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The Caprilicious Jewellery Blog

Beautiful Handmade Statement Necklaces and other Fabulousness from Neena Shilvock - Inspirations and Designs From the Week Gone by

Silver Seduction

7/8/2015

2 Comments

 
Hello again readers, and welcome to the Caprilicious Jewellery blog for lovers of statement jewellery. 
This week has been about playing with my little kiln and making components for earrings. I had a few packs of Art Clay Silver and thought it was time I used them while I had a couple of days off from the day job.  
I wrote about the medium a long time ago, when I first went to a class, and it was just as much fun playing with the clay this week as it was when I was first enthused by it. Here are some of the earrings I made with the finished silver components.
Precious Metal Clay (99% Silver) earrings PMC by Caprilicious jewellery
Precious Metal Clay (99% Silver) earrings PMC by Caprilicious jewellery
Precious Metal Clay (99% Silver) earrings PMC by Caprilicious jewellery
Precious Metal Clay (99% Silver) earrings PMC by Caprilicious jewellery
Precious Metal Clay (99% Silver) earrings PMC by Caprilicious jewellery
As I hadn't used my kiln for ages I had to get reacquainted with it and the silver clay. It is a real bu**~r of a medium, pardon my French -but that was the politest expletive I used that day.  
 I made a few pieces, dried them out on a heated tray and then decided I didn't like them and reconstituted the clay to make another design. I figured it was better to scrap the design at the clay stage when it could be reused, rather than to carry on foolishly, hoping for the best and having to scrap it eventually when it came out of the kiln. 
The air was blue around my head. However, by the time I finished I was working like a well oiled machine and I ended up with these five pairs of earring components  that I was happy with and could fire in the kiln. I think the earrings are pretty, don't you?

Stormy Weather

Megha (Rainclouds)

The pendant in this piece is from India - a hammered disc with an ornate pattern and a peacock  picked out in wire. As the peacock dances in the monsoon, I thought it went well with the spectrolite beads - they come in a beautiful inky blue/black - a puffy rain cloud in each bead, with little flashes of lightning shooting through. A couple of shiny silver beads, and some pearls and the necklace was done. As one of my friends said, it is a traditional pendant (and you couldn't get a more traditional Indian motif than a peacock) with a contemporary necklace. It certainly fits my design ethic - a mix and match of different cultural identities, and the ancient with the modern, yet making an interesting piece of jewellery that can be worn with just about anything.
Silver and Spectrolite necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Silver and Spectrolite necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Silver and Spectrolite necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Silver and Spectrolite necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery

Quicksilver

The title for this piece comes from the cinnabar beads. Cinnabar was a vermilion pigment derived from Mercury sulphate - the ore used to refine elemental mercury or quicksilver. Cinnabar generally occurs as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs. Quicksilver is literally 'living silver' because of the ability of mercury to move, being the only liquid metal at standard conditions for temperature and pressure.
Until it was widely realised that mercury was poisonous, it was used in the Near East and in China since as early as the Song dynasty, where it was used in colouring lacquerware and in cosmetics. Imagine the furore when the ladies found that they were literally 'dying to look beautiful'. It was bad enough when they couldn't walk because their feet were bound and deformed, but it must have been even worse when the ladies couldn't even lie indolently on their chaise - longues, looking beautiful in their red lippie and rouge for fear of doing themselves a mischief. Where was Max Factor in those days?? He would've made a killing (sorry, couldn't resist it)!
In the modern jewelry industry, the toxic pigment is replaced by a resin-based polymer that approximates the appearance of pigmented lacquer. 
Abalone sterling silver pendant with black frosted agate and cinnabar necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Abalone sterling silver pendant with black frosted agate and cinnabar necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Abalone sterling silver pendant with black frosted agate and cinnabar necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
Abalone sterling silver pendant with black frosted agate and cinnabar necklace by Caprilicious Jewellery
The pendant, set in silver is a mosaic of abalone and black lip oyster, set with coral and turquoise and the beads are an unusual matte grey agate, set off by the cinnabar.
So folks, it is back to the kiln for me this weekend - if you come by my house and it sits in the centre of a blue fog, you'll know I am having problems with my clay - but one can only hope that won't be the case. Have a lovely weekend, and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place
xx
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2 Comments
Divya N link
8/8/2015 02:09:20 am

Your components have come out great. I so love the triangle pieces. The one with lapis and red beads looks really trendy and versatile; you could wear it with almost anything and look great. Great job!

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neena shilvock link
8/8/2015 03:07:16 am

Thank you Divya. This was a practice run to get reacquainted with the medium. Hopefully, I will go onwards and upwards from here :) I like to make what I call 'fusion' jewellery - to be worn with everything, and anything - less restrictive, I think

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     I'm Neena Shilvock,  and I'm crazily addicted to jewellery.

    I've been designing and making quirky and interesting statement necklaces for over ten years and my passion hasn't cooled off one little bit - in fact it has got worse, such that I  even dream jewellery.

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