Hello, lovely people, how are you today. My batteries are totally recharged, I've had a week off work and had late mornings with no alarm bells going off to wake me up, all jangling nerves and wild hair. I do not miss my alarm clock when I can grab the odd morning without it. I find that I wake up at more or less the same time, all calm and collected with a smile on my face and then lie in bed reading, or just designing one of my necklaces in my head. 

I haven't had a moment to myself in the last couple of months so didn't plan on doing too much this week. We did however, take a trip into Coventry to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition, which turned out to be the story of her life in her words, in what they called 'an immersive experience'. As she chronicled pretty much everything in either words or paint, a lot of people know all there is to know about the lady, but it was still an interesting experience, finished off by lunch at the pub - it's a long time since I ate a steak and ale pie! 

A necklace to make the wearer feel like a princess - that was what I set out to make. It is luxoriously made, from the 49 strand stainless steel beading wire, each one of them as fine as a hair, but with a fabulous drape and strength, to the little micro pave 'disco ball' cubic zirconia beads and the elegant clasp, not to mention the beautiful rainbow or peacock pearls with their oil slick colours. I felt I needed to add some extra Oomph! and quickly made up the little smoky crystal pendant with tiny silver Miyuki seed beads. The pendant also adds a counter weight and helps the necklace drape perfectly. This is what it looks like - do tell me if I have fulfilled my remit.

I have the weekend before I go back to work and I plan to enjoy every moment of it. I've almost decided that I'm not going to finish the necklace that has been sitting on my workbench in all its glorious fugliness - I'm not sure it's going to be worth pursuing.
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That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll catch you soon, 
Until then
​xx

Hello everyone, how is 2023 treating you? I hope you all had a great New Year's celebration, whatever you did. I was working, so took in some food for the people at work and celebrated with them.  Fortunately the weather improved for a while and getting about wasn't a problem, although this week has been cold again. I haven't been able to get to the blog for a while due to pressures of work and life in general, and many apologies for that. However, I hope to be back to write at least a couple of blog posts a month - I'm going to stop kidding myself that I will be able to do more. Life has become so busy that I can't seem to spare the time to play with beads. 

I have mentioned the bead embroidered piece that is still is in its 'fugly' phase and I just have to wait until I can decide whether I want to tear it up or carry on. Just now it sits on a necklace bust, glaring at me, willing me to pick it up and do something, anything,  with it. Instead, I decided to sidestep it and for my first piece of the year to use a strand of dragons vein agate that I'd been hoarding for a while. 

I love the look of dragons vein agate - the stones themselves are tactile and smooth, and the markings look like they have been taken from a magical and fantastic tale. I tend not to buy brown coloured stones and am attracted to bright and colourful ones as a rule. However, these were so pretty, I bought two strands. One of them was paired with a pendant of hand carved white jade in an effort to brighten the piece but I wasn't satisfied until I added a crystal in a beaded bezel to the lower edge of the pendant. A few pearls, some Tibetan shell beads, capped with silver and a handful of little blue Japanese seed beads to brighten the necklace even further and, Voila! it was finished.
When I tried it on after the addition of the little crystal teardrop, it seemed too long to me and I shortened it. 
It now looks like something a sophisticated woman of the world would wear to a luncheon date in a posh restaurant. 

This week, I'm planning to play with black rainbow pearls - I love those oil slick colours. And then maybe, I shall go back to the fugly one and make a decision, one way or another. I can't bear to look at it anymore, sitting there, crying, 'Me, me, me', every time I walk by.

That's me for now, people. I'll be back in a couple of weeks, same place, same time.  
Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll catch you soon.
Until then
​xx

Hello people, I hope you are all having a joyful and peaceful Holiday Season. We cancelled Christmas this year - the passing of my friend Suzy, and my mother weigh heavily on me and I couldn't contemplate any celebrations, of any kind. It's all just a bit too raw just now. Of course we had a hearty meal - but that was it - no cards, no tree, no gifts, and very little cheer.  

I've started a necklace but I cannot decide whether it is just in it's 'fugly' stage or I need to cut it up and retrieve the elements. I'm leaning towards the latter, but just now it is sitting on a pile of beads, glaring balefully at me, daring me to pick it up. It took me ages to plan how I was going to make this piece up as I'm trying something new, which is what is preventing me from cutting it up in the first instance.  Anyway, I haven't anything to show you today - my excuse is of the 'Miss, the dog ate my homework,' variety! I thought I'd show you a few of my favourite pieces from 2022 - just a few pretty pictures.

It's been very difficult to choose from all the pieces I made this year, but I was determined to pick no more than a dozen. There are, of course many more on the website - do take a look when you have a minute.

I'm working all weekend, so will wish you goodbye, and a very Happy New Year one and all.
That's me for this year folks, I'll be back to catch up with you early in the New Year - once I've made a firm decision about the piece I've started, and come close to cutting up a dozen times.
Be good, and once again, a very happy New Year
​xx

Hello lovely people, how are you today? Apologies for being a bit late with this post - I've been busy with the day job and too tired to create anything, let alone write a blog post. Grief is a strange emotion - it saps you of the will to do anything constructive or creative. However, the job I do demands concentration and care, and consequently I've found that I have given my all at work and have nothing left when I get home. Losing two important people from my world in the space of eight weeks has been a bit crushing, to say the least.
I have some time off, though - I had saved a lot of my holiday to go to India in February, but as I won't be going next year, I have redistributed my days off evenly, so that I can have some respite and me time.

Just about any pearl you’ll find today is a cultured pearl. Cultured pearls are an effort made by pearl farmers in order to maintain the delicate balance of nature, while still responding to the demand for pearls in the jewelry marketplace. Culturing pearls began at the very beginning of the 20th century, when several inventors discovered the techniques required in order to cultivate pearls. The most famous of these inventors is Kokichi Mikimoto, the father of Akoya pearl.

Spherical pearls with a variation of less than 2% in diameter fall into the "round" category. They roll in a straight line on a flat surface. This is the most expensive shape, provided it has an adequate coating of nacre. Pearls that are not round, but look spherical to the eye, are called off-round or near-round pearls. 
Unlike round pearls, off-round pearls deviate more than slightly when rolled on a flat surface. Shapes that are obviously not round or slightly irregular are called semi-baroque. These include oval, drop, and button-shaped pearls. Pearls with one or more ring-like grooves around the body fall into this category. These circles are usually formed on off-round, semi-baroque and baroque shapes, and are more commonly seen in South Sea, Tahitian, and freshwater pearls.
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Baroque pearls are completely irregular in shape, also known as freeform. They are just as affordable as the circled pearls, and often make a more interesting jewellery design than round pearls do. The majority of freshwater cultured pearls are tissue-nucleated, so most pearls are in small or large semi-baroque and baroque shapes. Some are nucleated with flat discs or large round beads to culture coin shapes and fireball.

Cultured saltwater pearls are cultivated in oysters from oceans and tropical atolls or lagoons. A perfectly round shell-bead nucleus, along with a tiny 1mm slice of donor mantle tissue from another oyster is inserted into the oyster's gonad; this is the "base" or template for the oyster to begin forming a pearl sac around and eventually begins layering crystalline nacre in concentric layers, much like an onion. The oysters are periodically brought onto land for cleaning and a health assessment. Pearl technicians take every conceivable measure to protect the oysters from disease and damage. Pearls can be harvested as early as 18 months, but the longer the pearls are left in the oyster to acquire thicker layers of nacre, the better the resulting quality. South Sea pearls, and Tahitian pearls will usually take between 2 and 3 years to form while Akoya pearls from Japan will usually take under 2 years.
This means that a large, fine Tahitian or South Sea pearl necklace can take many years to properly match for size, luster and color, which is why they are so expensive.

​Chinese freshwater pearls are farmed in freshwater lakes, rivers and man-made ponds, and are grown within freshwater mussels. Freshwater pearls are begun by inserting tiny pieces of donor mantle tissue into the mussel; as many as twenty-five insertions may be made per valve, or each side of the shell. The mussel begins forming pearl sacs for each irritant, and after a period of about two years the pearls are harvested. Each mussel can produce a wide variety of natural colors ranging from lavender to pink and peach, bright silver white to deeper creamy/ivory shades. 
Clean, balanced environmental conditions are essential to the health of the molluscs and the resulting beauty of the pearls, which means that pearliculture is extremely  environmentally friendly.
And the best part - it is relatively easy to produce a specific pearl shape, color and size on demand and wild oyster populations, once over-fished to near extinction around the world have been given a long-deserved rest from pearl hunters and are once again allowed to flourish and regain their once plentiful numbers. A win - win situation!

This one is a beaut - I've hoarded the amethyst druzy chunks for over 3 years, periodically bringing them out to marvel at their beauty. I always knew they would go into a necklace with pearls, but it's only when I received the baroque pearls in the post that I decided that their time had come to be made up.

Three different shapes and sizes of pearl go into this piece as well as the beautiful amethyst beads and tiny faceted silvery haematite. This is a very modern take on a classic combination and will look great in both summer and winter, over a pullover as the necklace is 26" long. 

Thank you all for chatting with me today. I hope to be back at the end of the week you wish you all a Merry Christmas. 
That's me for today folks. See you soon on these pages
Until then
​xx

Hello people, how are you? I am very excited that I have been able to cut a deal with Health Service Discounts and am able to offer all NHS workers a flat 15% off everything on Caprilicious. The company also has other websites with discounts for teachers, carers, and charity workers and Caprilicious is on all of these. 

So, while all this was brewing and emails flying back and forth, I sat down every evening, sewing beads around a beautiful, large ammonite. The back of the ammonite was not smooth - I think it was really meant as a showpiece as it came with a little easel, but I didn't let that stop me - a You Tube tutorial showed me how to pack felt under it and faux suede around the edges to make the back flat, and off I went. I like to learn new techniques and tricks each time I create. Making the same thing over and over again doesn't interest me at all, I think that's what I love about artisanal jewellery - there are so many techniques involved, one can spend a lifetime learning them. 

This has been an unseasonably warm November and the garden is still going - my little Marguerites are actually budding and flowering, as is the Acanthus Mollis or Bear's Breeches - I love that name and looked everywhere for the origin but couldn't find it. What I found out was that the distinctive shape of the foliage has adorned Corinthian columns since the 18th century. Those leaves are certainly beautiful.

That's me for this week, folks. Stay warm and have a great week, and I'll catch you soon, 
Until then
​xx

Hello people, how are you today? Caprilicious is eleven years old this week! You have all helped me to enjoy myself for eleven whole years, and I am very grateful. To my followers on Facebook and Instagram, and to those who follow my blog - some openly and the others lurking in the background, pretending not to exist - I know you are out there, and yes, I thank you to you too.

When I first started to make jewellery, one of my friends asked whether it was going to be a passing fancy, or I was being serious about jewellery making - at that time, I had no idea that I would spend so many fun years researching, buying, designing, making, marketing and selling jewellery - I'd have been shocked if I had known it, myself.  I've taken on extra responsibilities at work and have been spreading myself pretty thin - but however tired I am, it is so nice to change out of my street clothes and sit down with a project in my hands and eventually have a finished object to photograph and love. It certainly helps me to enjoy my downtime, and it is so satisfying when I wear something I've made myself and get compliments for it.

I spent this week beading a bezel around a rather large ammonite fossil - it was an exercise in patience to bead around it mainly because it is about 3.5" in diameter and the back is irregular. I had to find a way to pad the back with felt and other materials to stabilise it so that it didn't rock about in the bezel I created. Now I have to decide what I'm going to do with it - I have some ideas, which I will share with you next week.

For Caprilicious' eleventh birthday, I have decided to treat my tribe of key workers to a discount. I have been negotiating with Health Services Discounts to put an offer on their pages - they also have separate sites for ambulance workers, teachers, and care workers, so Caprilicious will reach a whole load of people if I can pull this off - stay tuned on this one.

That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place,
Until then
​xx

Hello everyone, it's lovely to chat to you again after a busy week. I was invited out to lunch last weekend and was able to wear the Kandinsky necklace - I must say it felt really good and I got a number of compliments. I realise that it looks much larger and more intimidating until it is worn - and then, it just feels like a piece of fun around your neck. Just right for a dull November evening and a simple outfit.

I received a strand of faux turquoise teardrops in the post and wanted to use them straight away. I've tried to control the bead buying sprees I used to go on and consequently only pick up componenets that I fall in love with at first sight. Once I have them in my hot little hands however, I can't control the urge to use them straight away. The amethyst I used in the necklace are light in colour, but they are plump and juicy cylinders that have been gently faceted to reflect the light wonderfully. The combination of turquoise and amethyst is classic and beautiful.

Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat - that is if it hasn't been affected by Avian flu. I'm not celebrating this year, but for those of you who are, remeber that Caprilicious offers a free service - I will pack and send your gifts out for you if you message me. I'll even include a card from you and any message you care to send.

That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place. 
Until then
​xx

Hello everyone, how are you today? The sun is shining as I type this, and I actually feel like going out - I've spent the last couple of weeks holed up in the house, not doing anything more strenuous than picking through old photographs I collected from my mother's cupboards and remembering old times. Fortunately, I was able to get a couple of weeks off work, thanks to my colleagues and a sympathetic GP, and now it's time to pull myself together and go back on Monday.

In the meantime, I sat in front of the TV and vegged out. Eventually, I picked up the piece of bead embroidery I was working on and decided it was time to put the finishing touches to it. 
The piece is heavily influenced by this print of Kandinsky's 'Spitzen im Bogen' or 'Points in the Curve' that hangs on a wall in my living room.
I've often stared at it, wondering how I could use it in a piece of jewellery, when it occurred to me to turn it on it's side and convert it into a necklace. 

The pendant can be brought closer to the neck by removing a couple of links in the chain which is very easy to do. The dichroic glass cabochon glows like the centre of a flame, and there are  many varied elements in the piece - a dyed howlite donut, rose quartz, dichroic glass, Swarovski crystal rivolis, an amethyst coloured rectangular crystal, and a multitude of Czech and Japanese seed beads. Trying to match Kandinskys sense of colour was going to be impossible, so I just went with my own. I think that's colourful enough, don't you? The pendant back was padded out with felt and covered over with Ultrasuede in a bright pink, to be just as vibrant as the front.

That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place. 
Until then
​xx

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.

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.

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.

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
​xx

Hello folks, I'm happy to meet up with you again after a short break. I have been kept busy by the organisation of a memorial service at the chapel in the hospital, as a lot of people couldn't get to my friends funeral, it being a working day. For some reason it has fallen to me to organise it - invitations have been sent out and the hospital Chaplain has been ever so helpful.
We were meant to be in Amsterdam this weekend, but one look at the queues in Schiphol airport, which at the moment are about 5 miles long to get through security, convinced me that this was simply not the time to go. Hubby fell ill as well, and we managed to get a refund from the hotel and a voucher from the airline. Unfortunately, I couldn't cancel my annual leave at work as all my clinical committments have been cancelled and can't be reinstated. Perhaps that's just as well - I need a bit of a break and recharge.

I thought I'd show you a picture of one of the last flowers in the garden - this is a Mediterranean plant with large spiny leaves and a tall spike of flowers called Bear's Britches.

I started a half thought out piece of beaded embroidery - this is inspired by a Kandinsky print I have on my wall - I'm only able to block in a little bit at a time, so it may be a while before it is finished. I shall take pictures as I go, to track the making of this pendant. 
I'm excited to see how this one will evolve - one thing's for sure, it will be extremely colourful. 

I bought a hank of whisper pink crystal beads when I was in Prague - although pink is not a colour I usually go with, I couldn't resist the beauty of a fistful of these lovelies. Looked at singly, the pink fades to almost clear glass, but in a multi strand necklace, they are delectably pink.
​Once I brought them home, however, it was another story - I didn't know what to do with them, so they remained in their box, waiting for me to find inspiration. I was idly browsing through some beads on the internet and these pretty faux-stone pink beads took my fancy. I put the two together and the resulting piece reminded me of cotton candy, the spun sugar sweet on a stick that I was treated to as a child at the annual school fete.

I even found pink beading wire as the usual grey or silver wire running through the crystals would have muddied the pink. The box clasp is set with a shiny black agate and can be worn to one side as well as the back. I felt the black added a bit of gravitas to what would otherwise be a very girly necklace. 

With this one, I had to admit defeat - no photograph can ever express the beauty of the crystals as they shimmer in the light.

That's me for this week, folks. I'll probably be back in a couple of weeks once the memorial service is done and dusted. Have a wonderful week and savour the last weeks of summer, before the oncoming autumn. Catch you soon,
Until then
​xx