Spring Fever and Enchantment

If The King said so - it must be true -do listen to the song while reading this - brings the blog alive!'
A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.' 
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830 -1886)

The weather is getting warmer and the plants in the garden are aching with buds - I love England in the springtime, especially after a bleak winter.
I found an Intarsia cabochon in my stash -Intarsia is the centuries old skill of combining gem materials into works of art.  Each piece of stone is precisely cut and fitted for inlay into another gemstone.  Once assembled the complete piece is polished to a high finish.  Each Intarsia is made entirely by hand - and because of this, relatively expensive. This one has elements of pink rhodochrosite, jasper and agate, and I decided to frame it in polymer clay to resemble a picture frame and then use it as a pendant. The cabochon itself is only 2 1/2 x 1 inch,  and would stand no chance being visible, given my penchant for 'big' jewellery. So this is what I made with it - added a polymer clay frame using cherry blossom millefiori cane, and stringing it with a bunch of multicolour lucite leaves and flowers, using glass and acrylic pearls and Czech crystals thrown in for added sparkle. The flowers are substantial in size but light, so the pendant anchors the necklace and makes it drape well, and I have left the back free so that it is comfortable around the neck - no one wants something prodding their neck - especially in springtime, when collared jackets are still mandatory.

Cherry blossom

The profusion of flowers is so springlike that the necklace could only be called Spring Fever.
'It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!'  ~Mark Twain 

On another note, I submitted a few of my designs to Rena Klingenberg's website http://www.making-jewelry-now.com - Making Jewellery Now - The Friendly Jewellery Community, and am pleased that I had quite a favourable response from her readers, most of whom are jewellery designers - there are some fascinating insights into jewellery making and marketing on her site and I have spent a lot of my time reading it.

As promised I opened my etsy outlet on what would have been my brother's 46th birthday - it went live at midnight on the 2nd of March 2012- I do miss him so, but acceptance is beginning to set in. He was the life and soul of a party and great fun to be with - my heart goes out to his wife Anu and his son Romir - Amar touched many lives with his zest, he will be sorely missed - but never forgotten.

Mike, Amar and Romir at the Bangalore Club, January 2011

This is the link to the Caprilicious Jewellery Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/CapriliciousJewelry 

A Naiad's Treasure

There is definitely a method in my madness - my stash of beads is all jumbled up - and I would forget that I had a particular item, unless I found it quite by accident during a frantic rummage for something else. While I was looking for the lucite flowers, I found some prehnite nuggets - I love prehnite - it looks like pistachio green nuggets of frosted sugar candy, touched by a naughty child with dirty fingers, leaving black smudges on it's surface. I put it together with an ammonite fossil and khaki/gold pyrite nuggets, and a few freshwater pearls - there is an air of enchantment about this necklace that gave it it's name.

A Naiad

The Naiads were nymphs of bodies of fresh water.A naiad was intimately connected to the water she lived in, and if the stream dried up, she breathed her last with it.
Like all the nymphs, the Naiads were in many ways female sex symbols of the ancient world and played the part of both the seduced and the seducer. Zeus in particular is said to have enjoyed the favors of countless Naiads and the other gods do not seem to have lagged far behind. The Naiads fell in love with, and actively pursued mortals as well. 

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Ammonites began life as tiny planktonic creatures less than 1mm in diameter. They are perhaps the most widely known fossil, possessing the typically ribbed spiral-form shell and lived in the seas between 240 - 65 million years ago, when they became extinct along with the dinosaurs. 

In deposits

What it probably looked like

The name 'ammonite' originates from the Greek Ram-horned god called Ammon. Ammonites belong to a group of predators known as cephalopods, which includes their living relatives the octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus. 

Now, don't shoot the messenger - I got this from a website dealing with the mystical properties of crystals  http://www.shimmerlings.com/gemstones/prehnite.htm#GENERAL - 'Prehnite is quite a protective stone. It can protect one on all levels, as it strengthens the life force and generally increases energy as well as stimulating it. Healers use prehnite's memory skill in aiding with diagnosis of patients, if you have a patient that is particularly difficult to diagnose, have them carry this stone for one month, when they return the crystal, use it during meditation to tap into the stone's memory.'  I said this to a colleague of mine - and he looked horrified - as if I had grown another head (which I have - the one that makes jewellery) - and said -'please tell me you don't believe this'.....

I wish I knew about the healing properties especially before I spent years and years in medical training - could've saved me a lot of trouble.

Pyrite is commonly called Fools Gold because of its similarity in color, shape, to gold - it is also closely related to the more silvery Marcasite.

The Naiad's treasure

Ammonite fossil

Knotless netting on the back of the fossil

Prehnite and pyrite nuggets and pearls

Handmade clasp

Now, I have an idea for something I found while rummaging for the pyrite - am off to find it - who knows what else I might find - see you next week!