The Oil Slick Necklace by Caprilicious

Hello, folks, how are you today? It's raining cats and dogs out here, but it's warm and toasty indoors. The weather is Europe has gone crazy with a heat wave hitting the mainland, and the UK drenched in a swathe of rain - oops! I forgot we aren't in Europe any more! Never mind, at least the plants will get a good drenching and our  little lawn will come back greener than ever. 

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I had very little time last week for creative pursuits but I did manage to pull out some extremely pretty druzy beads hiding away in the back of a drawer and make this two stranded necklace with them.  
Druzy Quartz forms from repeated evaporation of silica-rich waters on the surface of an existing stone, rather than forming directly. This coating takes millions of years to form, as the silica deposits continuously re-crystallize on the surface of the stone. That’s why it’s mainly found inside geodes and seams in the bedrock. They’re considered a second-generation formation since they form separately on the surface the stone that they’re coating. 

Druzies are beautiful in their own right, but they are often enhanced in a chemical process called Chemical Vapor Deposition in which the druzies are exposed in a gaseous environment that contains a metal like titanium.
During the process the metal bonds on a molecular level with the mineral resulting in a spectacular rainbow of colors. By varying the metals and process a host of colors and shades are created. The most common compound used is titanium but others are cobalt, Silicone-Dioxide, gold, and silver.
These beads look like an oil slick has spread on water - the electric blues and vibrant golds of the oil slick are replicated in them and I teamed them with artisanal Nepalese beads, inlaid with turquoise and coral.  

The Oil Slick Necklace

I have been collecting materials for my next embroidered necklace - bit by bit the beads, colours, focal elements are all coming together and the piece will probably be started off this weekend. I have yet to decide whether this will be a full blown necklace or just a pendant, but I'm favouring the former. The elements have been in my cupboard for around ten years, and I've finally found a way to use them. You'll just have to wait for the pictures as they come out one by one - all I will say is that this piece will be a seascape, or at least, something related to the sea. Ideas are still swirling around in my head as I'm still unsure of the how and what - all I know is which of my stash is coming out to play.

That's me for this week, folks. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll catch you soon.
Until then
​xx