Fly me to the Moon by Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello folks, how's tricks? I've been a lady of leisure this week, nursing my poorly knee at home, and it seems to be responding to all the TLC I've been bestowing upon it. My husband has been waiting on me hand and foot, and I could get used to this way of life, except that I would turn into a big fat hippopotamus if I sat on my bottom any more. While I've been at home, I've made quite a few pieces of jewellery - better this, than the devil making work for idle hands!

Aura

These beads were in my mail when I got home from Madrid - they are frosted opalite glass, and have an aurora borealis coating on one side. When they rotate on the beading wire and the light catches them they shine with an unearthly glow - I just love them. I made simple necklaces with beautiful clasps, using little seed beads as spacers. There are two necklaces - one of them is a pale white, and the other is grey. The paler one is already spoken for, but I actually prefer the darker one. What do you think??

Kalachakra 

Kalachakra literally means The Wheel of Time -  the tradition revolves around the concept of time (kāla) and cycles (chakra): from the cycles of the planets to the cycles of human breathing, and it teaches the practice of working with the most subtle energies within one's body on the path to nirvana. I'm afraid I'm too much of a simpleton to understand the depths of these spiritual arguments, all I know is that these ghau boxes are particularly beautiful (and expensive). I've been looking out for one of them in my price range for ages and ages, and when this one came up, I snapped it up. This was the vendors last one unfortunately, and he didn't think he'd have any more anytime soon. I wanted the pendant to be the focal point, so I made a very simple necklace to carry it.

'I haven't made anything with wire in ages,' I thought, so I picked up a frosted grey crackled agate and set it in a wire surround - I had a tiny cloisonne dragonfly from China, and I wired it onto the pendant. Here's one of my favourites, Laura Fygi singing Fly Me to the Moon, in French - it was of course one of Frank SInatra's numbers and is very much a classic. The pendant is based on a Nicole Hanna design - I cut too much wire and ended up making more swirls and layers than the original design, but I wasn't going to waste the wire I'd cut, no siree!

Brown Sugar

Raw citrine nuggets resemble brown cane sugar - the closer the festival season gets in India, the more this form of sugar is available in large blocks so that housewives can make sweets for the household, and for distribution to friends - at least that's the way it was in my childhood. Today, it is much easier to go to a sweet shop and order ready packaged sweets to send out to friends. In a moment of pure nostalgia, I picked up the citrine that had been sitting around for ages. I put them with quartz needles and moldavite and crystal spacers. A little peridot box clasp was a beautiful finishing touch.

And finally ..... Another Ghau Box .....

Mandala

I love ghau boxes - I think you might have noticed that by now. I think it's the child in me that delights in the thought of an invisible compartment with my little secrets hidden away, while everyone thinks it is just another pendant. Here's another one - it's the last one in my stash, I promise. I made the Buddha mala beads earlier - they are decorated with gold foil and antiqued to give a faux raku look.

That's me for this week, folks. I'm happy to report that my knee is much better. I'm going to work this weekend, and if they stand up to it, I will go back to work full time, next week. 
Have a lovely week and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place.
Until then
​xx