Miao, by Caprilicious Jewellery

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

Miao, by Caprilicious Jewellery

23/4/2021

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Hello people, how's tricks? The sunshine's back in the UK and things feel like they are looking up at last, with the weather, the vaccination program and the slowing of the Covid infection rates in the UK. Now, all we have to do is to wait for the rest of the world to get there so that we can begin to think about travel and all the other things we have hitherto enjoyed. Poor hubby has had hay fever - we have some beautiful flowering Hawthorn May blossom trees in front of the house and the masses of pollen they release every spring, as well as the sunshine and warmth have conspired against him. He even missed our first trip since lockdown began to the pub, being dosed up with antihistamines and sniffing himself to sleep.

My next project was to be an embroidered cuff bracelet, but it has been so busy at work that I was unable to bring myself to face a tube of beads or even a needle. I picked up a pendant that was actually one of a pair of earrings made by the Hmong tribe in China. It has a low silver content and is pretty heavy for an earring. The term 'Miao' is used today by the Chinese government to denote a group of linguistically and culturally related people (including the Hmong, Hmu, Kho Xiong, and A Hmao). Both men and women from the Miao tribes wear the most fantastical jewellery and put on a beautiful show for the tourists wearing what looked like the entire silver reserve of the country when I was in Xian, many years ago. I have a couple of the necklaces myself, but the earrings are too heavy for me - stretched earlobes must be in fashion out there!

Blue and white decoration first became widely used in Chinese porcelain in the 14th century, after the cobalt pigment for the blue began to be imported from Persia. I always thought Delftware was the definitive blue and white porcelain, but no, the Chinese made it first. It was widely exported, and inspired imitative wares in Islamic ceramics, and in Japan, and later European tin-glazed earthenware such as Delftware and in the 18th century, European porcelain.

blue and white porcelain beads, Chinese beads, Hmong earrings, Miao earrings, faux amber

The yellow beads are of resin and the asymmetrically placed red bead is dyed howlite. I like the added zhoosh the flash of red contributes to the piece.

Here are some pictures from a little photoshoot over the weekend we spent with a friend who originally came to me through Caprilicious. We hadn't seen each other for a while and by the time we actually went out into the garden, the light was fading - I'm not 100% happy with a lot of the photographs. I have picked out the best ones for these pages.