A Queen's Ransom, by Caprilicious

Hello everyone, how have you been? It's great to sit down and chat with you today. I've had a week of catching up at work, picking up the pieces of everything I let drop when I went on holiday and trying to do four things at once. I'm sure it will settle into a well oiled hum soon rather than a cacophony of shrieking noises coming at me from all directions, once I've got my bearings and regained my equilibrium. 

In the meantime, I've almost enjoyed jet lag as it has helped me to go to bed early and wake up at a reasonable hour - I've been working to Indian time - the insomnia I usually suffer from has temporarily disappeared and I'm doing my best to learn new habits. 

While I was in India, I saw a beautiful, colourful necklace and I knew immediately I wanted it for my Caprilicious ladies. It is very colourful with drops of glass beads, pearls and agate nuggets, dangling from elements made of kundan work - this is a specialist traditional form of north Indian gemstone jewellery that originated in Mughal times. In the original pieces, they used uncut diamonds, set in gold, with gold and silver foil burnished into the sockets of the settings so that the diamonds glowed.
The necklace I picked up is of course, made of glass, set in exactly the same way by artisans who have painstakingly copied the beautiful Mughal jewellery. The backs of each piece are covered with red and green lotus flowers and other floral embellishments in enamel, this work is called Mina-kari. It is found almost exclusively in the north of India, the city of Jaipur being the centre for the setting of both Kundan and Mina kari or Mina work. 

---

I see it being worn with a simple dress - to weddings and garden parties in the summer and of course to formal events at Christmas time. There will be no requirement for any other embellishments or ornamentation and the wearer will be the only person in the room in such a beautiful piece of jewellery. 

That's me for now, folks. Have a wonderful week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then
​xx