On Developing Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Hiya good people on the internet, nice to catch you again today. As you read this, I am girding my loins (what an old fashioned expression; to gird one's loins!! Not sure I even know what it means) to start packing my bags to fly to India tomorrow. I would have normally been flying out today, but it is Friday the 13th and I didn't want to travel - stupid, I know, but there it is!
Paraskevidekatriaphobia, or a phobia of Friday the 13th comes from the Greek words Paraskeví, meaning Friday, and dekatreís  meaning thirteen. It probably originates from the story of Jesus' last supper and crucifixion, in which there were 13 individuals present in the Room on Maundy Thursday, the night before his death on Good Friday.
A study in the British Medical Journal, in 1993 concluded that there "is a significant level of traffic-related incidents on Friday the 13th as opposed to a random day, in the UK." However, the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (2008) stated that "fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur on a Friday the 13th because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home".  

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So the day is almost upon us, when my mother turns 90, fortunately able in body and entirely compos mentis. My sister in law and I have been working to set up a credible party and give her a good day, and the WhatsApp lines have been smoking hot with phone calls, invitations and messages! We will have a weekend of celebration, and horror of horrors, I am to make a speech - not sure how that happened, but it seemed like a good idea at the time when I first agreed to do it. We have a week to fine tune the party plan, and then it all happens.  

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Oil Slick

I made this necklace with three strings of titanium coated druzy agate beads. I bought them for a completely different project and then changed my mind and left them lying in the drawer until inspiration struck this week. Tibetan brass beads inlaid with coral and turquoise chips and a golden sunstone clasp complement the beads in this very pretty necklace and it has already been snapped up.

The palette of indigo, purple, emerald and magenta gives the impression of an oil slick, indeed this is well known in hairdressing terms where people colour their hair in  blended streaks of these colours to produce this very effect.

The Silver Sufi

Last week I mentioned a Sufi necklace I made to order with lapis nuggets and coral. I had to send away to Istanbul for the pendant and while I was doing this, I noticed another fretwork Sufi on their website, and I simply had to have him.
Whirling is a form of Sama or meditation involving physical activity, which originated among Sufis and is still practiced by Dervishes or Semazen. It is a customary meditation practice performed within the Sema, or worship ceremony, through which Semazen aim to reach the source of all perfection through abandoning one's egos and personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun.
The billowing skirts of my Sufi are beautiful in fretwork, and I teamed him with titanium coated black quartz nuggets and coral as an accent and added a brass Turkomen bead as an extra point of interest. A lovely vintage Kuchi coin dangles from the back of the clasp. Plenty to look at, then!

I haven't the time to organise a show in Bangalore this year, but if any of you reading this are interested, I will be carrying some of my jewellery and you are welcome to message me via the Caprilicious Facebook page and arrange to come and look at it, I'll be only too happy to see you. 
That's me for this week folks, I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then
​xx