Don't Blame it on the Moonshine, by Caprilicious Jewellery (with apologies to the Jacksons)

Hello folks how's tricks? I hope life is treating you well, wherever you are. I've begun the countdown to my little pre summer break and although it is still a little way away, I am now raring to go. In the meantime, I played with my beads as usual.  

Moonshine

Moonshine is any kind of alcohol, usually whisky or rum, that is made in secret to avoid high taxes or outright bans on alcoholic drinks. The term "moonshine" comes from Britain, where it originally was a verb, "moonshining," that referred to any job or activity late at night.
​Whisky is aged in casks until it becomes a clear amber liquid, but moonshine is cloudy because it is not clarified and is drunk as soon as it is distilled. Moonshiners distilled the stuff where there was a ban on alcohol and bootleggers sold it, while rum runners were smugglers who moved the alcohol around on boats. Did you know that moonshining was responsible for the start of car racing? Bootleggers in the 1930s, '40s and '50s took to driving cars packed with moonshine through the night to avoid local police. Their mechanical skills developed as they learned to drastically increase the horsepower of their vehicles to outrun the authorities and eventually these vehicles were used in motor car racing! There, another interesting but useless fact for you! And all because I named a necklace after a cloudy intoxicating liquid!

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One of my long term clients was talking about a peach coloured dress she was going to wear at a wedding and wondered if i had any piece of jewellery that might go with it. I didn't, but it got me searching for beads (any excuse!) and I fell in love with a strand of moonstones, cut into what are called tyre or wheel shaped beads. The strand comes in three colours, in the usual white, a pale grey that resembles labradorite and peach. I bought a half strand as the stuff is eye wateringly expensive, and when it arrived, made this piece, adding a little cabochon of peach coloured druzy and loads of tiny vintage gold tone seed beads. 
The baroque pearl came from Bangkok, where I bought a strand of these pearls, each one is about 1 cm long. I didn't have any peachy beads to hang the pendant so used more baroque pearls with tiny peach seed pearls in between. The clasp is pretty special, too.

Lucy's Bead Soup Necklace

Lucy sent me two bracelets of colourful gemstone chip beads and asked me to create 'something'. It took me ages and ages to actually put a necklace together - every time I made something else, I found little beads that could possibly go into a piece and popped them into a box. When the box was full, I rummaged in my stash of polymer clay beads and found a pendant, created long ago by following a tutorial from Iris Mishly that comes all the way from Israel. 

I never told her I was sending it to her early on this week. I haven't heard from her and I'm hoping that it is because she's on holiday and not because she hates it and will never speak to me again for ruining her bracelets!

The Penannular Necklace

The word 'penannular' literally means a circle with a break in it, and the pendant I used is a penannular brooch or fibula from Morocco, enamelled in vibrant colours, I hung it on a necklace of oval lapis lazuli, each bead appears to be twisted on itself, they are really cut beautifully by the lapidary, whoever he/she was. I added tiny drum shaped coral beads to increase the colour quotient and three huge Nepalese beads that are beautifully textured. 
The fibula had to be wired so that the pointy bit (that isn't terribly pointy anyway as it is probably meant for a shawl or as a hair ornament) sits at the top, tucked away into a bead cap.

Shiny Shibori Earrings

My inner magpie was very pleased with these. They are little inverted triangles filled with shiny clear crystals and little bows of pale green and pink Shibori ribbon. I edged it in a vibrant pink/purple as it was little too pale for my liking - I'm afraid I don't agree with the phrase 'pale and interesting'. 

That's me for this week folks, I haven't anything else to show you. I hope you've enjoyed your read and will come back for more.
Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then,
​xx