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Beautiful Handmade Statement Necklaces and other Fabulousness from Neena Shilvock - Inspirations and Designs From the Week Gone by
Good morning folks, I hope you are all getting ready for the weekend and in good fettle. Life has been hectic at Chez Caprilicious - I've no clue how the week has vanished in a flash. I've had guests at home all last weekend and had a friend round to help with the left overs during the week. Time has flown by in a haze of steam from the dishwasher as I loaded and unloaded the machine that has worked valiantly overtime without complaint. Hubby's old back injury has played him up which meant I am chief cook and bottle washer - sometimes it is good to touch down and realise just how much he does around the house, allowing me to flit from bead to bead like a demented butterfly. I hope he'll be better next week and I can get back to my usual routine. He's getting a load of TLC from your's truly, and I can tell you that it is quite draining - I am beginning to get 'compassion fatigue', in common with a lot of medics who have to deal with illness in the home after a day of being compassionate at work. One of my friends at the weekend said she was going to a wedding and picked out some jade beads and ordered a necklace to go with an outfit she intended to wear. She likes her jewellery simple and though she picks up quite a few pieces from Caprilicious, they are usually for gifts. This one was for her and I showed her some of my silver from Jaipur and we settled on a design for her necklace.
The jade is from China, silver from Jaipur and the little silver spacer beads are 99% silver from Bali. This girl likes to wear matching jewellery and asked for a simple pair of earrings. I made the simplest soutache design I could with a 6 mm freshwater pearl and seven jade beads, throwing in a few tiny seed beads for embellishment. I sent these pictures off to my friend and there was radio silence for a couple of days - Oh Ohh! that usually means trouble, I thought! Sure enough, I got a call a few days later - she wondered whether the earrings were too elaborate and could I possibly make her something simpler please? Personally, I think the earrings are very pretty and as they are smaller than a 10 pence piece, will be perfect - but of course, the customer is always right, and that has always been my motto. I persuaded her to take a look at the earrings in person before she dismissed them outright. I can just as easily make another pair - a little silver flower frame in wire with jade beads stitched onto it will be an hours work if she hates these, but of course, I'm banking on her falling in love with them! Interpreting another persons ideas and dreams can be difficult at the best of times - it is so much easier to work to a drawing - especially when the person who places the order has a very firm idea in their mind, but does not verbalise it for one reason or another. The remit was 'something simple' - and most Caprilicious women who wear my jewellery will recognise that these earrings are my idea of 'simple'. However, now that I am looking at them again through my friend's eyes they are anything but! I am sorely tempted to make another pair - the flowers I talked about earlier and send them out instead but perhaps she will try these on and fall in love with them! Perhaps, deep down I'm hoping for a Capriliciousification and to have a new convert to the cause - who knows what's in my subconscious? Where is Freud when you need him?? What do you think folks? Do leave me your thoughts and I will follow your advice. My friend has gone on holiday so I have a couple of days to sort this out.   Last week the editor of Bead and Jewellery magazine sent out the proofs of my next tutorial - this one is for the necklace above made of polymer clay faux textile petals called Midnight Tango. I think the issue comes out next month, and I am most excited. The original necklace lives in Bangalore, India with my friend Sheela, and I took her permission before submitting the project to B & J. That's me for this week, good people. Have a lovely weekend - I shall be working and hopefully all will be quiet at the OK Corral. Catch you next week, same time, same place,
Until then xx P.S. please, please leave me a comment about the soutache earrings and what I should do with my little dilemma, thanks, N xx
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