Wisteria Ways by Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello good people, I hope you're all healthy and happy - and virus free. People everywhere are getting antsy and itching to get back to work - 'the economy' are words being bandied about by people who previously wouldn't have given a hoot, completely forgetting that the economy is only worth something to you if you are alive and well. 
Here in the UK we will find out what plans are being made for us by the end of the week, but I personally will continue social distancing for a while yet - there will be no travel plans, parties or concerts for the foreseeable, even though I'd kill for a good knees up at the moment. There's only that much Netflixing one can do.

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In the meantime, I've been plugging away at my wildflower spring meadow, the one I showed you last week. I love the idea of painting with beads, but am finding that my canvas is a bit small. I'd have been happier with a huge, life sized painting, with sweeping broad brush strokes, but I have to remember that I'm not a painter and am attempting to make a piece of jewellery that is not only pretty, but also wearable. Everything has to be in miniature and a bit more impressionistic than I enjoy.
I looked at loads of paintings of wisteria blossoms and then decided to go for it with the new purple and pink beads I had received in the post.

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Before putting in the wisteria I had to decide how large the tree would be and whether there ought to be even more 'meadow' beyond the tree. By now, I'd had enough of sewing in beads to make the wildflower meadow effect, so thought I'd try to sketch in a patchwork of fields - it rapidly occurred to me that my heroine was rapidly turning into Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

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I blocked in the stems of the wisteria, all gnarled and twisted and added the fields. I was still looking for the best way to make my wisteria blossoms and while doing this I came across a website/blog called Drawing with Beads by Patricia Parker. I was extremely impressed by this lady's body of work, although her flowers are very realistic and her jewellery is huge. If I'm saying that, it has to be true, as the jewellery I make is thought to be rather large and intimidating by some - but I do make statement jewellery, so I shan't apologise! 

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And now for the wisteria itself - I love those flowers and have attempted to grow a plant a couple of times, but failed miserably, mainly because I do not have a sunny enough spot in my garden for this beauty.
And this is basically it, folks. There isn't space for another bead in this necklace, and apart from when I finish off the edges. Once I devise a means to hold it around the neck, I am done. I shall have it all ready to display for the blog next weekend. There's plenty to look at, with loads of colour and texture in this piece and it is a fun piece of jewellery.

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Before I wrap up, do take a look at a couple of my other earlier attempts to produce a wisteria in jewellery form (as I said, I do love that plant). I found these pictures by typing 'wisteria' in the search box and these came up on earlier blog posts, although the pieces themselves have long since moved on to their forever homes, and I hope are well loved. I do like the fact that this blog serves as a record of my work, and also to remind me how far I've come as the years have rolled by.

That's me for this week, folks. Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, stay safe and I'll catch up with you again next Friday, same time, same place. The picture in this section was posted by a friend of mine and I make no apologies for ending on this sobering thought. Please stay safe and take care of yourselves.
Until then
​xx

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