Bead Soup Blog Party - Bead Hoarders Edition

Once again, the wonderful Lori Anderson created a bead swap and blog/pinterest party.

This time around, Lori asked that we send hoarded beads to our partners -- the ones we kept around year after year, promising to use them, but never found the right project.

She also made it easier for those who don't have blogs to participate

I was partnered with Joelyn Bissing.  Her pinterest entry is here.

Lori asked that we package up our beads and have them ready to send when we were matched up.  After narrowing down what I wanted to send, I wrapped and boxed up the goodies ... and forgot to snap a photo.  So, you'll have to hop on over to Joelyn's post to see what I sent.

Joelyn sent me a gorgeous bead.

She said it reminded her of Napa Valley and I can totally see why.  When I saw it, my first thought was grapes and vines.

The back of it is just as beautiful.

I struggled for a while as to how to compliment the bead.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to hang it or what kind of bail to use.  

I briefly thought about bezeling it with seed beads, but dismissed the idea because I didn't want to cover any of the bead.

I finally settled on a celini spiral.

At first, I was going to use the celini spiral in the back of the necklace and create something with chain maille in the front.  That didn't work, or, at least, I couldn't find something that looked right to me.

After a while, I decided to make a long beaded rope.  I didn't have enough of one of the size 8 seed beads, so I switched to size 11s in the front and back of the rope. 

You can't tell from the photo, but I hid a small magnetic clasp in the beadwork.  It's in the back of the necklace where the beads come to a "V."

Since I couldn't just suspend the bead, I decided to add an element of chain maille.  I had this twisted lantern bead laying around, so I used it to help suspend the focal bead.

As I changed my mind and direction in the course of this project more times than I care to admit, I didn't have time to patina the copper.  I need to make the lantern embellishment darker so it blends better with the rest of the necklace.

All in all, though, I'm happy with how it turned out and I hope my beaded rope does justice to the gorgeous focal bead.

Lori, thank you again for hosting!  Bead swaps are so much fun!

Joelyn,  thank you again for such a gorgeous bead to play with!

If you are interested in hopping, you can find the list of participants here.  Many of them are using pinterest.  Just an fyi .. you need to be logged in to pinterest to be able to comment.  I about tore my hair out trying to figure out why I couldn't see the "comment" button under a photo.

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.

Bead Soup Blog Party

For my entry to the Inspired By Winter Blog Hop, scroll down or click here.

I've wanted to join in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party for some time now.

When Lori first start these parties (back in 2010), participation was limited.  Last summer, Lori opened the party to everyone who wanted to participate and almost 400 people took her up on the offer.  I was about to sign up .. aaaaand .. chickened out.

I started to worry.  What if my partner didn't like the beads I sent?  What if I didn't like the beads from my partner?  What if I didn't send enough?  What if I had no idea what to make?  What if she didn't like what I made?

As you may have read in past posts, my word for the year is "will," as in, I will put my worries aside participate in the Bead Soup Blog Party this year.

As it turns out, I had no reason to worry.  My partner is Catherine from Catherine's Musings.  I know Catherine from our Beading Babes group and was excited to have a friendly face for my first time out.

Like me, Catherine is a seed beader.  Unlike me, Catherine is also an amazing bead embroiderer.

Take a look at Catherine's version of Sherry Serafini's "Ripple Effect Cuff," published in the June 2011 issue of Beadwork Magazine.  The colors are gorgeous and the embroidery is stunning.

Catherine also participates in round robin embroidery exchanges.  Each member starts with a blank form.   The form moves from member to member until finally returning to its owner covered in beady goodness.

Her most recently completed round robin resulted in this stunning teapot.

I cannot fathom embroidering around a form.  The ladies in this exchange are talented!

I  tried to pick a bead soup that would lend itself to embroidery, bead weaving or stringing.  I really hope she likes it.

Here is a sneak peek.

I'll post again when we both receive our soups.  Let the beady fun begin!