Attitude.......not always a Problem

'When a woman puts on a heel, she has a different posture, a different attitude. She really stands up and has a consciousness of her body.'
Christian Louboutin 

I was raised to be a mouse, shy and quiet, dressed in simple clothes that helped me to merge with the crowd - that was the way good little Indian girls were brought up when I was a child - very Victorian - unfortunately, my personality wouldn't be repressed and the mismatch when "I" escaped was sometimes very odd. 

Eventually, I said to myself, to hell with being quiet and nondescript - I shall be me - and then, it was like a weight dropped off my shoulders - I was free! The habit of being shy and quiet though, has been ingrained into me, and rears its ugly head when I am in a roomful of people I don't know - that is when I need my piece of statement jewellery to give me a boost with a soupçon of extra confidence, and help me regain my equilibrium.

When I make a piece of jewellery for the Caprilicious Woman, this is what I aim for - the wearer walks tall, knowing she wears a distinctive piece of jewellery, marking her as a feisty, interesting woman, who cares about herself, has ideals and dreams and is capable of taking her destiny in her hands and running with it - she is the 'Caprilicious Woman'.

Just as your Louboutins give you that 'attitude', a piece of Caprilicious  jewellery should help you stand out from the crowd, be noticed and most importantly, feel good about yourself.

Mike and I watch Some Like it Hot, with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon at least once a year - it is a standby favourite for rainy Sunday afternoons, along with Singing in the Rain, and Top Hat. Isn't Marilyn cute?? Apparently she was four months pregnant when she shot this scene - I couldn't tell - clearly, she has some really good foundation garments on here.
I was looking to use these Moroccan Berber tarnished silver metal beads I recently acquired - they are large but light, as they are hollow. Teamed with a couple of hot pink agate beads, and rough cut black tourmaline, I used fuchsia pink pearls as spacers - I had to call this necklace after my favourite film.

Some Like it Hot

I used both my little point and shoot camera and my brand new Nikon to take these pictures - I can see why I am going to enjoy the Nikon once I understand it better - just now it feels like I am driving a car for the first time, coordinating all it's functions seems like an impossible task.

Sruthi Singh, a design blogger who calls herself the East Coast Desi, featured our house and garden on her blog - she was curious about how the design ethic in the decor of the place I live in matched up to the jewellery I make. You can read her article here - the photographs were taken by a friend, and the piece was written by Sruthi. Don't forget to leave a comment on her blog - she will be really chuffed to hear from you.

I took delivery of these exciting and colourful pendants from the Afghanistan/ Turkmenistan area and decided to make some colourful beads to go with them. Armed with a tutorial from a Russian polymer clay artist,
Ms Kopilka and my extruder, I set out to put some really bright colours together and see what happened.
The extruder reminds me of an implement from my mothers kitchen, used to make deep fried savoury snacks. I have never made these snacks myself, my excuse being that I don't deep fry anything ( although this hasn't stopped me eating them!) I find it really ironic that I, the most un-domestic goddess, am now using kitchen implements in my avocation that I would never have dreamed of using to cook with!

This is how the beads from this technique came out - pretty colourful, eh? I still have loads of the cane I made in the picture above and more beads to come from it later on. I also made some Kumihimo braid using Chinese satin thread and nubbly sari ribbon fabric ..........

Turkish Delight

The first of these beauties went onto the Kumihimo braided cord, which I then festooned to my heart's content with coins made of shell and pewter - very pretty, with a tinkle and a rustle reminiscent of belly dancers in Istanbul.

As the story goes, people threw coins at the feet of Ottoman street dancers, and having nowhere else to store them to protect against theft, the dancers sewed the coins into their belts and scarves. After a while, it became an issue of prestige - the belly dancer with the most coins was obviously the best one, so they began to wear their coins attached to their clothing, visible for all to see, as a sort of clanking, rustling, curriculum vitae cum bank account. They add rhythm and colour to the costumes and the dance, and I certainly think they suit this necklace down to the ground - what do you think ?? It would have been a boring necklace without them, in my opinion.

That's all I had time for this week, folks, stay well and have fun, and I'll catch you soon, same time, same place
xx