Birds Do It, Bees Do It....

Hello readers, and lovers of unusual handmade statement jewellery, it is nice to see you again here at the Caprilicious blog this week.
 I hope my readers in the USA had a fabulous Thanksgiving celebration - and now have a chance to do some shopping at crazy prices on Black Friday. Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK, Black Friday has crept into the lexicon of marketing speak - so we have quite a few sales on here too. I thought Caprilicious ought to join in as well, so for this weekend only, ending midnight GMT on Sunday the 30th, I offer a 20% reduction with the promo code - 13579 - do take me up on it, and of course, tell your friends - an opportunity to do some early Christmas shopping without moving from your armchair - let your fingers do the walking.

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 This week, I found time to play with wire to the extent that my fingertips hurt - by the time I had finished, they were screaming for me to stop. But you know what it's like when you find a beautiful object - you need to play with it - it cannot be allowed to languish in a cupboard. 
I acquired three beautiful, whimsical lamp worked beads with bees and butterflies romping around in a beautiful make believe meadow of flowers. The fact that they came out of someone's imagination, are one of a kind and  handmade, makes them so much more interesting to me now - at one time, I'd have just thought 'how pretty', but now, I am in awe of the person who conceived and created these beautiful beads.

I used a design by Nicole Hanna to wrap on two of the beads - I just flipped the design upside down on one of them so that it looks different, until you look at it carefully - or I let you in on the secret! Bare copper wire was used, and then antiqued with chemicals and polished up with steel wool to give the finish you see here in the pictures. I used threadwork necklaces from Nepal to carry these little pendants - they are colourful and pretty and seem to go with their whimsical mood.

A Night on the Sands

The third bead from this artisan had a violet coloured night sky, with what appeared to be a sandy beach, complete with a wave and a shell, in the light of a crescent moon. This one was hung on a leather cord.

I had a bit of time to play with polymer clay over the weekend and made some more pixie people - I made ten beads and hope to assemble necklaces using them in the near future. These beads have been sanded smooth through 3 grits of sandpaper and 3 grits of Micro Mesh, but have yet to be buffed up to a high shine - I ran out of time.

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Singin' in the Rain

 Circlets made of shell with an onyx bead at their centre resembling raindrops, were used to carry a conus shell pendant. The pendant is inlaid with abalone and a Shiva eye in its centre, and I added a few more Shiva Eye shells to the necklace to echo the pattern in the pendant, along with a Nepalese accent bead.

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The onset of autumn must be affecting my psyche - both my necklaces this week are to do with storm clouds and rain. Black Clouds and Silver Linings is a piece instilled with hope for a better future - the sun will come out, and this too, shall pass. This is a picture of the leaves on the paving outside our house - my poor husband has to go out in the cold and sweep them up - I do feel sorry for him, but not to the extent that I want to go out and help - no sirree! I was brought up to be a Little Miss Muffet and sweeping leaves is not my idea of a fun thing to do on a cold and windy morning - if it was left to me, I would just leave them for the wind to blow away, eventually.

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Black Clouds and Silver Linings

I used Tektite - I love the tactility of it - in this necklace with three dimensional silver tone chrysanthemums and a beautiful, showy clasp.

Being busy at the day job meant that I didn't have the time or the energy to create any more jewellery - in fact most of these pieces were created over the weekend and I had little or no time to take photographs to display them on my virtual shelves. I like being busy though, time seems to fly by - it will soon be time for my trip to Bangalore, the exhibition and other interesting happenings. 

After my post last week, people were kind enough to write in with their choice of invitation for my exhibition and the front runner by far was the wirework peacock - so this one is going to be the official invitation. 

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The red and black picture received so many votes, however, that I am tempted to use it as a poster or banner at the venue. If you haven't already, be sure to save the day and come and see us in Bangalore.

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That's all I had time for this week folks, have a fabulous weekend and I will catch you next Friday, same time, same place
xx