“Soup’s On!” Come in and have a taste!

It’s Bead Soup Reveal day!

Back in January, a cyber buddy, Lori Anderson proposed an online exchange with other jewelry designers. It sounded like great fun and over 80 designers signed up! Lori paired us up and away we went! I was paired with Linda Lawrence, Bella Bead Jewelry. Linda sent me these gorgeous hollow lampwork beads, some resin beads, an amazing lampwork heart, and a huge hammered silver toggle.

What is bead soup?

~ A focal
~ Some coordinating spacers or beads
~ A special clasp (not just a lobster claw)

I added freshwater pearls and a couple pieces of Hill Tribe silver and laid everything out, moved stuff around, started over at least once, restrung pearls twice, and generally worried that I’d get done in time.

I showed the sneak peak yesterday…time for the big reveal! Ta Da!

The colors in Linda’s lampwork beads are so vivid and bright. I love the lime green with the fuschia and deep maroon. The round glass beads are hollow and the transparent green one asked to be a container. I obliged and filled it with several very fine strands of sterling silver chain. The toggle Linda sent was such a show piece that I couldn’t see putting it toward the back of a necklace. So I worked it in as part of a large center dangle including the toggle, the now-filled green hollow bead, and the winged heart.

That centerpiece measures 4″ long and 2″ at its widest.

I pushed myself to go really asymmetrical with this piece and I’m pleased with the results. The “wow” side includes wire-wrapped sections alternating resin beads and lampwork beads with a few Hill Tribe beads for good measure.

The more “subtle” side started with the pearl strands doubled through the toggle ring, but I didn’t have enough of the two colors for that (restring #1), so I went with the two strands of pink and lime freshwater pearls. The pearl side seemed unbalanced so I added one of the hollows (restring #2) and held it up in the mirror…better, but the hollow on the pearl side was up too high for my liking (yep, restring #3).

So, what do you think? I love it! And the next best part is that all the participants get to hop around to all the Party Blogs to see what’s been made! Join us by clicking on any of the links below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lori’s pieces can be seen by clicking here.

Other Party Participants

1. Lori, An Artists Year Off
2. Mallory, For the Love of Beads
3. Terri, Blooming Ideas
4. Cindy, Sweet Bead Studio
5. Lorelei, Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio
6. Kerry, Kab’s Creative Concepts
7. Erin, Treasures Found
8. Jeannette, Jeannette Blix Wire and Metal Jewelry
9. Adrienne, Adrienne Designs
10. Nan, Spirit Rattles
11. Laurel, Rue’s Daftique
12. Nancy, Beading From the Heart
13. Mary, MK’s Creative Musings
14. Cassie, The Glass Beadle
15. Dot, Winchell Clayworks
16. Sharon, Sharon’s Jewelry Garden
17. Lisa, Lo and Behold
18. Norma, Bead Dreams and Moonlit Fantaseas
19. Judith, Judith B.
20. Debbie, Prairie Emporium
21. Maria, Garden Path Beads
22. Susan, Kaplan Creations Jewelry and Glass Design
23. Melissa, Melissa Meman: Art, Love, Life
24. Marianna, Pretty Shiny Things
25. Lisa, Joolz by Lisa
26. Cristi, 2 If By Sea
27. Sandra, Marbella Jewelry Design
28. Maria, Greene Earth Originals
29. Barbara, Jewelry of Distinction
30. Leslie, Bei Mondi
31. Loretta, Designs by Loretta
32. Linda, Bella Bead Jewelry
33. Kathie, The Bead Cult
34. Patty, Plays With Fire
35. Nicki, Nicki’s Reef
36. Anne Marie, Heart’s Desire
37. Mary, Mary Harding Jewelry
38. Jayne, Mama’s Got to Doodle
39. Emanda, Artemesia’s Studio
40. Whitney, Whitney Lassini
41. Marcie, La Bella Joya
42. Suzann, Beadphoria
43. Jen, Jen Judd Rocks
44. Julie, Credit River Art Glass
45. Janiece, J Birds Garden
46. Kate, Organic Odysseys
47. Laurie, The Mermaid Tale
48. Michelle, My Crazy Crafty Adventure
49. Sue, Sue Beads
50. Janeen, Wild Vanilla Designs
51. Nancy, The Rabbit Muse
52. Kristie, Artisan Clay
53. Regina, Regina’s Writings
54. Tari, Pearl and Pebble
55. Lyn, Lyn Foley
56. Beth, Sunshine Daydreamz
57. Cathryn, Chile Cats
58. Emma, Fred Bean’s Nook
59. Connie, Cetta Cheese Chatter
60. Juli, Jul’s Beads
61. Julie, RockerJewlz
62. Libby, LibbyLeu and Glass Too
63. Melanie, Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
64. Katie, My Life and My Beads
65. Zuleykha, Zuleykha’s Polymer Clay
66. Rekella, Me But a Little More in Depth
67. Ricki, What’s New at Ricki Voges Design
68. Lisa, Lucid Moon Studio
69. Jo, Daisychain Jewellery
70. Lynette, Rock Hill Designs
71. Lynne, Island Girl’s Insights
72. Chas, One Woman’s Haven
73. Ruthie, Rose Works Jewelry
74. Elizabeth, Turquoise Sky
75. Maire, Maire Dodd
76. Janet, Singing Woods
77. Eileen, Dorset Hill Beads
78. Julie, Miss Kitten’s Jewels
79. Joann, Jo’s Jewels
80. Patti, PJ Clark Designs
81. Mel, Kookie Designs
82. Erin, Every Heart Crafts
83. Dale, Flights of Fancy
84. Dee, Runako Designs

 

“Soup’s On” (Almost)…

It’s just about time to let everyone “taste” the finished “soup”…but not until Feb. 10th.

For now, you’ll have to live with this tiny peek:

See you back here on Wednesday!

 

Tucson Bead Shows 2010

I spent yesterday in Tucson looking at all sorts of beady goodness! And as luck would have it, my camera was malfunctioning so I have no actual proof!

Here’s a pic from last year to set the mood. Love the Hill Tribe silver!

The trip started at the Whole Bead show. I checked out Saki Silver and Niki Passenier (she’s working on a website!). Stopped by the main ballroom and drooled over all of Andrea Guarino’s new work. Simply wonderful! Unfortunately my camera wasn’t cooperating at all, so no pics. I did find a few things on a couple friends’ shopping lists (spending their money is almost as much fun as spending mine).

Then I moved on to the Best Bead Show! It always a lot of fun to match online personas with the “real thing”. This time I had great fun matching faces to FB faces. Talked to Patty Lakinsmith and her booth partner…some amazing collaborating going on there! Got to see Kimberly Affleck’s new take on her stunning seahorses…she took something that was already beautiful and took it a step further!

Talked to JC Herrell and got to see her HUGE Rainbow beads/necklace as well as all her other creative work. Met Melanie Moertel and saw her beads in person…photos are great, but WOW, in person…they are even more beautiful. I wandered around the main inside exhibit area and lusted after lots of treasures. I’ve been testing out ring forms for Burgard Studios for a couple years and talked with Greg about some new concepts, so I’m excited to work with them in the coming months.

I was good (it was difficult) and bypassed the huge room of all things seed bead…Instead I found Anne Mitchell and continue to be amazed at all the wonderful silver work she does. I moved on to the Tents and headed to the Chase Designs booth to give big hugs to Deanna and Greg. Great looking booth with a selection of their work–both make impressive marbles and Greg had lots of parrot bead scultures that I hadn’t seen before. Even though I already have some of Deanna’s signature peacock beads, seeing the other color combinations had me salivating. I also got to see some of Ali Vandegrift’s beads.

A couple big wholesale shows opened yesterday so traffic was a bit light at BB. That made for relaxing visits and roaming around with Deanna. I know I wouldn’t have had a lot of the one on one time with people this weekend. Got to see Harold Cooney’s incredible beads. They take your breath away! I really wanted to splurge on one of the huge flat disks or a huge hollow, but I had to pass that up. Next year! We chatted with Lori Greenberg and I met Rashan Omari Jones “in person”. The show closed at 6 and I headed to Deanna’s hotel for a quiet dinner.

Wish I could have stayed longer and that the camera had worked.! I’m sure I forgot many names of other talented people I talked with that I’ll remember later. Last year a friend and I hit 4 shows in one day and that was fun, but hectic. Having the time to spend several hours in one venue was nice. I’m saving my spare change starting now, so I can do my part to support the bead/marble community next year.

Oh and the drive home always seems so much longer than the drive down!

 

Soup’s On! Bead Soup!

The earthy may have tilted off it’s access with 3 bloggings this week from me. I’m sure it will be righted next week.

Many of you know I work at home (book designer), my husband travels extensively (I thought he was in Irvine CA for 2 days this week, but he was actually in New Orleans…), and my daughter is a Junior in high school (she tends to converse with me when she needs something )…so a great deal of my social interactions are online. I’m working on the computer most days/some nights and I multi-task quite well.

Where the heck is she going with this?

I frequently laugh out loud at some of my beady friends forum posts. Where the word “bean” or “bed” should be in a post, more often than not it is typed as “bead”.

Beads are on the brain for many of us. We make them, buy them, design with them, sell them, love them. Which brings me to “Bead Soup”. Google comes up with 144,000 hits for that phrase. Generally it means a mixture of beads that color coordinate or have some other attribute in common. I have a couple bracelets that I’ve used “Bead Soup” as a descriptive title they were often leftovers, or beads that ended up together at the perfect moment in the design process. In this instance, Bead Soup is an online activity coordinated by Lori Anderson. I mentioned it in an earlier post this week.

I received my “soup” yesterday and can’t wait to come up with a cool piece of jewelry. I’m leaning toward a necklace. Look at the colors in these beads! I’ve got some resin pieces that may work into the design, seed beads, fiber…who knows where I’ll end up heading.

My Soup partner is Linda Lawrence of Bella Bead Jewelry and I’m as excited to see what she’s cooked up with the Bead Soup I sent to her.

All will be revealed February 10th so make a note to check in that date (as well as in between).

 

There are signs of intelligent life!

From my poor neglected blog, that is. I know it has be MONTHS without a post and I have no excuses but apathy.  The weather, the holidays, the economy…take your pick. But I’m trying to move past all that and ring in the New Year (almost a month late) with more blogging.

The One World One Heart project seemed a good start.  Hundreds of creative souls banding together with give-aways to tempt readers to follow. Start with mine and then move on to the  rest! If you get lost, I’m #658 on the list.

Something else to get the creativity jump-started is a Bead Soup Party hosted by a great cyberfriend, Lori Anderson. She match 80+ jewelry designers together in pairs with instructions to send a “bead soup” mixture to our partner. I should have my “soup” in a couple days and we’ll be unveiling all of our creations in February so stay tuned for that. My partner is Linda Lawrence of Bella Bead Jewelry

I’m busy working on new Joolz for ArtXtravaganza at the Webb School in Knoxville, TN again in March. Looking forward to meeting up with friends for a few days of fun after that.

That preparation has me looking at bracelets and redesigning many to lower the costs and give them a fresh, new look in the process. And I’ve been working more with wirewrapping and hammering. You can find some of those results on Etsy.

So two posts in one day. I think I’ll shoot for a couple of posts a week for now. Hopefully everyone hasn’t forgotten me!