Pre Holiday Flurry, by Caprilicious

Hello, lovely people, how are you today? It's freezing out doors and I am tucked up under a warm fleece, watching TV and playing with wire and beads. 
Mike and I are off to India soon, to my neices wedding, and I'm really looking forward to the warmth of the sunshine and the fabulous colours and food back home. I'm sure I'll have many photographs to show you when I get back. 
In the meantime, I had a few pieces I decided to make to take back with me, so that is what I've done all week. I have some people in mind for each piece, so I haven't put them on the website yet. However, if they do not get picked up in India for one reason or another, I will put them on when I get back.  

I bought some mother of pearl leaves a few months ago - I've been meaning to make them up, but something else always got in the way. They are weightless and shine with an ethereal inner light. Cutting through the shells is a laborious process and the dust is toxic, which makes them relatively expensive, but still, oh so beautiful. Have a look and see what you think.

These are the larger pair of the two, and are approximately 3" long and 2" wide - the pearls are a bit heavy on the ear, so I put them on stud findings so that they don't tear the earlobe.

These are 2" long with tiny garnet teardrop beads, all in silver, with silver ear-wires.

I also had a pair of dried red rose buds, dipped in resin - I put them on long kidney wires made of hypoallergenic stainless steel, and wrapped tiny labradorite beads onto the ear wires themselves. Red and grey is a fabulous combination, especially if the grey has unexpected flashes of light when you move your head.

I thought that this was all I was going to make, when a parcel arrived from Hong-Kong with the prettiest beads I've ever seen. The manufacturer cut amethyst beads into tooth like nuggets and heat-treated them - the final treatment was a turquoise blue dye. I'm always a sucker for the combination of turquoise and amethyst and simply had to make this into a necklace as soon as I opened the package, it was too compelling to wait any longer.

Tiny 2mm pearls and pyrite beads space the beads out, and a 'lost wax' cast Kenyan sun bronze bead is a focal point. 

I am really looking forward to my holiday - work has been hard, but enjoyable, and now it's time for a break. A wedding is always fun and it will be great to see my family again in happy circumstances. Missing three weeks of cold weather in the UK is an added bonus!

That's me for now, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you soon. 
Until then
​xx