Serving Up 2014 Bead Soup

 How I Got From This.....

                                                                        ........... To This

I have to start by saying that I struggled mightily with this years soup! I love the beads that my partner Johana Nunez sent to me. She does amazing enameled beads. I've always wanted to work with them so I was really excited when I opened her package and found a treasure of them! As I began to play with the beads, I had a definite vision for what I wanted to end up with, I'm just not sure that I accomplished exactly what I wanted.

I wanted to use ribbon, I wanted to have multiple strands, I wanted to have dark chain.... no ~ I've never managed to do any of these things before... but I'm supposed to be thinking outside the box, right?

Sigh.... I know, it was just too much change for my tiny brain!

This is the first piece I completed. I know, I don't see any beautiful enameled beads either... and... yes, this piece looks suspiciously like my standard style. 

I like it, I love the beads, I also love the colors but there aren't any of the things I promised myself I would learn how to use.

So, I kept pondering and sketching and thinking and trying to combine all these amazing beads in to an incredible piece that would be the envy of the world!

Then came the little bird bracelet.

Better.....

               I love working with colored wire and I really love the little bird clasp. This piece felt like a combination of Yvonne Irwin and Kerry Bogert - I'm a huge fan of both of them so that part was good.

But....

             It wasn't quite what I was hoping to come up with.

So.........





Back to the drawing board.

Hmm....

I'm starting to feel a little bit better about where I'm getting to... I like the short piece of circle chain - and its dark (bonus!). Cording - like that too, not ribbon but I think it works with this piece. I like that I managed to use a lot of Johana's beads! I'm also feeling pretty good about the fact that its asymmetrical!

Everything you see here came from Johana.

Ooohh!! I love all the pieces that came together in this one. I like the whimsical feeling of the little butterfly hoovering near the flowers. 

Simple - colorful - fun!

So, I never did get the ribbon worked out - but there's always next time. I'll keep trying new things but I have the feeling that I'm going to stick to my creative roots too!