“It is the color of the limitless sky, the color of a peacock’s neck. It is the color that is mixed into the soul of a blue lotus and the hue that is poured into a violet flower. Together, these are the shades of blue that bring sparkle to your eyes.”… A loose translation of the Tamil Movie song Pachhai Nerame (from the movie Alaipayuthey), a romantic number that describes various facets of Love using colour psychology. Much like how the hero (of this movie) I too, feel that these are shades and tints of blue that bring out the sparkle in Blue Gold Fabric Jewelry.
In my last two posts on blue gold, I showcased the Indigo earrings and blue gold necklaces. In this post I want to show you pieces that I have created using rich Fabrics like silk and velvet along with ceramic and glass beads. All pieces are available for sale and I ship all over the world. For further details and order placement email me or send in a message on Facebook.
Indigofera Necklace
As I described in my first post on Indigo jewelry, Indigo dyes are traditionally made from the woad plant Indigofera Tinctoria. When you make a natural indigo dye vat, you add Lime as base and organic materials as reducing agents along with the dye powder. These could leave frothy spots on fabric if the dyebath is not filtered or if you leave the fabric too long without washing. This is exactly what happened to me in a Natural Indigo dye workshop at my college during the indigo week. After I helped all my students dye their fabrics, I dyed mine but I had to rush to a meeting. So I left it to dry thinking I would be back in 10 minutes. Two hours later, when I came out of the meeting my fabric (color) had completely faded and the seeds in the vat had dried leaving spots throughout the fabric. It was supposed to become a long top but now the fabric is in the box of UFO’s where it will await it destiny.
Gosh, that was heavy right? Anyway, the spots gave me an idea for a necklace. This Indigofera necklace is a merry hodgepodge of beads in blue and green. Its got inlay glass, compressed glass, dimpled glass (black spots on green) dyed jade, acrylic crystals, chevron beads, wooden bead and a brass drum bead. I have also made a wire focal out of blue green sari silk and wire wrapped it with crystals and millefiori chips. I picked this blue-green color, as it is corresponds to the shade an indigo dyed fabric looks on the first few minutes of exposure to oxygen and sunlight.
For those of you who didn’t know, when you dye fabric in an indigo vat it first turns green and eventually turns blue as it oxidises.
To make the earrings, I wire wrapped some lampwork leaves together with sari ribbon and inlaid glass beauties. I think that they long, light weight and stunning. If I did not already have so many green – blue earrings I would just keep them for myself.
Kalamkari Necklace
Next up in the Fabric and Fiber jewelry line is the Kalamkari Necklace. The dyeing workshop that I mentioned earlier was conducted by Mr. Prabhakar, a master craftsman. Not just that, he was also my Kalamkari teacher. Most of what I know about natural dyes, I learnt from him. I was lucky to have met him once again at this workshop. Naturally, I had to use kalamkari fabric in my collection. Authentic Srikalahasti kalamkari uses natural alizarin, indigo, and turmeric as colors for hand painting. However, at this point since I couldn’t get the authentic fabric, I settled for a printed version.
This necklace has a wire wrapped kalamkari fabric focal with chain tassel and dyed jades as embellishments. It is an asymmetrical necklace with glass beads of different shapes – saucer, round, barrel, tube, etc., apart from bamboo coral and blue pottery beads. Since I wanted a bohemian and whimsical vibe to this set, I made the earrings with small jhumkas topped with glass beads. I would be happy to swap them out for the heavier bamboo corals too for no additional cost.
Velvet Tassel Earrings
This one is an oldie but goldie so I decided that it was high time that I brought it back. With tassels being still in for SS17 and (gasp!) AW17-18 fabric tassels are a way of staying in trend while standing apart from the crowd.
What do you think of these pieces? These days I lean more towards asymmetrical necklaces for they tend to have a flowing rhythm in the them. However, I am a little scared that it might not have many takers. What is your take on that; Do tell me in the comments. Also do not forget to Check out the full collection at JewelsofSayuri on Facebook
I meant to write this post much earlier in the week, but I have been so tired and spent that I am unable to keep my eyes open and brain thinking for more than a few minutes at a time. I have no idea what ails me. Yet I am grateful that I had very less work at college this week so I could get by without taking leave. Signing off with the hope of catching lots of sleep this weekend before the final semester exam duty starts.
Find the rest of the collection posts below:
Blue Gold earrings
Blue gold necklaces – Metal
I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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