Time for the Bead Soup Blog Party!

Hey there loyal followers and hopefully some new ones! 

Welcome to my little corner of the Bead Soup Blog Party (BSBP).  I am super happy to post my big reveal for Lori Anderson's BSBP.  Please head over to Lori's blog for a full list of participants in order to be able to fully enjoy the experience of the hop. 

Here is a picture of what my partner Cory sent along to inspire me.  I have to admit, this was a major challenge for me!  She sent me lots of items that were of a larger scale than I typically work in.  Also, in the past, I have not necessarily embraced the gemstone donut as a viable centerpiece.  I love how this exchange offered me the opportunity to stretch myself creatively.



My favorite part of my soup was the clasp she sent.  I am not used to working with metals in a finish other than silver, I love how this experience pushes us to try new things.  I did decide that I was going to make something that could utilize this clasp as a focal, so here is what I made.



I really love the color combo on this piece.  Again, this is not something I would usually do in terms of color palate.  Typically I have been wearing this piece with the clasp in front but off center, but I could easily wear the clasp in the back for a different look.   I was amazed at how difficult it was to find beads with a copper finish in the mainstream shopping experience.  I had to seek out a local specialty bead shop in order to find adequate supplies.   



And then there was the donut...I am not going to lie, for me this was difficult to use.

I was able to use the focal by utilizing lots of other fun materials from Vintaj.   Again, I was stumped on size.  After lots and lots of consult with my artsy friends, I embraced my giant modified focal and added a simple chain.  The necklace is quite long as I used 36 inches of chain. 



And here, a nice close up of my focal.  I really love the look of the patina on the bird.  This little detail also actually ties the two pieces together quite well. 

 

Here you can see how nice they look together.  Surprisingly, they coordinate very well.

 



I still have some left over soup to continue to challenge me.  I really love those cream colored carved beads, but everything I tried to make with did not work due to the size issue.  I do not give up easily.  I am confident my extra beads will end up in a project soon.  There is a special place I am going to use Cory's handmade bail, so stay tuned to see the completion of a really cool mermaid project soon.  

Thanks as always for stopping by!  I hope you will use the links provided above to visit other blogs on the hop!

Cheers,

Rhea

Back to my creative roots

I have to say that making all these Chotski pins had me hankering for bead work.  This is where I started on my creative path.  In fact, I have a very clear memory of the first time I beaded as a young girl.  I was at a baby sitters house and I made a white and clear seed bead bracelet on a piece of dental floss. 

Pictured above are some of the Chotski Pins I pins I have made.  I seriously can't stop making them.  The one on the bottom I had "completed" previously, but after blogging about it and seeing the pictures I decided it was not done.  I use hardware such as washers, nuts and bolts alongside charms, broken jewelry, Tim Holtz embellishments and found objects.  I have also used odd watch parts and hardware that I have no idea what the correct use is.  They are so fun and eclectic.   

As promised I will be randomly choosing one lucky winner for one of these pins, as promised on a previous post.   I will be doing the drawing this evening, so there is still time to enter. I think I may join in another round of swapping these dandies over at Red Lead too.

Since I was so inspired from the use of all my old tools, I stopped in a local bead shop and picked up a few strands of affordable pearls.  I whipped this out in no time and hope to make an additional complimentary necklace today. 

A huge thanks to Red Lead for all this inspiration!