Frida's Flowers, by Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello folks, how are you today? It's been an odd sort of a nowhere and nothing week here - totally unremarkable, with not much happening out and about around me. The weather has turned decidedly cooler but it's not yet time for our annual holiday. I've felt as if I've just been marking time, waiting for something to happen. I got a subscription to Amazon Prime having given up on Netflix which seemed to have only B movies and watched movies back to back after work. One of those I watched was Frida, a biopic of Frida Kahlo, played beautifully by Salma Hayek. 

​Some of you might remember that I went to see an exhibition of Kahlo's artefacts and dresses in the Museum of Modern Art in Milan. She is an iconic figure, who knew how to dress for effect; the flowers and ribbons in her hair, the chunky rustic jewellery, embroidered blouses and Mexican skirts in vivid colours - Kahlo really understood the power of image. Reportedly, she spent hours in front of the mirror, and regularly enjoyed the chance to shop - as well as commissioning the making of particular garments. Throughout her life she used her wardrobe choices as a means to play with perception, helping to define how she occupied space as a woman, as well as an artist. Frida Kahlo’s image resonates to this day. She is frequently referenced online, with those startling portraits reposted frequently. 
In particular her love for flowers worn distinctively in her hair as a tiara right on top of her head are extremely iconic, bold, brilliant, and often joyous: part armour, part mirror, part performance, part visual language and I decided to make a necklace inspired by them.

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​Frida's Blooms

The teardrop shaped coral beads when strung together, appear like a garland of petals. I picked a string of beads that matched the coral in a pendant I had in my stash, For once I picked out all the elements I meant to use in the necklace, and put them together in a sort of 'mood board'.
​I usually start with one element and pull the others out of my collection of beads and findings randomly when I open a drawer and they stand up and yell for attention, but this time, I was a bit more organised, having thought things through.  
The pendant, of silver, came from Indonesia and has a beautiful slice of lapis lazuli and a turquoise cabochon, with the little coral dangle I mentioned earlier.

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Last week I made faux amber beads from polymer clay and this week I put the necklace together with the Tagemout pendant. The lady I made it for was gratifyingly appreciative when I sent her photographs and it is winging its way to her as I type.

The young lady in this picture in one of Caprilicious' best friends - she sent me this picture of her wearing one of her many statement pieces, on her way to a show in London. I love it when people send me pictures in their Caprilicious statements. The smile on their faces gives me such a buzz.
Another of my repeat customers wrote to me saying how gutted she was to have missed out on owning this necklace. This lady has recently had an operation on her knee and I felt she really needed a boost to her spirits, so I made her another one.
When people enjoy their Caprilicious Jewellery and come back for more, they touch a chord in my heart - to love Caprilicious is to love me, as after all, it is my alter ego - a tiny piece of me goes into every piece of jewellery I make. 

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That's me for this week, folks. Have a lovely week, and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place.
Until then
xx