Bead Soup follow up

My bead soup is in the previous post, please scroll down there to see it (or click here)!

I thought I'd post a photo of my partner's (Bridget Torres) bead soup, since her website is tricky to navigate. I could not find her photos when I visited www.shears58.com, so I thought maybe other hoppers had trouble too (or maybe I'm just too dim to figure it out!). On her website, you can view Bridget's slideshow by clicking the little boxes next to "Bridget's Creations". Her bead soup is the bottom 5 photos.

Anyway, here's her finished soup!

I think she did a great job!! Feel free to leave a comment, I'll forward it to Bridget!

 

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 received!

My soup is here! My soup is here!

I showed you what I sent Bridget. Now, here's what she sent me.

I think the really interesting (and fun) thing about exchanging beads with someone is that you get beads you've never seen before. There are several in this soup.

For instance, the little bird charm - I've never seen this particular bird (she is so sweet!!). And I've got a pretty keen eye for birds on etsy!


A closer look at my sweet little bird!



Also the 6 large blue beads. They appear to be a stone of some sort, and the shape is so unique - I have NEVER seen this shape bead before.


What would you call this shape? They look like birthday balloons to me!

Another discovery is the clasp. It is far and away the largest toggle clasp I have ever seen. The branch toggle bar is over 2 inches long! It will no doubt end up being the focal of a necklace!

This doesn't look that big when it's cropped so tight.

Thanks for my soup Bridget. I'll do my best to make delicious soup!

bead soup - this ain't chicken stock!

So, here is what I sent to my lovely bead soup partner, Bridget Torres. She received them yesterday.

Included in the package:
Enameled layered flower, made by me.
Some enameled beads, also made by me.
A Vintaj toggle clasp, with seed beads added to the bar.
Some Czech glass flower beads in various sizes and colors.
Some 6mm lampwork beads.
Some Vintaj findings and chain, in case Bridget doesn't have a stash of dark brass to go with the focal.
And, some dark brass bead caps and filigree tube beads.



Wow, this is really a close up!

Closer shot of some of the enameled beads

Vintaj floral circle and creative bar, with turquoise seed beads

I can not WAIT to see what she makes with these ingredients!
Please come back on March 30th!!

I have received my soup ingredients from Bridget, and will post pictures in a separate post (I need to take photos!)

WTF WTF ?

OK, I do not mean to offend. And, if it helps, you could say it stands for "Wed Thurs Fri" ;-)

I **WON** these charms from, none other than, Barbara Lewis, during the book blog tour of Lori Anderson's new book, Bead Soup.
To win, you just needed to leave a comment, saying which charm you would choose, if you won. Obviously, I chose these! And then I won!

I knew I wanted to make them into earrings, but what to dangle below the charm?? As I looked through my enameled beads, I found these. These were white enamel, that I tried to "over fire" to bring out other colors, like Barbara does in her book. What my experiments yielded were beads that barely had any enamel left on them at all!! I burned the enamel right off! So, it's kind of an inside enameling joke:
"WTF happened to the enamel on these poor burnt beads??"
(the truth: I kinda like 'em anyway)

Any enamelers out there??
Who else has had experiments turn out "surprising"?
BTW - Barbara (Painting with Fire) has some enamels on sale right now! I don't really need more, but I got some new colors to experiment with - look out!

Bead Soup is served! Hope you're hungry!

Lori Anderson has hosted the Bead Soup Blog Party for several years now, and I was always wanting to jump in - but this is the first year I finally did! I was hesitant, I guess, because I was a little afraid. Afraid I'd run out of time. Afraid my soup ingredients would be too much of a challenge. Afraid I wouldn't measure up. You name it, I was afraid of it. But Lori added later reveal dates, so I felt comfortable with having lots of time. And as for my other fears, well, they were unfounded. My partner is Jennifer Justman, a Super Mom and a talented artist and an all around nice person. Please check her out - she's really fantastic (blog)(etsy)! I already blogged about the gorgeousness she sent me, so we won't re-hash it.
I set out to try to use ALL my soup ingredients. I almost did it!

Here's what I made:
I made the main dish first. I used the Marsha Neal Focal and the clasp that Jenn made for me, along with the Fallen Angel Brass filigree, chain and bead caps, one of the pieces of sari silk, red agate beads, and some of the little orange beads, pumpkin jade - they are really pretty! I made the wire bale and 2 connectors out of black annealed steel wire. I realize now that I did not get a good shot of Jenn's clasp - sorry girlfriend!

Marsha Neal focal, red agate, pumpkin jade, Fallen Angel Brass (including the clasp Jenn made), sari silk.



A closer look at the focal! I made the wire bale.



I knotted the sari silk (which is heavier than most, and knitted!) to resemble chain links.

I had thought that I would use more of the green beads in the main dish, but it just didn't come together for me. Since I leave my unfinished "thoughts" on my bead desk, I just happened to notice that the fire agate beads in my soup ingredients looked fantastic with this Humblebeads focal I had laying there, so, I made this simple necklace. I really love it, and now I'm in the mood for fall weather.

A simple necklace. Humblebeads focal, Fire Agate (from soup) with Trinity bead caps and Vintaj chain.

A closer look - the Fire Agate looks perfect with that focal!

I don't make bracelets very often, because I don't wear them. I guess I find them too distracting around my wrist. These green beads were so pretty from every angle, I knew I did not want to partially cover them up with my usual bead caps. I just wire wrapped links, and attached them to make a bracelet.  They are Jasper, according to Jenn. I also used the Fallen Angel Brass butterfly and jumprings (from my soup), and Vintaj clasp.

I wouldn't get any work done with this on my wrist!!





The beads are really fantastic close up.

 I made a second bracelet. I had just received an order from Vintaj with the Asian frame, and thought it would make a pretty bracelet component - I bent it slightly to curve around the wrist. I managed to use the Red Agate and Adventurine beads from my soup. The bead caps are from God knows where - sorry!


The Adventurine beads fit perfectly in the Asian frame.

And of course, there are earrings....
I picked the 2 agate beads with the most banding. Those darn round beads roll, so you can only see the banding in one bead...

Pumpkin Jade and Red Agate - simple, but they have lots of swing!

Another pair of earrings...

Even simpler, for those that like smaller earrings.

And another pair, a little more elaborate.....

These are Adventurine, with Vintaj flowers.

I have some sari silk left over that I'm saving for other projects. And there are 2 Adventurine beads and a couple jumprings left over that will find their way into future designs.
Thanks Lori for being a helpful and inspiring host.
Thank you Jenn for my wonderful ingredients. I've enjoyed our new friendship. I can't wait to see what you made with the soup I sent you!!
Please visit Lori's BSBP blog for the list of participant's to see the other fabulous creations!!

Thanks for visiting my blog!
(Forgive me for posting early. I can't post on Saturday, and I don't trust Blogger's scheduling feature. It has let me down in the past)

My fabulous Bead Soup ingredients!!

As previously mentioned, I'm participating in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party. My partner in Jennifer Justman. Yeah yeah yeah, you heard about it before!

Enough about that, let's look at my bead soup ingredients!!!
OOOOOh pretty!!!

OK, let's discuss the particulars!
~The focal you may recognize as Marsha Neal (you are correct - it is!).
~The clasp was made by Jennifer using Fallen Angel Brass wire.
~All the filigree, butterfly, chain and findings are also Fallen Angel Brass. It's much darker than Vintaj, but not as black as Arte Metal - very lovely! I had never heard of Fallen Angel Brass before, but I found them on etsy, and might place an order myself!!
~Sari silk - in 3 colors!
~And some really nice beads, all agate, jade, jasper, etc. Some are faceted, some round. All really pretty.

Evidently, my bench is not perfectly level, and the beads started rolling to one side when I dumped them out, so I had to corral them in the glass salt wells!!

Francis (in the background) was Director of Photography!!

Bead Soup has Landed

My package has arrived from my wonderful partner, Jennifer Justman. SQUEEEE! I still need to take a photo of the soup ingredients! (just waiting to be near the soup, while the sun's still up to take the picture) Wait until you see what I got!!

Here's what I sent Jenn:

Da Soup! Enameled flower focal (made by me), an assortment of enameled beads and key charms (made by me), a Vintaj clasp using the Bead Pod Creative bar, that I filled with red beads, a strand of vintage red beads from Czechoslovakia, some furnace glass, some modern Czech glass, and some red sari silk.

Da clasp!

Da flower focal - 3 flowers stacked on top of a Vintaj Violet filigree

Da keys! The 2 blue ones are really tiny - so cute!

I hope she makes beautiful soup! Can't wait to see it!

Bead Soup anyone?

No photos today! But I wanted to just quickly tell you that I decided to join Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party this time.
It will be my first time participating. I thought about joining earlier BSBP's, but, if I'm being honest, I was a little intimidated. What if my partner doesn't like the ingredients I send? What if I'm in a dry patch, and can't create something I'm proud to share? Countless other questions I'd ask myself, and the answer was always "never mind, maybe next time". This time, I think maybe it was the option of a later reveal date that quieted my doubts. I picked the latest reveal date (August 25th), so surely I'll be able to make one thing between now and then! :-)
I'm looking forward to it, and think it will be fun!
Jennifer L Justman is my partner, and appears to have done the BSBP several times.
Check out her blog: http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/
And her etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SoulsFireDesigns

Her blog is very well written, and I enjoy her sense of humor. I think we have a lot in common when it comes to jewelry. I like everything in her shop!

Hopefully she'll like what I send her.....maybe something enameled? Hmmm. That will remain a mystery, at least for now!