Saturday, April 13, 2013

Bead Soup Blog Party - the reveal

I've been looking forward to this for a few months now .. my reveal for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party!

First, let me thank Lori Anderson for all of her work in putting this party together.  

There were close to 500 participants and Lori took the time to visit all of their blogs and personally select a partner for each participant.  Lori also sends individual emails, coordinates reveal dates, posts helpful hints, is available for questions and many more things I am forgetting.

Lori, you are awesome!

Second, I want to thank Catherine for sending such a gorgeous soup.  There were so many possibilities and I hope you like what I created.

Let me remind you what Catherine sent to me.


Catherine's soup was full of luscious goldstone and copper as well as some faceted rounds, beaded beads, a gorgeous jasper pendant and a copper heart.

I ended up making four necklaces, a bracelet and a pair of earrings.  Even with that, I still had beads left, including some of the rectangle tube beads.  I would like to make another bracelet with those, but that will have to be later.  :)

I'll start with the gorgeous jasper focal and the copper clasp.

I loved this pendant.  I haven't worked with natural stone very much and never one this big.  I really wanted to make the pendant shine.

I tried several different bezeling techniques and had every intention of using the copper pearls.

As it turned out, I opted for something simple to keep the focus on the detail of the pendant.


I used copper and gray seed beads to create spiral accents around the pendant.

I did this after I created a gorgeous cubic right angle weave rope using a tutorial by Gwen Fisher.  I *adored* how the rope came out and I think twisted cubic right angle weave might be my new go-to rope.


I like how the spiral around the pendant echoes the spiral in the rope.


I used the clasp from the soup also.


The copper goes so well with the beadwork.

This necklace was one of the last pieces I finished.  The first piece I made from the soup was this bracelet.


I used the copper pearls, goldstone rounds and a few of the faceted rounds from the soup and copper and green seed beads from my stash.  I love copper and green together and the goldstone was a great compliment.

To make the bracelet, I combined one component from Mikki Ferrugiaro's "Medallion Bracelet" with Sabine Lippert's "Starlace bracelet" pattern.

I love the way Mikki's component pops up a bit for a three dimensional effect.


Sabine's open band is a great compliment to Mikki's component.


Mikki and Sabine are two of my favorite designers  Mikki has awesome designs in her artfire shop.  Take a look.  You won't be disappointed.

You can find more of Sabine's patterns in her etsy shop and in her webstore.  Sabine's book, Beaded Fantasies, is also a "must have" for seed beaders.

The second piece I made was a necklace that used one of the "blooming beads" from the soup.


These beads were made by a friend of Catherine's using a pattern from Carol Dean Sharpe.  I love this pattern and how versatile it is.  You can find the pattern here if you want to create your own.  You might also want to check out Carol's etsy shop for more gorgeous patterns and beautiful beaded jewelry.

For my necklace, I, once again, took inspiration from Lorelei Eurto's and Erin Siegel's book Bohemian Inspired Jewelry.  (Seriously, if you don't have this book, get it now.  I don't mind waiting.)

I had some rose quartz rounds that looked great with the blooming beads and used them to create my version of Lorelei's "Ocean Love" necklace.


I wanted to use both "blooming beads" from the soup, but ended up only using one.


I think the necklace works, though, and I have enjoyed wearing it over the past few weeks.

I have also enjoyed wearing the pair of earrings I made with these gorgeous drops from the soup.


I wasn't sure what to pair the drops with.  I looked through my stash of beads, but couldn't find anything that really "worked."  Then I remembered Marcie Abney Carroll's "Moroccan Charm" pattern, published in the April/May 2012 issue of Beadwork Magazine.

I used the faceted rounds from the soup to create the charms.


Marcie's pattern is cute and versatile.  Plus, it works up very quickly and is easily adapted to different sizes of beads.

Marcie has many more tutorials available in her etsy shop.  I have many of her tutorials and I can honestly say that they are a joy to bead.

The charms went perfectly with the drops.


As much as I love those earrings, I think my favorite piece I made was this necklace.


I loved the goldstone ovals the second I saw them.  They are sparkly and have little flowers on the surface.


I wanted to use a blue stone to compliment the blue in the ovals, but couldn't find anything in my stash.  I ended up buying a strand of kyanite ovals at the bead store and I am so happy  that I did.

The necklace is made with two strands of beads.  The first strand is made with the goldstone ovals and rounds, kyanite ovals and Chinese crystal.  The second strand uses those beads as well, but incorporates sections of spiral rope.


The spiral rope uses the goldstone rounds, the red magma crystal bicones from the soup and Indian sapphire crystal bicones from my stash.

I love how the goldstone, red and blue all look together.  The color palette looks so "rich" to me.

I made a pendant with the copper heart from the soup.


The pendant was inspired by the focal on Jill Wiseman's "Falling for You" necklace from her book Beautiful Beaded Ropes. Definitely check out the book if you haven't.  It contains many gorgeous ropes using basic beading stitches.

I made the bail large enough to slip over the clasp and the beaded strands.

It can be removed for a different look.


I *love* how this came out.

The final piece I made used the rectangle tube beads from the soup.

As soon as I saw those beads, I wanted to use them, but I couldn't figure out how.  I tried beading them with a right angle weave stitch.  I tried knotting them and stringing them, but something wasn't quite right.

Finally, I paired them with a polymer flower by Staci Louise.  (Check out Staci's etsy shop for more awesome components.)


Staci's focal went perfectly with the rectangle beads.  I grabbed some green crystal beads, the copper pearls and the rest of the faceted beads from the soup.

I love how the bits of color go so well with the browns and yellows in the rectangle beads.

The copper chain from the soup was a few inches too long for the necklace.  I took a few of the links off to shorten it.


I used the oval links as decoration between the two strands of beads.

I made a copper hook and used a round link from the chain for it to hook into. The hook blends into the chain.


I like how the necklace turned out.


It's a great spring necklace.

Lori, thank you again for putting together an awesome challenge.

Catherine, thank you for such a wonderful bead soup.

I am off to Catherine's blog to see what she made with the soup I sent her.  Then, I am going to take some time to visit the other participants in the second reveal.

Please take some time to visit the other participants.  I know you will see some amazing work.  There are too many blogs to list here.  (This post seems too long already), so I am just going to provide you with the link to all the participants from Lori's bead soup blog party blog.

If you haven't already, you can also browse the blogs of the participants in the first reveal a few weeks ago.  Next week will be the third reveal, so stay tuned.

46 comments:

  1. How productive you were, and all beautiful pieces! I especially love the second, the bracelet!

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  2. Wow! Those are beautiful!Great job!

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  3. all are Souper designs ! That bracelet is GORGEOUS !!!

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  4. ~you were amazingly busy beading away...gorgeous is each piece shared and created...much love light and blessings~

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  5. Just truly spectacular! You are so prolific, and every pieces is as gorgeous as the next!! Amazing work (as always) Tanya!

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  6. Beautiful! I am simply awestruck! Great job Tanya!

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  7. Majorly fabulous!! I love each piece for differing reasons, but my favorite is your favorite too!! I absolutely LOVE the color combinations and textures in the goldstone and kyanite necklace!!! And your treatment of the heart focal is perfect. I also love Gwen's twisted craw rope - yours is so beautiful!!!

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  8. Very difficult to choose a favourite in these gorgeous pieces! Maybe, that last one is the most appealing.

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  9. Tanya,
    Amazing......just amazing. Your pieces are just wonderful and I see we share the same love of talented designers. You've done the soup proud and I love the copper heart necklace, it is so hard to choose a favorite. Thank you partner.

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  10. Oooh I do love that bracelet. Amazing colors you did your soup proud! Kristin Oppold

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  11. Such beautiful pieces, Tanya. Right away my eyes were drawn to your earring design (I am obsessed with earrings lately for various reasons!)

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  12. Wow!!! I loved all the pieces.. You are so creative! The spring necklace is my fav!

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  13. All of your pieces are amazing! You did a fantastic job with the soup goodies you received Tanya! WOWZER - drooling!!!!!

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  14. Wow! I am in awe - I thought that first piece was perfect and then you just kept right on going! I can't even pick a favorite - they're all gorgeous.

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  15. oh seed beads!! I like your designs, very creative!

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  16. I love how your pieces are all very different from each other, but extremely lovely !

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  17. All pieces you've designed are gorgeous. They're classic and modern at the same time. Great work!

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  18. All your pieces are beautiful but I love the beaded bracelet the best!

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  19. You are quite the over achiever aren't you?!?!?! What an amazing role model you will be for your daughter! My favorite piece was the RAW rope and focal . . . I too love beading both the focals and the ropes. I am going to check out that tutorial also . . . thanks for suggesting that!

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  20. Love the cubic RAW rope. you have created an amazing variety of pieces. Great work!!

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  21. wicked-eh! You really rocked it out. I agree wholeheartedly that first rope and bezel whose stich name I have forgotten are so very slick. Perfect for showing off that rock. I love them all really but that and the colours of the one with the blooming beads are my favs

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  22. Wow you have been busy....I love everything you made but I must say the heart necklace is gorgeous. Great job!

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  23. Now, that's what I call a soup! Beautiful items you made!

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  24. WOW! Love your beadwork and designs!
    kathy

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  25. All are beautiful designs. I just love how you really highlighted that beautiful piece of jasper in the first necklace but the third one really stole my heart. What an incredible piece.

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  26. Wow - you did a lot of amazing jewelry with your soup, my dear! Busy bee... ;0) If I have to take a choice, love the rose quartz and the last of your necklaces very, very much!

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  27. You have created a lot of lovely, elegant pieces. I especially like the earrings with the beaded charms and cream drops.

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  28. Wow Tanya,Great job with your soup. As I saw each piece I thought that one's my favorite. I can't pick a favorite they are all wonderful.

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  29. You received a great soup and cooked up enough beauty to sustain a small country! You have a lovely sense of design.

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  30. Wow, you did a beautiful soup justice! Your seed bead work is lovely! I especially love the earrings!

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  31. Fantastic work! I am in awe at how many wonderful pieces you've made

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  32. Wow! The more I scrolled down the more amazed I was...this one's my favorite...no this one is! Beautiful work. I really love them all. I'm in awe of all you accomplished!

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  33. wow you were busy.. Love your designs.

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  34. I love the heart and the flower necklaces!
    I'm on the 3rd reveal, I'm partecipating for the 3rd time on BSBP... so much fun!
    ciao dall'Italia

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  35. As I was looking through all of the pieces, I kept thinking 'I like this best', and then when I got to the bottom, I realised I had liked them all best! I do love the carved bead earrings though. Excellent work.

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  36. Not too long at all, I love the detail of "how and why", and the design references. Wonderful work!! Every. single. one of them is just remarkable, I am particularly delighted by your colour sense. Gorgeous. Hope you're putting them on the Pinterest board!!

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  37. Beautiful work! I really like your style. The bracelet is perfection, I love every single thing about it!

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  38. All of your Bead Soup creations are beautiful but I'm especially drawn to the heart and flower necklaces. *So pretty*

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  39. So many pretty creations! Now adding twisted cubic RAW to my list of things to learn.

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  40. You started with beautiful soup and ended up with beautiful jewelry. I love everything. Your beadweaving is beautiful and I am just amazed at how far you stretched the soup. Great job!

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  41. Tanya, I'm blown away by your beautiful pieces. They are ALL so gorgeous. LOVE!

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  42. Oh my goodness - these are all super beautiful!! I'm in love with those drop earrings! They are just fabulous and the last necklace is so perfect in every way. But of course I love the first necklace too because your talent w/those tiny little beads is always a show-stopper!

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  43. Each piece I saw I'd think "that's my favorite" and then I'd scroll down, and think, "no, that's my favorite"...They are all so wonderful! But I think my true favorite, just in its simplicity and the perfect balance of everything, is the earrings. No, maybe it's the first necklace. Then again...

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  44. You really did get so much made. You must have some mad seed beading skills to have gotten it all done in the time allotted. Awesome. I'm particularly awestruck over your bracelet and the earrings. The delicate beadwork you did on both of them just captures my attention. Fabulous!!

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  45. Stunning work! I love every one of your pieces! I share Bobbie's dilemma. I can't pick just one!

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  46. Your pieces are really beautiful! Amazing work...congrats!

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