Firefly Alert!

Hello and welcome again to the Caprilicious Blog, where I talk about my jewellery and other incidentals that have attracted my attention over the week. 
The week gone by has been a bit warm (understatement - but who's complaining?) - those of us in the UK know how we longed for a bit of this last year. We have a Level 3 heatwave on in the UK - what that means is that you can fry an egg on the pavement at midday, and fabulous it is too, after all the sogginess of the winter gone by.
I showed you some of my latest acquisitions - little sterling silver pendants - in a blog a couple of weeks ago. A couple of them have the most beautiful fire opals - I love opals, don't you? The little lights that dance deep inside them reminds me of the fireflies I used to see in the park when I was a little girl - haven't seen one of them in ages.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-tips/fireflies-in-the-dark-richardson/

Fireflies glow due to a phenomenon called Bioluminescence - to attract a mate, and they flitter around switching themselves on and off, like tiny fairy lights. They communicate with one another using a kind of Morse code - flash, flash ... flaaash - which probably means 'come and get me' or is it  ' get your hat and coat, you're pulled', in firefly speak? I imagined the dance they might be doing - and the one that came to mind was a foxtrot, and this little necklace got its name from my flight of fancy. Iridescent peacock pearls fit the bill perfectly, and strawberry quartz gave the piece an extra injection of colour.

---

Firefly Foxtrot

I found these photographs of fireflies in a woodland in Germany taken with a camera using a slow shutter speed - have a look, they are simply fabulous.
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1308304/If-glow-woods-today--moment-fireflies-turn-woods-enchanted-forest.html

Firefly Fandango

This necklace has a very similar pendant to the last one, except that the opals are blue. I teamed it with blue jade in two colours and some silver beads to make this necklace that seems to dance around your neck. The vibrancy of the blues imply a more fast paced dance - the fandango is a lively Spanish dance accompanied by hand clapping, guitars and castanets. It has a very lively, carnival feel to it, which is reflected in this necklace. 

Once I got started, I was on a roll with the firefly theme. The last pendant was six little blue fire opals set into a sterling silver cross. To complement the chatoyance of the opals, I teamed them with faceted labradorite and blue jade beads -  to my annoyance and frustration, I was unable to display the sheen of the stones in a photograph. I spent ages experimenting with different lighting and backgrounds, but was forced to admit defeat in the end. Labradorite gets its sheen from being deposited in layers - each layer shines at a different refraction angle when moved in the light, and it seems to flash at you when around your neck.
I do apologise for the pictures - I will ask a friend of mine who takes professional pictures if he will take some for me, but until then, these are the best of the ones I managed to take.

Firefly Epiphany

The epiphany referred to here is the sudden revelation of the chatoyance in the opals and labradorite on movement  - and believe you me, the beauty of it takes your breath away for a moment when the necklace is handled.

One of the young doctors who works with me bought a necklace from me for her mother as a birthday present - I think she was hoping her mother would accept the gift, and then hand it back to her to wear -  unfortunately for her, her mother liked the piece and requested two more - both of which were made to the young doctors spec - she secretly hopes that her mom will give one to her - we will have to wait and see what happens.

Green jade and fog quartz

Dyed red jade and pyrite nuggets

The weekend looms, with the prospect of more sunshine, which is just as well as we have a barbeque planned with about twenty five folks planning to attend. We host it each year for the junior doctors who move on to another hospital in August as part of their training rotation schemes, it is a sort of thank you for all the work they have put in over the year. The party can be as lively, or as sedate as they wish, and really depends on their personalities - they are allowed to invite guests from the hospital - midwives, anaesthetists and any others they choose are welcome, as are juniors from previous years. The neighbours have been forewarned!

That's my week in a nutshell folks, stay cool and we'll meet up next week, same time, same place
xx

---