She's Back!!

Hello readers, thanks for joining me for this week's edition of the Caprilicious blog. I have been laid low with a cold, and spent a few days in bed, waiting for it and the jet lag to pass. There was very little time to miss my muse, although a niggly thought remained at the back of my mind - 'where on earth is she' ?? In the meanwhile, I kept myself busy between snoozes, rearranging the website and sorting out a couple of pieces that I made just before I went to India but hadn't photographed.  

The Ottoman Necklace

Named for the beautiful green of the crystals and the agate in this piece, the necklace is called The Ottoman Necklace after the emeralds so beloved by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. The necklace is made to resemble a lariat, but has a magnetic clasp at the back which facilitates easy fastening. The bunch of crystals, agate and bling that drips into the décolletage is particularly pretty. The beautiful green of the stones is a fresh and vivid colour which conveys joie de vivre.  

Monochromasia

 Monochromasia is a medical condition of complete colour blindness in which all colours appear as shades of grey. This necklace is made of three strands of rutilated quartz teardrops, a focal coffee agate bead and an onyx clasp. Rutile is an ore of titanium, which often forms hair-like crystal inclusions inside quartz. It is meant to have metaphysical properties which enhance creativity and relieve depression and loneliness, and slow the ageing process (worth a try I suppose).  

And then Ms Muse was back! I woke up one morning and found that she had snuck back in without saying a word to anyone. She had already picked out the beads for my new necklace, all bright and colourful, a celebration of her return to work. We did a little joyous 'welcome home' dance together, and then I settled back in my chair, with my bead tray in my lap, Ms Muse at my shoulder, whispering in my ear.

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The Gypsy In Stilletos

The most colourful and vibrant beads in my stash came out to play in these two necklaces - unashamedly bright and in your face. There's no way you'd be a wallflower if you wore one of these. By the way, a lot of the beads on this page came from Itsy Bitsy in Bangalore - Ms Muse simply loved them. I made the colourful polymer clay toggle clasp in the first one and the green and black dangle at the end of the other a few months ago.

And then she pleaded with me for a rest - 'a couple more days off', she begged. I too was just getting into the swing of things at the day job, it isn't easy after such a long time away, so though I pretended to grumble, I was secretly relieved. I allowed her a couple of days to rest up and find her feet again and this is what her imagination came up with.

Cinderella's Necklace

Transformation

She said 'imagine poor Cinderella, sweeping up after her stepmother and the Ugly Sisters, sighing over her broom - along comes the Fairy Godmother (I think Ms Muse secretly believes she is mine), and with a wave of her wand gets Cinders ready for a night on the razzle. Just before this, she'd been wearing a necklace made from lumps of coal, which was converted by the FG into a piece of Bling'.
 This, then, is Cinderella's necklace, mid conversion! And because I wasn't sure whether Cinders would have preferred to go silver tone or gold, I made two versions, to give her the choice.

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The black beads are made of clay and were also found at Itsy Bitsy, just before I started my second workshop. The silver tone beads are electroplated quartz nuggets and the gold tone are Kenyan lost wax casting bronze beads.

That's it for this week folks. Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place,
xx