Hello everyone, hope you're all well and getting ready for the weekend. I'm told the weather is going to be warm and sunny - I've been holed up in the house for most of the week and it will be good to get out and about. The cat is certainly enjoying himself, although he sometimes gets it wrong and gets caught in a downpour. He then comes to us to be wiped down with a special towel we save just for that purpose. This week, I made a little necklace for a hummingbird pendant I've had for a while. I always knew I would pair it with garnets, and I added some colourful and contrasting beads to pick up the colours in the beautiful bird. The pendant is three-dimensional, and the maker has taken the trouble to add the little cubic zirconia on both sides, as well as on the back of the bird, between the wings. This is not a place that is readily visible, and need not have been embellished. I always love it when people go the extra mile which is what makes this pendant extra special. I had a couple of hand made beaded elements in my collection - I made them ages ago and hung on to them for just such a special occasion - they are made with pearls, smoky quartz and little red and silver seed beads, and I used them to flank the pendant. They lift the necklace immensely in my opinion, as they are bright and shiny - using just the garnets didn't work for me for some reason - the necklace looked too dark. I also added colourful gemstone beads at regular intervals to co-ordinate with the pendant. I love hummingbirds - they are among smallest of all birds. They’re incredibly aerobatic and can fly up, down, backward, they can change direction in an instant and effortlessly shift from full speed to practically standing still in the blink of an eye. This is in part because of how light-weight they are, with some hummingbirds weighing no more than a penny! It symbolises a lightness of being and an enjoyment of life in Native American cultures - and who couldn't use a bit of that? I found a picture of a necklace I made earlier, many years ago called Hummingbirds Haven - this one lives with a lovely lady in Warwickshire. 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
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Hi all, how are you this fine weekend? In the UK we aren't used to this constant barrage of sunshine and are exhausted, hot, sweaty and tetchy. I've made nothing over the week. I started a piece of embroidered jewellery but hated it - the tension of the piece was all wrong so I cut it up and retrieved the beads. And all the while a very close friend of mine was very ill and needed care and attention as she has Stage 4 breast cancer - my mind wandered as jewellery making is a joyful occupation and there isn't much joy in my heart at the moment. The reason why I'm mentioning her on a jewellery blog, is because she was sort of reponsible for me trying jewellery making for myself. Suzy went to a necklace making class in a local bead shop with a friend of hers and made a few pieces which she gave away as gifts. I received a couple of those and one of them impressed me so much I decided I should try it too - why not take a couple of classes myself? So, with the help of Google, I located a semi professional class in Leamington Spa College, where there were too many students and a silver ring to be made. A saw was shoved into my hands unceremoniously to get on with - a number of broken saw blades later, I decided that it wasn't for me! It was winter, the nights were closing in and I had to drive for about 45 minute after a long day at work to get to the class to have absolutely nothing to show for it. Not for me, so I found another class in Kegworth - and here we are today, 12 years down the line. She gifted me a wire-work arm band, which could also be used as a choker and I was instantly smitten. I took a wire work class and haven't looked back since. I took the armband in to the class and asked the teacher how it was made and to my surprise she was a bit sneery about it - while I now understand why, as it was a simple technique and the lady was teaching an advanced wire work class, I thought that it was such an unprofessional response. One should never sneer at another person's efforts, in my book. I still have the piece and wear it on and off, to this day. We've known each other since 1992 when Suzy was my house officer and we followed each other around the West Midlands junior doctors rotation. When there was a consultant post going at the George Eliot Hospital, I encouraged her to apply and she was interviewed for the post on 9/11 - when we came out of the interview the planes had crashed into the Twin Towers! She set about managing our labour ward, writing guidelines and shaking the place into shape and we are indebted to her. She came back to work after her first surgery - she managed all her chemotherapy and radiotherapy on her own due to the Covid pandemic. Those of us who visited her did so from a safe distance, anxious that as hospital workers we might be the carrier of the dreaded virus. I occasionally took food in for her and left it under her car, to be picked up and eaten after a couple of hours when we were sure that there wasn't a live virus sitting on the box. She was prepared to come back into work full time when the crab struck again and she was diagnosed with Stage 4 disease. Suzy went into neutropaenic sepsis and multi organ failure last week and is now on ITU, surrounded by her family. She decided against dialysis and was made comfortable so that her friends and family could say their goodbyes. I went early yesterday, before her family arrived, and had a chat with her - I'm looking after her beloved cat until other provision is made by her family, so we chatted away as if it was just another day until she began to talk about her funeral arrangements. She wants everyone in colour, in purple if possible. I don't really wear purple, but shall wear an amethyst necklace in tribute. She is now in a semi - coma and apparently is doing ward rounds in her sleep - well, she was so good at her job as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist that she could probably do it in her sleep. I will miss her dearly for all manner of reasons. When I got home, she had organised a bunch of flowers to be delivered, from her bed on ITU, as a thank you for looking after her cat. She was a determined shopaholic and had a few pieces of Caprilicious as well, but this adds a completely new dimension to the phrase 'shop until you drop'. We are likely to lose her sometime this weekend, and my heart is filled with dread, the thought that I will never see her again fills me with pain. She is a brave sister soul. I care deeply for her as she did for me. Here are a few pictures of our years together. One of them is from a holiday in Iceland - we went whale watching and I remember how she lurched from side to side on the small boat, trying to obtain the best view of the whale to get pictures, and was in danger of capsizing the boat or going overboard that I feared for her life, and ours, at the time. Have a good weekend, folks. It's going to rain next week and we will look back on this glorious sunshine wistfully - always longing for something we don't have without enjoying it when we actually have it. I'll catch up with you next week
Until then xx Hey folks, how are you? I'm sorry I missed you last week - and I'm late this week - but hey, what's a week or two between friends? Life has been ever so hectic and instead of resting at the weekend, I've been working. One weekend was spent at the hospital and the second -well, last weekend was spent organising the annual barbecue for my junior doctors who moved on to their next placement. August is always a difficult time, when all the people you've spent a year getting to know move on, and there's a new bunch to take their place. No doubt they feel awful too, having to get used to a new place in a new town, a fresh bunch of nurses and midwives who are eyeing them with suspicion, and relearning the systems and guidelines in another hospital just as they were getting comfortable with the last one. At least the weather is playing ball - the sun is out, and all's well with the world. The necklace for this week is one for hot summer nights - and days, when you're not keen to overburden yourself with heavy, perspiration inducing jewellery, but yet want a smasher to get you noticed! Three layers of faux coral, interspersed with the real thing in a bright turquoise blue and gold - what could be more summery? I pulled out all the stops with this one and it can be carried easily to destination weddings - think sitting on the beach with a hibiscus in your tresses, a floaty cover up, cocktail in hand, and this necklace! That's me for this week, folks. I'll catch up with you next weekend, have a wonderful week in the sun in the meantime
Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you today. I'm back after a week off, having fun with my friends. If one of them hadn't brought her two children, and my husband wasn't in the house, it would have been as if there were no intervening years. Age has not dulled our 40 year old friendship, and we sat around squabbling and reminiscing, gently pulling each others legs - we first met when we were just seventeen years old, and went through a lot of strange and difficult times in medical school by being a support system for one another, and that continues, to this day. We weren't able to go anywhere as one of them tested positive for Covid on arrival at our place - so we just masked up and sat around telling yarns, roasting one another, and comparing the number of swear words in Indian languages that we knew - I'm proud to say I remembered plenty, although there were a few I hadn't heard before. The house was full of noise and laughter, and smells of food being cooked around the clock - it was a very warm and loving visit and I'm so happy we could do it, and I'm sure we'll do it again. The piece I finished this week is one that you have seen in the making earlier on. It took simply ages to complete, mainly because I put in loads of tiny beads to signify 'grass' as it was meant to be set in a wildflower meadow. The little pewter art nouveau lady was imported from the USA, and is made by Vintaj. She sits, draped artfully in scarves and wraps, her long hair flowing around her, in the style of an art nouveau Mucha drawing. I sat her on a knoll of grass under a wisteria, with a tiny patch of ground and sky just visible to one side, surrounded by the wildflower meadow. Mucha I ain't, but this is my effort at a romantic and wistful setting. I ended the necklace with tourmaline and jade beads and a little toggle clasp. The whole piece from start to finish took me 3 weeks to complete. I think it is even more stunning in real life than in photographs, because of the 3-D dimensions of the piece - it has to be held to be truly appreciated. The day job has been really busy and added to that I lost Wi-Fi during the heat wave and couldn't get Virgin Media to send someone out for 3 days. I've truly earned this weekend - I'm going to sit around, doing absolutely nothing, relaxing with a cuppa tea until it's Monday again. Next weekend is party time - my junior doctors are leaving us - is it a celebration that they are getting closer to that consultant or GP job, or one that they are finally leaving us to wreak havoc in another department? That's for me to know and the hospital they go to to find out. Actually, this bunch have been lovely and deserve a good end of term blow-out, which I shall give them. That's all for this week, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you again next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello everyone, how's tricks? I'm very excited - the sun is shining, the flowers in my garden are blooming and my friends are coming all the way from the USA to spend a week with me. Added to all this, I've got next week off and as of 5 pm tonight, am as free as a bird. I spent so much time in the hospital this week sorting out one problem and another, that my brain is just about ready to burst! I've spent a few hours every evening sewing little beads onto a piece of backing - it seems like this necklace is taking ages. I wanted to give the effect of a wildflower meadow, with a woman sitting under a wisteria, perhaps taking a little mid afternoon nap. I have a couple of progress pictures as it is nowhere near finished - the grass is taking ages to block in. I've used little crystals as the wildflowers - in the past I filled the space with large fowers, and added the 'grass' as a filler, but this time, there are a few roses and mainly greenery, which is probably the reason why it's taking so long as it is fine work that causes my fingers and eyes a degree of exhaustion. When it is finished, I'm sure the effect will be very pretty, it certainly shows signs of it already. Here are a couple of progress pictures for you. The effect is meant to be as if she's sitting in a bower under the shade of a wisteria, there's a patch of land and a bit of the sky visible, as well as the wildflower meadow surrounding her, with a few roses thrown in for good measure. Hubby and I have been glued to the television for the last couple of days watching the drama in Downing Street unfold, so I've had plenty of time to sew my fingers to the bone, the limiting factor of course, being exhaustion. Painting with beads is so much fun! I'm going to go now and have a well earned nap in the garden. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll catch up with you in a couple of weeks when my friends have gone, same time, same place.
Until then, xx Hello lovely people, so glad to join you here again. I'm very excited this week - two of my friends from medical school are going to be with me in a about fifteen days time and I'm getting ready for some fun and games! One of them had a talk to deliver in Brussels and decided to make a little detour into France and then come and visit with me - on hearing this, another mate from our group decided to come as well. They are coming all the way from the USA to Warwickshire, just to spend some time with me and I'm all of a tizzy! I have to work all of next week, Monday to Thursday, and have just got the weekend to prepare for them and do the shopping, cooking and cleaning that a housefull of guests entails. I hear you thinking - two guests a housefull do not make - but one of them is coming with her two grown-up kids in tow - so yes, it does! My bestie picked up a few pieces from Caprilicious and I sent her 'Fiesta' as a gift with the rest of her goodies. She likes to wear matching earrings, while I don't ever make them - I think a statement necklace is more than enough for one person at any occasion. However, my policy has always been 'the customer is always right, even when she's wrong' and I try to live by that tenet. I set out to make a pair of earrings to match and decided that I would use the motifs in the necklace, but put them on a black background so that the designs stood out - I just hope she likes them and doesn't want them on a red/pink background - in any case it will take me just a few minutes to whip up another pair, now that they've been made before, I know exactly how to make another lot. And, because I didn't want to turn on an oven to make just one pair, I made a few more, which she is welcome to have, should she like them - or perhaps her daughter will.
I've spent evenings in front of the telly populating a necklace with little beads and if I have time, ought to finish it by the end of next week.
That's me for now, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you next Friday, around the same time, same place. Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you today? We are sweltering in the lovely heat as I type - sweltering sounds awful, right? However, the alternative in this country is shivering! There you go, sweltering/sweating/melting/drooping/wilting/whatever - all those words sound much nicer to me than shivering/blue fingers, noses and toes/umbrellas/macs/cardigans and the other horrors that usually go with the words summer in Britain. And, the bonus is we can switch off the heating for at least one day! I've spent my life in the UK with the heating turned up full blast - winter or summer, I wear T-shirts, light dresses and flip-flops around the house and hubby has got used to what he calls 'Bangalore temperatures' - no mismatched socks and oatmeal coloured cardis in my house! We are dressed in hope-inducing summer gear all year round. And now the cost of living is going up! The government does nothing, and there's a rash of cr*ppy advice on every website and newspaper from supposedly sensible authors who usually write articles about investing your money sensibly. These self styled 'money-gurus' now write tips like putting bricks in your toilet cistern so that you can save on water, and what you can do with potato peelings. And then, you might hopefully save enough to follow their by-now obsolete investment advice. I'm told there's even an app that you can download so you can get a 'mystery bag' from the local supermarkets - if you're really lucky you can cook an egg over a candle and eat it with browning cauliflower stalks leftover from the supermarket. So why shop online? Why buy jewellery? Where would you go in it? These are the questions I've been asking myself. I will never stop making stuff, I don't think - it gives me a lot of pleasure to create pretty things. I used to wear my jewellery to work, until the lovely lady from Infection Control took me to one side and put a compelling argument to me - what is euphemistically called a 'respectful challenge' - that just means that the sentence doesn't end with an 'or else', but you know there's one, just the same. Oh well, that is by-the-by. I will still make my beauties, even though I might not be able to wear them every day. Women shop and buy jewellery online because everyone is owed a treat - and sometimes it's nice to own a nice object even though you can't wear it immediately. You know it's in the cupboard waiting for you when the occasion arises - and it will come, believe me. We've been through recessions, wars and problems before and the world has survived. My mother still talks about the time when she could buy a bunch of bananas for a rupee - which is about 10 pence in todays money - however, she is 95 years old, and I'm glad she can still remember anything at all. Caprilicious is chock full of pieces that one wouldn't find in a regular shop and is less expensive than many boutiques. And though the flow out of my door has been stemmed by the fabulous Mr Putin's war, it will not stop and I will not raise the prices of my stock because I don't think it's fair on the Caprilicious women who shop with me. Aegean BlueThis three stranded necklace is made of blue agate cubes and tiny seed pearls. I love this blue, which is reminiscent of Peruvian opal, it has the instant effect of cooling you down. Perfect for the days when you are drooping in the heat with a white dress, it's also great in the winter, worn with darker outfits. I like the fact that it is versatile and can be worn to a party at night, yet isn't so showy that it couldn't be worn to the office when you need a boost to your confidence levels. While the Agean sea is but a bay of the Mediterranean, their colours are completely different. The bottom of the Aegean is made of limestone and the pale rock reflects the light differently, causing it to be much lighter than the Mediterranean sea. I'd love to be in Greece, sitting by the seaside, a glass of something tasty in my hand, watching people go by. That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful week, and I'll catch you on the Friday, same time, same place.
Until then xx Hello everyone, how are you today? Britain has been basking in a heat wave and although I've been busy and locked into the hospital, it's nice to know that outside, someone, somewhere, is lying on a patch of grass, basking in the sun. Life has been crazy busy and I simply didn't have time to get to you last week, but here I am at last, bright eyed and bushy tailed. The garden is enjoying the weather, and hubby is spending loads of time outdoors, watering the plants. I have friends coming to stay with me from the USA in four weeks time and I'm hoping the garden will still look nice, and all the flowers aren't spent by the time they get here. With all that's going on at work, I had no time to pick up my beads or pliers, but when I received a few beautiful pairs of earring beads, I wasted no time in putting them together. One pair is already spoken for, but the others are loaded onto the website now. Here are a few pictures of my simple, but beautiful earrings. These acid green beauties are made with Cymophane, an opalescent version of chrysoberyl. I've never seen these gems before and scrambled to pick them up as soon as I saw them. This is the second time I'm making them and I think they are ever so sleek, sohisticated and elegant. As they are so simple, the fact that they are long won't be a reason why you can't wear them during the daytime, and to work, if you so choose. In fact I see them with a white shirt and jeans, just as easily as a little black dress. The flowers in the garden are calling out to me to make another floral piece and I have the whole thing planned out in my head. In the meantime, I have the weekend off, but loads of prep to do for a presentation next week. Long lie-ins, lazy brunches in the garden, out in the sunshine - and a laptop by my side, constantly reminding me that I'm playing hooky, instead of preparing for the next week - I'm going to feel like I'm back in school! That's me for this week, folks. Have a fabulous week and I hope to catch up with you again next Friday, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello people, how are you today? Britain was supposed to be basking in a heat wave this weekend, but unfortunately this turned out to be a fake news. I wonder if the Met office was giving us a false sense of wellbeing, so we'd all go down to London and line the streets in the hope of watching Royalty strutting their stuff. In any event, they needn't have bothered - those who wanted to go would have been there with bells on, whatever the weather. The Queen has been out on the balcony, but couldn't manage any more celebrating, but everyone else had a great time. I enjoyed the two day break and chilled out at home with hubby in the garden, my cat and my beloved beads! Quite a few people wrote in to me to ask about the burning of the Sanctuary, which I talked about in last week's blog. Hubby didn't want to go for some mysterious reason, although I did, so we watched it second hand - here are a couple of short clips for you. I thought it was incredibly moving, that they burned out such a beautiful creation in an effort to heal an entire community.
As I explained to you last time, I've been beading around several little cabochons for a few weeks now, and I set them into a single piece - to me it resembled a Catherine wheel, with the central oval cabochon and the others seeming to spin around it. I decided to give it a fringe of golden seed beads, dripping with citrine teardrops. And when that was finished, I thought it needed more and I added another layer of fringe, this time in a medley of blue seed beads, with pale blue agate sprinkled generously through them. It was meant to go onto a torque initially, but I felt it could do with a more opulent necklace, and a string of peach quartz, coated with titanium vapour seemed to be the ideal match, with a few seed pearls thrown in for good measure. I found a few dichroic glass cabochons in a pot - I must've bought them years ago - I wonder what I was storing them for? Perhaps they were waiting for a rainy day. The colours are so beautiful, I can't think why I didn't use them earlier. Well, that stops now - they have come back into circulation and will appear in some of my next few pieces, methinks. I'm off to spend the rest of the 'Jubilee Weekend' with the hubby and cat. That's me for now, have a great time if you're out celebrating and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place. Until then xx Hello, people, how are you today? I've been a bit late with this weeks post, but in my defence I've been a bit snowed under at work and with other things happening around me that have eaten away at my days, one bite at a time. I did have a bit of time to play with my beads, but the week was crowned by what I am going to tell you about in a minute - Sanctuary. Sanctuary is a beautiful and ornate wooden structure, 22m high, constructed by internationally-known American artist David Best, working with local communities, and is meant to be the nation's Covid memorial. The Sanctuary project was designed to mark the recovery and regeneration of the whole community, with Bedworth having been chosen for its reputation as the ‘town that never forgets.’ The project was supported by Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council, Warwickshire County Council and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Culture Recovery Fund. Students from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College helped to install it - I can't imagine how exciting that must have been for the kids who took part in putting it up. I lived in Bedworth for over 5 years, and drove past Bedworth Miners Park on a number of occasions - however, I never went into it and didn't know how huge and how beautiful it was. We read about 'Sanctuary' in the local press and decided that we ought to make the effort to go and take a look at it, seeing that they were planning to burn it on Saturday. When it is burned, it is meant to release all the pent up grief and pain into the cosmos and help people to heal from the wounds Covid has inflicted on us. We strolled through the park, and walked for what seemed like ages till we came to an artifically built hillock with the most beautiful wooden pagoda built on the top. The students had cut a lacy pattern into what appeared to be MDF with a jigsaw and assembled the tower with a central stalactite/stalagmite formation inside it. Volunteers were offering felt tipped pens and people were writing the names of their loved ones with heart rending messages. I don't cry easily, but looking at the sheer numbers of messages brought a lump to my throat. As someone who works in the NHS, I think we treat people who come to us as 'patients' - and as a defence mechanism to keep ourselves sane, we have to forget that these 'patients' are actually someones parents, grandparents and children, or we wouldn't be able to do the job. I had a number of small cabochons, and with my propensity for statement pieces, thought I'd put them together in some way and convert them into one large piece. I have been beading around them, piece by piece over the last few weeks and I finally put them together, ready to finish and embellish into the beauty it will inevitably become (I hope!!). Apologies for the poor photograph - it was taken with my phone, in a hurry. I will have it finished by next week most likely, and you can see it in all it's glory. That's me for today, folks. Have a wonderful week and I'll catch you next weekend, same time, same place.
Until then, xx |
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