Arriba!!! Come on!! By Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello folks, hope all is well with you and thanks for joining me today. I feel like I'm in party mode with Diwali jut gone and just over 30 days to Christmas. I've had a few days off from work and am feeling rejuvenated and revived - with me it's a case of a rest is as good as a change! I enjoy a good knees up and even though I'm no longer the party animal I once was, the start of the holiday season always perks me up.

Arriba!!

This piece was made over the course of many many weeks as I made little bead circles around Swarovski Rivolis and put them away in a little box. When I thought I had enough, I put them together, although I soon realised I needed more, but had run out of the RIvolis. I had to wait a while till fresh supplies arrived, and then finally, after ages and ages I was ready to put them together. I set them into various shapes on a tray and took photographs of each one. I finally decided on the correct configuration and made the pendant up, then added a hand made chain of multicolour crystals and Arriba! the piece was ready. It reminds me of fiestas and carnivals, piñatas, sombreros and mardi gras - what more can I say?
Charles Venn danced to La Bamba last weekend as I sewed the piece together and I thought his dance epitomised the feelings evoked by this necklace.

The last picture shows the back of the necklace, all neatly covered by ultrasuede, to give a professional finish to the piece. Each circle is edged with seed beads and the whole piece is very joyful and fun. The chain allows the piece to be adjusted up or down and I am very proud of this one. 

Amalia

I've had these kiwi green aventurine beads in my stash for over a year and decided to make a piece with them - and I've never had so much trouble with a necklace. I made it up with a bunch of diamante spacer bars, but though it looked great, it refused to sit quietly and gracefully around the neck. It kept twisting around on itself like an impatient and irritating child squirming around in a chair. I cut it up, and changed the beads to the pretty four leaf clovers and it seemed fine, so I took it out to the conservatory and got some photographs and posted them online. As soon as I posted the pictures, the necklace was picked up by a young lady as a gift for her friend. Both of them are long term clients and I wanted to be sure that it was perfect for them. 
I decided that there was one bead too many between the spacers in one of the strings, so repaired that, and then had to adjust another, and yet another until there were just too many adjustments and the necklace was no longer viable. I sat through the night, remaking the necklace to my satisfaction up until 4am and finally it was done, packed and ready for posting out before I went to bed.
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Amalia is a cocktail based on kiwi fruit, devised by Michael Rousseau in honour of his mother in Four Seasons Hotel, Mexico. Amalia was also the name of the wife of Don Facundo Bacardi who founded the Bacardi company with his creation of the first light bodied rum with the unique quality of smoothness, in the 19th century.
Amalia - the recipe
1/2 Kiwi Fruit
50mls of Bacardi White rum
30 mls of Elderflower Cordial
15 mls freshly squeezed lime juice
5 sprigs of mint
50 mls of ginger ale
It certainly sounds good, perhaps one of you will try it out and let me know if it's as good as the necklace named after it.

Black Beauty

The black ceramic beads were calling out to be used and I finally relented. The pendant is designed by Nicole Hanna, and is one of her most difficult, verging on the point of sadistic, designs. There were nine of the thicker base wires, approximately a foot long each, and they were bound together with a very fine wire. The process went on and on, until I was squinting desperately at it, begging it to end, but no, there were some more wires that needed to be woven and moved in one direction or another. And then finally it was done, the last wire anchored, the last piece of binding wire trimmed. My fingers ached and burned, but there was a feeling of pleasure deep inside, a feeling of achievement which was wonderful.

Caprilicious exhibits at Hampton Manor this week with Mitchell Galleries and I will go along on Sunday to take a look as I don't have to do any of the work apart from turn up and look good.

That's me for this week, folks. Have a lovely week and I'll catch you next Friday. 
Until then
​xx

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