Chillaxing!

Hello, readers, nice to see you here again. I've had a few days off from work, using up the annual leave owed me for 2014 - we didn't really have a lot planned apart from a bit of gardening, so I fell into a nice, easy routine, playing with clay after a lie-in each morning, finishing the pieces off in my own time and playing with wire and beads at night - a crafter's dream break. 

Last week I made colourful beads with a petal cane on a fuchsia pink background and some Tibetan Mala beads. This week, I unearthed a tutorial by Lynda Moseley and made faux lapis and faux turquoise beads. I have had this tutorial for ages, but had to collect all the ingredients, of which there are many - by the time I collected all the paint,inks and chalk required, I lost the impetus to try it out until now, and I'm so glad I did - it is a fabulous tutorial and I got some pretty credible results.

Faux turquoise beads

Faux lapis lazuli beads

The solar eclipse, which occurred on Sunday was  a major planetary and astrological event. 
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, totally or partly obscuring the image of the sun for a viewer on earth. 
Everyone was in a tizz - should we watch it, can we look at it, what's the best way to prevent UV burns to the retina, pinhole cameras, glasses - it turned into a frenzy - all for something that lasted a couple of minutes - and we don't even live in the Faroe islands or Svalbard. 
Philistine, you say?? - too right - I slept through it and watched it on the telly like any self-respecting person on holiday should. And, I'm not afraid to admit it, so there!
I did spend some time researching it though - and read about the Penumbra, which is the region in which only a portion of the light source is obscured by the occluding body. An observer in the penumbra (where we are in the UK) experiences a partial eclipse.
 The 2642 people who live in Svalbard and the eclipse tourists who flocked there would have witnessed the Umbra - the innermost and darkest part of the shadow, where the sun is completely blocked by the moon. 
The Antumbra is the region from which the occluding body appears entirely contained within the disc of the light source. An observer in this region experiences an annular eclipse, in which a bright ring is visible around the eclipsing body - this is due to happen in September 2016 and will mainly be visible in Africa.

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Penumbra

Made to commemorate the event which looked spiffing on the TV and is meant to have all sorts of astrological significance, I used a handmade lampworked bead and set it in a wire weave, hung on a leather thong - very Penumbra-ish.

Tara

Tara, in Hindu mythology, is a Tantric Goddess. As the story goes, the Gods and Demons decided to have a little game and churned the oceans of the earth, which produced a poison so strong, it would have killed off all mankind. In a blind panic, trying to save the world, Shiva drank the poison before they could dispense it to the people and fell unconscious. The Heavenly Hospital probably didn't possess a stomach pump in those days and everyone was running around like headless chickens. 
Tara came along - the saviour Goddess - and squeezed his throat, preventing the poison from going any further, giving him a permanent bruise on his neck. She then suckled him and her breast milk counteracted the poison. I think the CQC (Care Quality Commission) might have something to say if we adopted these methods today.
Tara is meant to be 'blue' in colour - which is the post-colonial Indian way of saying that she was dark skinned and not worth much on the arranged marriage market - but that was the least of her problems, the most important being that she enjoyed the occasional drink of human blood - she would make do with animal blood at a pinch, but human blood was what she loved best for a light snack!
This necklace is made with a pendant from Afghanistan and faux lapis and other polymer clay beads.

Essaouira

Essaouira is a charming harbour town in Morocco - unspoilt, with a definite French look about it. When we last visited, very few people had discovered it and it seemed quaint and exotic. I've heard that hordes of tourists descend on it each year now and it is no longer unspoilt. Such is life! 
These capsule shaped beads from Morocco, with a low silver content were teamed with lapis lazuli and onyx.

That's me done for this week folks. A few more days off and I will go back to my day job, refreshed and rejuvenated.  In the meanwhile, I have all my new beads to use and ideas bouncing around in my head. Perhaps I should carry a little noteook around with me to write down my ideas- I forget so many well before they are executed. 
Have a fabulous week, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place
xx