Dig in!!! This is the weekend of the big reveal , where you can view not only my bead soup creations, but slightly more than 200 of my closest friends.
The Bead Soup Blog Party is hosted by Lori Anderson. This is a true labor of love for Lori, and I have been fortunate to be a part of this several times.
My partner for this round of Bead Soup is Natalie Moten. Natalie was primarily a quilter, who recently discovered jewelry making as another creative outlet.
Here is the soup I got from Natalie.
Front and center, you can see the gorgeous focal that Natalie made for me. I wanted to use this , of course, but it was a bit tricky to come up with something that would showcase Natalie’s flower without overpowering it. I am happy with my design, and I am looking forward to wearing this with my summer clothes.
I decided to go with an asymmetrical design, and I split the toggle clasp that Natalie sent. I used the ‘dogbone’ portion with one of the “D” shaped turquoise beads, and used a free form wire wrap to attach the “D” bead to the chain. I knotted teal blue silk cord for the portion behind the neck. For the matching earrings, I used some malachite chips for the darker stone because the dark blue ones were a bit large for the earring dangles.
For my second piece, I used another of Natalie’s handmade focals. This time, it was the birds nest. I paired it with the small crystals that Natalie sent, and used vintage Czech seed beads from my stash, as well as a gunmetal toggle and earwires that I had on hand.
A better view of Natalies bird nest, next to the matching earrings I made.
For my last piece, I used the pink/fuchsia beads in a stretch bracelet. I love these bracelets, but I hardly ever make them, and I don’t know why that is….they are easy to make, and they are good sellers. I should make more of them!!
I wanted to make one other item but unfortunately ran out of time…however, I did get the focal piece made, and I was so excited about it, I wanted to share that, even though the necklace is uncomplete. I took the round part of the toggle, and paired with one of the crystal beads that seemed to fit perfectly in the hole. I wired it in with a bit of 28 gauge wire.
I hope you enjoyed looking at my creations, and I hope my partner Natalie is pleased with what I made. Please be sure to go visit her blog, and take a look with what she made with the beads I sent her.
Please be sure to visit our lovely hostess, Lori’s blog also, and show her some much deserved love.
But I digress….back to the beads. I couldn’t resist opening that leopard box to solve the mystery of the pink bead. Inside the box was a gorgeous flower handcrafted by Natalie from beads and metal stampings. The pink bead was at the center of the flower, and to fit in the box, Natalie had put a hole in the top that the pink bead could fit through. It made for a great mystery! There was also a smaller flower and a birds nest that Natalie had made.
