Bead Soup 7

     After weeks of planning, playing, preparing and photo-ing I'm finally done with the soup I received from Linda Djokic. She sent me a serious ton of stuff - all of it lovely. So, let's get to it - here's a picture of the entire ensemble of pieces I've made (so far!).

The first in the series was made using Linda's 15mm lampworks. I love these beads, they have the feeling of an impressionist painting. Subtle speckles of pastels in pink, blue, purple and green. They feel like Spring. I added wind dings from Genea Beads in rosy-raspberry colors, the silver accents and the clasp.

  I'm really happy with the results. The piece just about put itself together, everything just 'clicked' as I layed it out on the play table.

     The next piece I did was the necklace using Linda's large polka-dot lampwork heart. I wanted this to be something really whimsical and fun but I didn't want to simply use the heart as a dangle on a chain. What I came up with was to use the heart as a component of the clasp and offset it to the side. I think it draws the eye to it because of the placement and its size compared to the other beads.

 The two spacers that go with the heart made a perfect set with the large cast resin squares and I love the turquoise as an accent to the red. I used small ceramic donuts to make the lower part of the chain and a length of squares & circles to make the back - I like the balance of squares and circles on the entire piece.

     A lot of the colors in Linda's work are pale, delicate, misty... I tend to lean more toward the bolder more intense colors. But I think the pink bracelet is a nice balance. From my stash I added the pink spotted lampworks, the silver accents, the pink and white pearls, sea glass, glass rings and the toggle. An awesome mash-up of pinkiness!

     I moved on to the large purple lampworked flowers. These presented the biggest challenge for me, for some reason they  just wanted to dangle and I kept seeing them facing up, harumph!!  After much argument and wire and starting over, I admitted defeat and made two necklaces.

 Most of the beads in both pieces were from Linda's soup, I added the chains for both and small accents. Everyone that has seen them so far as loved the purple flowers. After I finished I thought, "I must have used everything by now!" - but, NO... I checked the box and there were still many, many beads. The final piece I made used the fresh water pearls and the pressed glass purple beads. I added some lampwork and toggle and filled in with lots of little bits from my stash. You'll recognize the rubber O's I love that I get from MyElements I use them in almost all my play! This piece is very much my style - everything but the kitchen sink and lots of color!

Whew! I still have a few beads left from the overly generous soup that I got but I simply ran out of time trying to use everything. As I finish with the rest, I'll do updated posts so you can all see them. I'm off to check out everyone else's soups - Cheers!!

The Final Simmer!

March 30 is almost here! Bead Soup 7 Reveal is Upon US!!


I'll have a reveal post that will launch at Midnight March 30 - be sure to come check out all the amazing beads and what I concocted with them! This soup was a lot of fun, I have a great partner who has a lot of talent. She was so generous with what she sent to me - I was a bit overwhelmed!

You can also check out the official Bead Soup Blog Hop Pinterest site: BSBP 7 on Pinterest where all the soup participants will be posting their creations. While you're waiting for the 30th you can look at some of the new additions to the store - these are some of the keychains I've been working on, and a little something new, bright fun purses to celebrate SPRING!!