Ma Jolie, by Caprilicious

Hello everyone, I'm truly glad to be with you today. I'm sorry I've been out of action for a while. A few days after I wrote my last post, I was summoned to India to my mother's bedside as she was gravely ill. After a short illness, she sadly passed away and I have had a lot to deal with, both settling her affairs and the thoughts swirling around in my head. She was well past 90 and had led a wonderful and varied life. A role model to many, including me, she wasn't sorry to die, especially as her physical abilities had begun to desert her. We will all miss her dearly. This photograph was taken on her 90th birthday.

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Ma Jolie

I made Ma Jolie before I was required to rush to India - the beautiful Picasso jasper tooth shaped slab nuggets had just arrived and I was keen to use them. When I sent for them, I intended to make a simple monochrome necklace, but the Caprilicious colour ethic is so strong that I couldn't resist putting in little pops of colour with random splashes of red coral and turquoise. Once that was done, it still didn't look like a Caprilicious piece, so I added a large chunk of bamboo coral to one side, and Wham! Ma Jolie was born in true Caprilicious mode.

The real Ma Jolie was Marcelle Humbert, Picasso's mistress who he painted in his strange Analytic Cubist style in monochrome. I'm afraid I don't subscribe to this depiction of a female body, but it is certainly interesting to look at.
I would have added a red dot somewhere, but that's why I'm not Picasso, an internationally reknowned artist, but merely an artisan jewellery maker from Nuneaton! I guess I could also be called a philistine, because try as I might, I cannot see a beautiful woman in all those straight lines.
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​ You can read a bit more about this picture here.

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Picasso jasper, also sometimes called Picasso stone, is actually a metamorphic limestone and not a jasper at all. The beautiful layers and colors of Picasso jasper results from heat and pressure within the Earth. The lined patterns in this stone are formed by iron oxides.

Picasso jasper is said to make an excellent meditation stone. Some people value it for its ability to renew lost friendships or to help guide during relationship transitions. This stone is said to promote inner clarity and interpretation of one's own thoughts. Named after the painter Pablo Picasso, it comes from the state of Utah in the United States. It has an abstract, modernistic look with its wide streaks of black, grey and white, and occasionally a brownish red.

Consequently, the necklace has a modernistic look - the jasper beads are in a matte monochrome, with what looks like a child (or Picasso) has scribbled on them with a felt-tipped pen.

I got my mother's grandchildren to hold her hand in the hospital where she was admitted and took this last photograph. I've always loved this song by Bill Withers - Grandmas Hands - and I hope you enjoy it too.

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That's all I have for you, folks. I was embroidering a pendant when I dropped everything to go to India and it will be ready to show you in the next installment. Have a good week, and hopefully I'll be able to catch up with you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then
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