Fruits de mer a la Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello, my lovelies, thanks for joining me again today. I hope you've all had a good week - I have been preparing for my annual appraisal at work, and attending various yearly statutory and mandatory training without which my paperwork cannot be signed off. This has meant a relatively easy week at work and I've had time to play with beads and baubles.
On last weeks blog I told you about the pendant I had begun to make around a focal of jasper Intarsia. I finished it during the week and proceeded to make up the necklace using a string of Sea Urchin spines in my stash.

Sea urchins are found on rocky shores and shallow, sandy areas as well as coral reefs. They have a globe shaped body that is covered with large number of long spines. Bony plates form the shell that provides protection for the soft inner parts. They hide in the crevices of rocks and reefs during the daytime, and at night, they wander out to feed on floating food particles and algae.  A sea urchin’s spines are its first line of defense. The length and sharpness of an urchin’s spines vary from species to species. Some species have stubby, blunt spines, while other species have long, sharp, venom-filled spines. 
The roe of the sea urchins, called Uni are edible and are a delicacy eaten raw as sushi and sashimi. 
I love the spines, once cleaned and turned into beads they are hollow and light, and tinkle gently when they move. They have a fairly tribal look when strung into a necklace, but I wanted to soften that effect by adding some colour to the piece.

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Seascape

The Intarsia pendant stone looked like a seascape to me and I decided to make a triangular pendant with a beaded beach scene with sand and sea, and long fronds of beaded 'coral' with loads of colour, textural interest and shimmery movement, and hang it on a strand of sea urchin spines.

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There was almost half a strand of sea urchin spine beads left over and I had a flash of inspiration - I took the dull, matte brown spines and jazzed them up with loops of chain and shiny titanium coated quartz and crystals. I was inspired to do this by a photograph I took of the beach opposite the hotel when we were in Nice a few years ago. The chain represents the moonlight rippling over the waves. I love the contrast it makes. What do you think??

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Plage La Nuit

The Intarsia Seascape pendant was a delight to make, with its coral fronds and beaded texture, and it took ages to put together. I've also been putting together a number of beaded circles, of different sizes, around Swarovski Rivolis, a bit like a little old lady knitting patchwork squares for a quilt. I arranged them on a tray and started to connect them invisibly. I will have a necklace made up with my patchwork circles next week. I can't wait to see how it turns out, that's half the fun of an unplanned piece.

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