Bead Soup Blog Party #8 Reveal Beckoning Bohemian

Welcome to Bead Soup Blog Party number 8. The reveal date has finally rolled around and I am excited to show you all that I have made. This is my fourth time participating in the party and I have found it every bit as inspiring as the first, second and third times. This year my partner is Dana James, I wrote a quick blog post introducing her to you here.

She sent these wonderful soup ingredients that just called Bohemian to me, and when I say called I don’t mean whispered. My muse was very clear this was the direction we were taking, and then she went into creative overdrive…………

Together we made armloads of bracelets.

I had never played with memory wire, can you believe it? The stuff has been around for nearly as long as I have been playing with beads and I have never even touched the stuff. Not even once. I had in my mind’s eye stackers. armloads of pretty. I started with the teals, inspired by those gorgeous blues in the lampworked beads. Added those sweet sweet floral head pins and Hey, as long as we’re making stackers, let’s play! I grabbed up many feet of aluminum electrical ground wire riveting the ends together and wrapping the resulting o’s with yards of colorful threads and pearls, adding beads and bells for loads of super lightweight, super colorful, super happy bangles. Super right? We were going to town making these fun little things and it dawned on me, I hadn’t touched a single soup bead since bracelet number one - gasp! Never fear my dear, these are meant for stacking together!!

Returning to the memory wire this time I worked in earth tones picking up the subtler colors in those gorgeous lamp worked beads.

Ready to get in some metal work I made up some textured copper strips and wrapped up some leather fully intending to use one of the clasps Dana had sent. But when I was ready for it, the clasp just didn’t seem to work, sigh. Not one to argue with my muse I finished the clasp using a piece of the leftover copper and textured it so that it matched beautifully. 

I remembered I had this great little bracelet wire from the Bead n Button design challenge that I hadn’t gotten around to using and what better way to showcase one of those lamps than that? I added a stamped filigree, a little flower with crystal center, and a Czech picasso leaf. Just sweet!

Then I made some connectors and played with those cool little copper bars and beads Dana sent. They looked really good with the larger lampworked beads and bracelet number 14 was born. This time I did use one of the clasps Dana sent :)

I had sketched up a design for the focal and ordered the bits I needed from B’Sues. I finished out the detailing while waiting in the lobby at the Drs office while the hubs was getting his eyes dilated. I had planned on etching the mehndi style designs but all I managed to do was discolor the metal ;/ hmmm

While I contemplated discolored metal I formed and forged some frames then wrapped up a couple pair of earrings. I LOVE these earrings. The first pair have Cognac hydro quartz and matching crystals from the soup stash and the second feature those sweet peach pearls Dana sent.

Back to work on the focal I decided I would engrave it instead. Using a dremel and very slow speeds I did something I thought I could not do, I engraved a straight line. Seriously, I once answered a question about engraving with a no you can’t use a dremel, you need special tools……. ahem I stand corrected. ( I think I might really want those special tools now though - engraving is kinda fun!! )

So I engraved not just front but back. Riveted vintage opals and wired the brass lace into place. I added hand made flowers again with crystal centers and a short length of crystal beaded chain.

At this point I thought I was done. I had very little soup left, bullet casings, crystal points, a clasp, pearls and crystals. I so wanted to make one of those cool bullet casing points but the points are 1 mm too big ONE. The hubs says you just need to stretch the casing. LOL That’s all….. the muse leans over and says I have an idea…..

….. and a dragon was born. The focal piece was my favorite up until this point. Pun not intended! I wrapped the point in a strip of engraved brass, followed by a woven strip reaching up behind into wings. At least it did. I didn’t like the way the one wing was sitting. I thought it was too low. I’m using brass, brass is a fairly hard metal and is brittle when work hardened. I gave a slight bend to the wire, and snap! off came the wing. I had to take the whole thing apart and rework the game plan. This is one of those times when uh oh is truly to your advantage. I made a second pair of wings and sawed a new head added vining swirls to the end of the bale to make the back as interesting as the front and wow! Even my son loves this guy. And look….. the second clasp found its way in too!

At the time of this writing I still have several days until reveal……… I wouldn’t be surprised if another little something found its way into this post as my muse doesn’t think we’re quite finished yet :D

As I was saying with the delay I had several extra days to play! And play I did, I finished up two UFO's you can see that post here (fortunate I did too, as I needed a blog post lol)  AND look at that! Two more pair of earrings found their way into the blog party!

First pair is a simple forged pair of brass hoops wrapped with a peach pearl and the second woven and vined brass and copper with smokey quartz and crystal.

I still have quite a few ideas swimming, seriously inspiring this round, BUT it's only a few hours away until reveal. Yesterday was the hubs birthday and Mother's Day is this weekend. I think I'll play with my muse again in a couple days, right now I think I'll spend some quality time with my family and start hopping bright and early - or after I've had a couple sips of coffee  and can form coherent sentences!  :)

We have close to 500 participants again this year… wow! Make sure to visit Dana’s blog  to see what she made with the goodies I sent her (that’s where I’m headed first!! ) then head back to Lori’s blog Pretty Things    to catch the rest of the hop!

And if you'd like to peek at my past soups you can always visit these pages

Bead Soup 5
Bead Soup 6 
Bead Soup 7

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next time!

Soups Have Arrived and Ideas are Simmering!

The soups of Danas have arrived at their destinations and we can get down to the FUN part! Making something wonderful!

This is what I sent Dana. All metal components were hand crafted by me, clasps, tube beads, caps, and focal. The beads were mostly purchased from small vendors on Etsy and are a wonderful mix of sparkle and organic, at least I think so! I am really looking forward to seeing what Dana does with them.

And this yumminess......is what I Got!!


My ingredients came all packaged up in these awesome tins!


Just look at all this goodness! Dana made the focal and those awesome head pins too!!


Closer look at those lampies....look at that incredible blue!

Incredibly inspiring ingredients, time to get pinning and planning!
Woohoo let the fun begin!

btw...... those super cute little soup bowls.... hand thrown and glazed by my daughter!

See ya next time!

Thanks for stopping by!! 

Bead Soup #8 Meet my Partner Dana James

Dana - Celtic Goddess of
Manifestation Magic, Artistry, and Abundance

Bead Soup #8 - The Soup of Danas

Isn't that fun! I started my Hiya Partner e-mail off with Hi Dana! This is Dana!! We both work primarily with wire and beads though our styles differ somewhat, she does a lot more traditional wrapping where I play more with weaving and tiny filigree pieces.

I have taught my kids to bend wire and she teaches at ShipWreck beads. I'm a little envious there. Living in the middle of nowhere means my local bead store is Wal Mart or Hobby Lobby, so basically I shop online lol She not only gets to fondle beads in person but gets to fondle beads with others....who actually GET what I just said!! Fondling beads is no small thing!

Things don't stop there either. I just came home from California and she's headed there as I type this.

Neither of us seems to have an aversion to colors or beads so her soup will most likely be what seems to strike my fancy as I pull it together. I had been playing with soup ideas when My Grandma passed and all my beady stuff is exactly where I left it at that time so not too hard to see where I was going in terms of playtime. I have a few more ideas and only a week to solidify them so I need to get back to it pretty quickly. Having access to beady goodness like ShipWreck makes it a challenge of a sorts but I'm up for it!

Why not stop by Dana's blog and take a peek into her bead and wire goodness from last years Blog Party?! I'm sure she'd love to see you there!

Til Next time!
Thanks for stopping' by!

Bead Soup Seven Reveal!

And here it is, the day we've all been waiting for, Saturday! It also happens to be the First Reveal for Lori Anderson's most recent Bead Soup Blog Party. This years event is the biggest to date! Over 500 blogs and a second hop has been added for those beady peeps who don't have a blog but really wanted to participate. Wow! This has become one heck of a party! This is my third time to participate and I can tell you the fun and excitement over reveal is just as great the third time as it was the first! Kids at Christmas is how I can best describe it! Ok Ok no more tortuous wait. You came here for pics and pics you shall have!

But first....a reminder of what I received.



Welcome to My Reveal - Woodland Fae

This first photo, while not strictly Bead Soup as none of the components came from my partner, is I think still appropriate. You see some time back Lori had a caption this photo contest on her blog. I won! The focal on this neck piece was a part of the prize package she and Zack sent me. I wove the collar and added a second piece of filigree and as it felt a part of the rest of todays collection I choose to show it here. Thank you Zack and Lori!



I love the stamped brass filigree rings you see all over Etsy. I had one, once upon a time, I loved that ring. Paige has claimed this one.



Courtney, my first partner from Party #5 sent so many wonderful beads that I ran out of time before I ran out of beads and ideas. Jennifer sent these cool little enameled gears. The color on the gears made me think of Courtneys beads and sure enough the first pair of earrings was born!


I realize the clear crystals become one with the ice, so a second photo


The filigree of the ring kept whispering to my muse "wouldn't more flowers be sweet?" So I faux enameled some head pins and answered my Muses call.



Another pair of earrings she said to help beckon the spring.



Now those sweet little butterflies spoke to my muse. Reminding her I had a clasp to use. A bracelet became of that.



Now you've heard the story of my evolving design. That is if you've been reading along with me the last several weeks.
When I pulled the beads together for my design I began the process of taking away and creating several other pieces in doing so.
This second bracelet was born of the remaining Soo Chow Jade as I noticed how sweet it looked next to the Art Nouveau stamping when I had accidentally knocked over the container while reaching for the bead caps.



I love this three stranded necklace. It was the first of the take aways. I began by creating the beaded chain and quickly realized the Soo Chow Jade worked beautifully where I had planned for the chain. I remembered I had the abalone heart and quickly went to work creating a filigree design to grace it.




My second necklace was born of the same taking away process. This time I wanted to see how the glass drop looked with another piece. I had had it as the center of the floral focal. But I had to take it off the flower to see when I noticed how much more beautiful it looked with the lamp worked focal Jennifer had made. Wrapping the lamp work with several pieces of filigree it became the focal belonging to the Soo Chow Jade.








My final piece was the first designed and the last made. It was a learning experience that I'm very happy with. It proved to me I am capable of the fine art of taking away. It can be a hard lesson to learn, exuberance often overloads a design and knowing when to stop can be hard. Taking away is sometimes the best thing you can do for a piece.
As I was very happy with the floral, filigree, and scrolling design of the front I didn't want the back to detract from it. Once I had learned to paint the copper with a flame I knew I could back the pin adding to the design rather than detracting from it. But I also wanted the back to be as pretty as the front. Enter etching. It made my pin back as pretty as the front.

The Pin itself however proved a little tougher, I had intended it to be a fibula. The position of the etching on the metal though, restricted where I could saw. This turned out to be critical. Twice, just as I was finishing the pin and about to turn it - it snapped. Out of room to saw a third attempt I used what little room I had left to create a bracket. Using a large gauge wire I balled one end and forged the other until I had a nice clean sharp point. The results, I'm quite happy with!




So, there you have it. I've used almost all of my soup. I hope you've enjoyed your visit with me today. I've really enjoyed cooking for you and hope I've served up a small feast worthy of the Fae who inspired it. Before you go please join me in hopping over to Jennifer's blog, Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry, and let's take a peek at what she has cooked up for us!

Thanks for stopping by!
THE REST OF THE HOP!