Bridal jewellery

Recently I was preparing for my cousin's wedding. Remember my blue dress and Lapis Lazuli jewellery.

Well finally got the pictures of what the bride wore for the wedding. A lovely Lakshmi pendant with small peacocks on the chain.

And also I have been raving about the lengthy malas that we wear with sarees and salwars.

A small peacock shape mala around this rich jewellery.

She also has the same Lakshmi ottiyanam. (Around the waist)

My blue dress and Lapis Lazuli jewellery

Last week attended my cousin's wedding in India.

Been planning for a long time about the dress and the jewellery. Off late have been crazy about the blue color especially Lapis Lazuli color and beads and stones. Anything with that color.

So decided to make the Lakshmi( Goddess of wealth and prosperity) pendant in silver with Lapis Lazuli beads.

Made the silver and the necklace in London, but did not have the time to do earrings.
So brought the wire and beads here.
Just two days before the wedding, was doodling designs for earrings. Suddenly struck a design.

Made it in half a day.
Went to my native town to hunt for the dress. Wanted a blue one. Searched in shops and found one.

Then the previous day I realized I did not have a bracelet. Luckily there was enough beads so made the bracelet.

My relatives and cousins were making fun of me seeing the preparations of my dress and jewellery. They said that even the bride will not make so much preparations:)

Finally everything was co-ordinated and many complimented on the jewellery.
Phew..

Made an open ring in silver today

Made this ring today. Not completely polished. But I liked that slightly blackish tint. Like oxidised.

https://www.facebook.com/myidentityforwomen/videos/634197100084648/

Making bracelets like crazy

I dont know what has got into me.

I am making bracelets like crazy. Gemstones, semi-precious, Swarovski.

Have put them on my site. Have a look here:

https://www.carlineperulla.co.uk/collections/bracelets-ladies

Big Bead Show - Esher London - videos

For more videos please click the link below

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMgrggxgva6TpcbL9_aHSA

Bead show in Esher, London. United Kingdom

Today visited the Bead show at Esher, London for the first time.

Been waiting for this for almost a month. I was so excited to see all bead shops at one place.

Oh Boy and what a sight it was.

I think there is not enough money always when you go somewhere like this. I loved everything that I saw. And wanted to buy everything.

Yesterday I had planned to buy more semi-precious beads for my crazy bracelet projects.

Bought interesting, lovely colorful beads. Will post bracelet projects later.

Going to post some interesting videos tomorrow.

Melting silver in a traditional way

I was surprised to see silver being melted in such a simple way. No hassles.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDvItIUVDY

Carline Perulla - Silver with gold foil jewelry - our new product launch

Recently launched Carline Perulla in the London in the UK.

Feeling blessed.

Please visit www.carlineperulla.co.uk

Right now we only ship within United Kingdom.

Choorah - Punjabi wedding jewellery

The Choorah is a set of red and white bangles worn by the bride on the wedding day. They are made of plastic but form a very important accessory to the bride. In face it is more important than the mangalsutra ( I will write about this in another post)

The white bangles act as borders and a centre-piece and has designs on it. The red ones are plain.

There are golden color jumkaas like hangings in the middle of the Choorah. And these are called Kalirey.

The sister and the sister-in-laws of the bride tie this on the brides hands. This is a sign of blessing from them. These hangings are worn only on the day of the wedding.

These bangles are worn for minimum of 40 days but they wear it upto a year too. The first 40 days the brides are not allowed to do any heavy work, lest it will break.

You can know that the girl got married recently by seeing these bangles on her hands.

However western they dress, still they wear these. Nice to see even young girls keeping up the tradition.

The bangles are so important that there is a separate function organized by the mother-in-law to remove those.

Information and picture courtesy Swati from London.

Gold granules everywhere!

This is one interesting design that I love. Its a choker.

And as far as I could see, I can see only granules; in all sizes.

Gemstones necklace

This is one a single line with different gemstones embedded.

Can wear it with any color dress

Pic courtesy: Usha Ramachandran

Green pendant

A simple, lovely pendant with green Kemp stones we say. They are cabochons.

They have a dull finish and adds so much of class.

The little golden beads can be found in most of the traditional jewellery.

These are typically worn as single pieces with silk sarees.

Pic courtesy: Usha Ramachandran

An ornament for the hair - Rakkodi

This is another beautiful ornament for the hair. Its called Rakkodi. Those days women use to wear this on head and then arrange flowers around it and then plait their long hair.

I have written more on this in this post.


http://mrinajewels.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/rakkodi.html

Pic courtesy: Usha Ramachandran

Lord Ganesha repousse on pendant

A lovely pendant with the Lord Ganesha embossed.

We believe that Lord Ganesha removes any obstacles in our endeavours. So we start any difficult work by praying and offering pooja to Lord Ganesh first.

Most of our jewellery are dominated by Ganesha, Lakshmi, peacocks, lotus and paisley designs.

Pic courtesy: Usha Ramachandran

Braided Bangle or Patli

A lovely braided bangle also called Patli.

The precious stone in the middle adds a class to it.

Pic courtesy: Usha Ramachandran

Twin design maangai malai

This is a very unique design. This type has been in the market for some time now.

It actually started with the earrings. On one side of the earrings you will have green stones, and you

flip it you will see red stones on the other side.

In South Indian, especially Tamil Nadu, most of the wedding trousseau is dominated by red or green.

So people like to wear matching jewellery.

Instead of buying one more for the sake of color, they buy this twin designed jewellery.

This Maanga maalai has red stones on the mango pieces on one side, and green stones on the other side.

And how beautiful it will look when it is worn with a contrast silk saree or an off-white silk saree.

Bridal Jewellery - Vangi - arm band

This is another design of Vangi. This design is similar to the traditional ottiyanam(waist band) that women wear.

You can see the traditional peacocks design on either side embossed in gold and also a peacock in the middle embedded with stones.

A typical bridal jewellery.

Pic courtesy: Prabha

Lovely design in Maanga Maalai

I have always been raving about Maanga maalai in our State. Another design to prove it.

This design has a small jumka attached to the bottom. Jumkas are another favourite of Indians in general.

This maalai is studded with green stones.

Wearing just this single maalai with a dark colored silk saree will add so much of class to the wearer.

Picture courtesy : Prabha.

https://youtu.be/_l9l2dJGuNk

Gajjal - a lovely jewellery for the babies

Please find the link to this article on Gajjal.


http://ganoksin.com/blog/kavitha/2013/11/23/baby-jewellery-gajjal/

Kaluthooru

This is a wonderful jewellery that the Chettiar bride ( a wealthy community in TamilNadu) wear.

One jewellery that I am always in awe of is this.

The article is in Ganoksin and the link is below


http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive/201310/msg00482.htm

Kaasu thodu (coin earrings)

I have already written about Kaasu maalai, a long chain interlinked by gold coins that has a Lakshmi Goddess printed on it. This is a earring that belongs to that set.

Now we get bangles too with coins and other designs and stones interspersed. No end to creativity.

How to start a jewellery business?

Have given some inputs on how a jewellery business can be started,especially in India.

http://www.myidentityforwomen.com/business-idea.html

Maanga Maalai

I have written about different "maalai", a long chain with pieces of either maanga or paisley shaped designs.

Maanga in Tamil means Mango. The paisley shape resembles the mango fruit. So it is called "Maanga Maalai".

Mangoes are everyone's favourite in India, so are the designs resembling it.

This Maalai is worn as a single piece by women attending functions, or as a bridal jewellery nestled among other jewellery.

There are sets of Maanga maalai, which contains the long chain, bangle, and earrings.
There are also shorter versions of Maangai maalai, which is called maanga necklace.

There are different types of maanga malai. Studded with rubies, or emeralds are the rich versions of it.

These are studded with red stones. You can see plain maanga malai on top and the one with stones in it below. So there are varieties in this. There are even spacer beads in the maalai. But I personally like the traditional version of this. Plain one. If worn as a single piece of jewellery with a silk saree or a silk salwar kameez will stand out.

Must have jewellery - kada

Many jewellery are must- haves for  Indian women, but personally I feel kada should be one of them. Again each state has its own style but in north India you always get ornate ones.

Plain kadas, diamond studded, embossed ones; you get different ones.

Wearing a heavy kada adds volume to your hands. So its ideally a wedding jewellery. Many other thin bangles are worn with them.

But others can also wear as a single jewellery.
In India, mostly the cousins and very close relatives of the bride or groom wear heavy jewellery. Others wear simpler ones.

But even as a solitaire jewellery it stands out.