens!
CinnamonI played with polymer clay and alcohol inks and produced these faux red jade pieces from a tutorial by Lynda Moseley of Diva Designs. I love the large 25mm focal beads, with a floral etched pattern and I made a chrysanthemum type flower to be the pendant in this necklace. It is called Cinnamon because of the beautiful burnt sugar colour of the faux jade. The other alternative for a name was Creme Caramel - betraying my sweet tooth and secret gluttony - a Freudian slip, if ever there was one! Three strands of carnelian nuggets, held together at intervals by pewter spacers toned well with the focal pieces - a monochromatic necklace, which is quite rare for me - I don't know how I resisted the impulse to add a bit of green or turquoise blue, but I do like how Cinnamon came together in the end. From Russia With Love I made this necklace a few weeks ago, and I saved three rainbow titanium coated quartz needles to make a pendant and a pair of earrings. When they were made up the three little pieces resembled the Matroshka dolls sold to tourists in Russia - except, of course that I have attempted to match the earrings, as far as possible The quartz was mined near St Petersburg and has an extraordinarily beautiful sheen from the fine coating of titanium vapour wafted over it. I spent most of this week catching up on paper work and other stuff at the day job - sometimes it doesn't pay to have too much time off, everything is just waiting for you when you get back to the grindstone - no rest for the wicked!
I did have time to tidy up my website, move my necklaces around - I have new pages now - Chinese Inspiration, Out of Africa, and Leafy Glade are now added to a Treasury of Statement Necklaces, and all the other bits and bobs are grouped under Mini Statements - I believe that all jewellery makes a statement - it tells you about a woman's inner self and expresses her thoughts, feelings, and mood, sometimes, who she would like to be but finds difficult to express - an alter ego. I know that this is certainly true about me - what about you?? Have you ever thought about what your choice in apparel says about you to the world - a non verbal clue to those who might wish to detect what makes you tick! Have you ever thought what women who don't wear jewellery are saying - I think it may be that they don't want people to get clues to their personality - you have to work just that bit harder to know them and what their raison d'être is. That's all I had time to make this week folks, catch you next week, same time, same place, thanks for stopping by my blog, and once again, thank you for voting for my design in the competition xx On average, the moon is about 378 195 km away. At its furthest it is nearly 400 000 km away. During a lunar perigee and full moon where the moon is at its closest point to the earth on its elliptical orbit, the lunar surface can appear up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than any other full moon. We were lucky enough to see this, nicknamed 'Supermoon' by scientists from NASA, on the 5th and to a lesser extent on the 6th of May. My husband and I looked at the moon through our little telescope, but my camera was unequal to the task of photographing it. The moon over the Sinai desert I decided to make a piece of jewellery in honour of the supermoon. A piece of blue crackled agate, resembling the face of the moon emerged from my bead stash, and I set it in wire and surrounded it with stars in blue and white Swarovski crystals. This had the effect of brightening what would otherwise be a dull stone. I set some 'stars' in the bail and wove some crystals into the Viking knit chain for good measure. As I finished the piece, I could hear the strains of Moondance in the back of my mind, so I named the pendant after Van Morrisons lovely song.
A yearning for the sunThis winter has seemed long - never endingly so - there was a short respite in the UK at the end of March, but the weather turned - a lot of people are worried that that was our summer - Oh well, if I cant have sun in the sky, I will make some to hang around the neck! With this thought, I made Summer Sunshine, out of polymer clay sunflowers in yellow and black, dusted with silver and gold mica powders and hung on multiple strands of silver lined seed beads in a Bohemian style necklace. I also wire wrapped a little slice of gold druzy in square sterling silver wire into a sweet pendant and hung it on a twisted silk and organza ribbon - the Droplet of Sunshine pendant. Druzy refers to a gemstone with a crystalline structure, usually quartz or agate. Golden druzy has been put in a vacuum sealed chamber and coated with a vapour of 14k gold, which then bonds with the stone at molecular level. Though druzy isnt fragile, it needs to be used carefully, to prevent damage from bumping it into surfaces, so it is really only suitable for pendants and earrings. So, that's summer taken care of as far as I'm concerned! Lilac Wine - more druzy
It proved to be difficult to set as it had a drill at the top, and enclosing it in wire would cover up the crystalline structure. In the finish, I crowned it with a wire flourish and added two strands of golden quartz nugget beads to a few amethyst chunks to form the necklace. A couple of left over quartz nuggets were turned into earrings with the addition of amethyst chips. I bought a second-hand rock tumbler from a lady at work - her daughter played with it as a young girl ( evidently not too often, judging by it's condition), and it was taking up room in her house. She also gave me a box full of old jewellery, some tumble stones, a few fossils and some nuggets of unpolished rock, that if I wish, I can tumble into usable pieces. She asked me to make two pendants out of the prettiest stones - a blue cat's eye chunk, and another that looks like a mosaic of some sort. I worked hard to set the first one - it is over an inch thick, slippery, and odd shaped, and kept falling out of the mount and sliding all over the room - the air was as blue as the stone, by the time I finished, but it soon became a challenge - I was going to tame it or die trying - I'm still here, so what of the stone? ..... I need to think of something to make up the green 'stone with no name' - it promises to be difficult as well, as it is about an inch thick and an inch wide - oh well, I will just have to use those grey cells - and you will have to wait till next week to see what I come up with.
Have a good weekend, and see you - same time, same place xx |
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