Bead Soup Blog Party - Reveal!

It's better to be early than late, I always say - unless it's to a real party, and when you arrive, the hostess is still in her bra and pantyhose, with curlers in her hair, trying to finish her makeup. Yeah, that's embarrassing. But, for this virtual party, it's ok if you're wearing curlers, or anything you want - cause I'm a little early.

I'm sure everyone knows about the Bead Soup Blog Party by now, so I won't get into the details. If you don't know, you can visit Lori Anderson's blog here.

My partner is Bridget Torres, and here's a reminder of the soup she sent me.

I started with the focal, or shall I say focals (plural). There's a stone focal, but also a brass focal. I was going to try to make a necklace with the focals on either side of the necklace, but that did not work out. So, I layered the brass over the stone. A couple inches of wire later, and I now had a layered focal. The multi-colored strand of beads matched the focal pretty well, so I used them, with some brass cones I bought from Panda Hall. I also used one of the birds Bridget sent me. I made the "tassel" at the bottom of the focal with one of each of the colors of the round beads.

I thought the round beads were stone, but as I worked with them, they seem more like glass that's been colorized.

Next, I moved on to the clasp Bridget sent. Now, this clasp, as I said previously, is quite simply - LARGE. So, it demanded to be front and center. We compromised, and it's front and off center! ;-)

I had the ceramic flower beads in my stash. I bought these a couple years ago from Fire Mountain. I don't know what I thought I was buying, but when they arrived, they were much bigger and heavier than I imagined. (in the age of online ordering - sometimes I don't picture the millimeters accurately!) But they are just the right size and weight to go with my clasp/focal. I decided to use all the colors I bought, rather than just pick one. It's a long necklace (about 30"), due to the large size of everything. This is not for the faint of heart (or the weak of neck).
It ain't heavy....it's my brother bead soup. (a musical reference!)


I think my Mom would like this one, but she's got a bad back!!

After I finished with my focal and clasp, I was under no obligation to continue, but I just has to use the blue "balloon" beads for earrings. The Vintaj bead caps fit the skinny end of the bead perfectly - enough said?


Thank you Lori for organizing the Bead Soup Blog Party again. I know you have not been well these past weeks (months?), and I hope you are feeling better SOON!

Thank you Bridget for my soup! I had fun playing with everything! I hope you did too - I can't wait to see your creations.

Please go to Lori's blog, for the list of all the other participants (it's a long one!!)

Bead Soup "sneak peek"

I'm not supposed to show you my bead soup until next week, but I can hardly wait. Please come back March 30th for the reveal (and blog hop), when all the photos will be clear as day.

 I'm wearing this one today!! (this was fun experiment with filters)



A bead soup Kaleidoscope!

Please come back next week, ok?

Znet beach glass....I mean, sea glass

Whew! I am in between challenges right now. With the Challenge of Music in the rear window, and the Bead Soup Blog Party not until March 30th. Unbelievably, I think I have everything done for the March 30th reveal! I have tons of beads left over, so I might make something else yet, but the focal and the clasp have been used, per the rules of  BSBP. I finished up last night. I might make some more earrings. Earrings are like Jello - there's always room for more!

Anywho, I designed a little something with my sea glass from znetshows (see previous post). This necklace was inspired by my friend Cyndi Johnsrud of Ornamental Style. She designs similar necklaces, and the sea glass shell was perfect for this style of "charm" necklace. While my design aesthetic is more rustic than Cyndi's (she is way more elegant and classy!), the overall design works in any style! Thank you, Cyndi, for the inspiration.

All the beads - faux pearls and crystal beads - were from znetshows, as well as the sea shell. I just happened to have the Vintaj seahorse!

 

That's it, just a quick little post. I haven't been up to much else...