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    • T & C, Payment, P & P
    • Care of your jewellery
  • Statement Necklaces
    • Gemstone and Wire
    • Mixed Media Necklaces
    • Soutache and Beadwork
    • The English Country Garden
    • Bling! Party Wear
      • Formal Party Wear
    • Leafy Glade Collection
    • The Out of Africa Collection
    • Tribal Necklaces
    • Eastern Promise
    • Oriental Inspiration
    • She Sells Sea Shells
    • Lagenlook Jewellery
  • Silver Jewellery
    • Silver Necklaces
    • Silver pendants
    • Silver Earrings
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    • Unisex Pendants
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      • Copper Bracelets for Arthritis
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    • Articles / Tutorials / Press
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      • Decoupage for Virgins - a Mini Tutorial
      • Colouring Polymer Clay with Chalk - a Mini Tutorial
      • Faux Drawbench glass bi-cone beads - a mini tutorial

The Caprilicious Jewellery Blog

Beautiful Handmade Statement Necklaces and other Fabulousness from Neena Shilvock - Inspirations and Designs From the Week Gone by

Make Your Own Sunshine

10/10/2014

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Bronze clay from the kiln at Caprilicious Jewellery
Hello readers, and lovers of unusual statement jewellery everywhere, it is nice of you to drop by the Caprilicious blog. A couple of weekends ago, I played with bronze clay and made a few bits and bobs that I loved so much, I wanted to use them straight away. I've written about Precious Metal Clay before and I have to say it is great fun to play with when it turns out right - I've had a few hit and miss results, but this time it was most definitely a 'hit'. These are the pieces that came out of the kiln and were shined up in a rotary tumbler. They acquire a heat patina which goes from silvery to copper in the same piece which is quite lovely.

The Spanish Sisters

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I am so used to picking up a focal element and tailoring the piece of jewellery to it, that making a focal element seemed to be like designing the necklace backwards - for instance, how many holes did I want in each pendant? - would it be a pendant, or would I change my mind and regret putting in too many/too few connection holes? - I really found it hard to make a decision so early in the conception of a piece, but gave myself a brain ache and forced myself to make those decisions as I went along.  
The Spanish sisters, Bonita, Rosita and Jovita came out all shiny and bright eyed and went into little necklaces.

Bronze clay pendant on a gemstone necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay pendant on a gemstone necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay pendant on a gemstone necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay pendant on a gemstone necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay pendant on a gemstone necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay pendant on a gemstone necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
The three girls look wide eyed and up for any kind of mischief, what with those flowers painted on their cheeks, and instinctively I put them into colourful pieces of jewellery. Now that the season for brown ( perhaps I should call it russet to make it sound better) is here, one needs to counteract the reduction in daylight hours, the cooler temperatures and rain/snow by wearing cheerful clothes and accessories - in my book, that's called making your own sunshine.

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A fourth Spanish sister awaits my attention, but she has to wait till later. Instead, I turned my mind to wire wrapping a little face cabochon I made from the last bit of clay in the packet - I cannot waste even the tiniest scrap, I'm just made that way. I quickly pressed it into a mould I made some time ago - I made a Sleeping Goddess last year inspired by a sculpture in Angkor Wat, but this time, I made a smaller piece inspired by a Carnival Queen. Since I had named the Spanish sisters, I didn't want her to feel unloved, so I called her Marina, the Carnival Queen.

Bronze clay face, wire wrapped - Carnival Queen by Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay face, wire wrapped - Carnival Queen by Caprilicious Jewellery
Hung on a leather necklace from a hidden bail, I am confident that Marina will be loved by her owner, she is rather pretty even though I say so myself.
The other pieces of bronze also went into necklaces and a pair of earrings, and I daresay the rest will follow in a couple of weeks.
Bronze clay and black jade from Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay and black jade from Caprilicious Jewellery
Bronze clay and tiger eye earrings from Caprilicious Jewellery

Anatolia

Anatolia is the Asian part of Turkey, and was once called Asia Minor. The pendant from Afghanistan used in this necklace seemed to evoke the images of the belly dancers from Istanbul - the rustling bells in the fringe make a sound that is most definitely Eastern. The beads are made of polymer clay - the green ones were made to resemble Chevron Millefiori beads. The necklace would look great in the open neck of a white shirt, worn over blue jeans - a very stylish and effective though simple ensemble. Add hair gel, dark glasses and knee high boots and look like someone attending a film festival in Cannes! Equally wear it with an Eastern ensemble - this is definitely a piece of tribal fusion.
Belly Dancer necklace, pendant from Afghanistan, polymer clay beads by Caprilicious Jewellery
Belly Dancer necklace, pendant from Afghanistan, polymer clay beads by Caprilicious Jewellery
Belly Dancer necklace, pendant from Afghanistan, polymer clay beads by Caprilicious Jewellery
I have a new page 'Gifts' on the website which over time, I intend to fill with fairly inexpensive but pretty items of jewellery specifically meant for gifting away (or for yourself, if you have been good and feel you should keep it). Of course, a lot of the stuff on the 'Mini Statement' pages are priced so that they too could be gifted away - don't forget to look into those pages. 


And, don't forget, I will be happy to gift wrap them and send them on to an address your choice if you require that service - make it easy on yourself.
 Now that we can actually use the 'C' word, it is time to get ready for the holidays, and the most sensible thing to do, I find (in my rare moments of being sensible), is to spread out the buying of presents over a period of time so that the finances balance out. I'm certainly always broke come Christmas, and it is a real pain because I want to go to the sales on Boxing Day and bend that poor credit card entirely out of shape. Every year, I say I will be good and every year, I do it again - no more resolutions, I say, this time around.
I shall work on the Bling! section of the web over the next week or so, in time for the office parties. That's it for the week folks, catch you next Friday, same time, same place, have a lovely week in the meantime
xx
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     I'm Neena Shilvock,  and I'm crazily addicted to jewellery. I've been designing and making quirky and interesting statement necklaces for the last five years and my passion hasn't cooled off one little bit - in fact it has got worse, such that I'm even dreaming jewellery.
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I am very proud of my body of work and what people say about it, here are some of the compliments I have received 

'Neena,the necklace has just arrived & I can't find enough of the right words to do it justice. Somehow "stunning" "gorgeous" "exquisite" don't seem to fit the bill! It's definitely a statement piece ..................'                 LJ

'Wow received my jewellery to day. Love them, so beautifully presented in a pretty green box and many thanks for gift of earrings, lovely, 
thanks :-)'         AT
 
 'Hi Neena, just been busy all week at a folk festival.....my Mme Butterfly drew lots of admiration, as did my Ice Queen and someone leaned over the counter in a store of healing and crystals and exclaimed at my beautiful lapis. I so enjoy wearing my pieces and the attention they receive. '          LB
 
 ' Neena, I can't describe how delighted I am with Scherezade - she is simply breathtaking.'  EW


Read more testimonials here and see pictures of happy customers here, here and​​ here 
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