Saturday, April 10, 2021

Bead Soup Swap and Create 2021

 It has obviously been a very long time since I’ve posted to this blog, but I am thrilled and honored to be able to participate I. Lori Anderson’s Bead Soup Swap and Create this year.  So much has happened since I last wrote here!!  


I am currently in the middle of a huge move of my studio, so I am still trying to find my tools, and my beads and findings are scattered hither and yon! This move came about recently, so I wasn’t prepared!  Haha!!


On the the Bead Soup Swap and Create!! My partner is Andrea Garvens.  Her blog is here: https://zenithjade.blogspot.com. She is a brilliantly talented jewelry artist, and it was such a pleasure becoming acquainted with her.  


Andrea sent me the most DELICIOUS “soup!”  


Just look at all the delights!!  She sent three gorgeous pendants. One of which she created herself!!  She also sent beautiful beaded components that she created. Included were stunning lamp work beads, crystal bicones in yellow and pink, crystal hearts, yellow miracle beads, faceted glass beads in black and pink as well as four incredible clasps, two faceted champagne-colored briolettes, two citrine briolettes, rose quartz, AMAZING freshwater pearls, the cutest little butterfly wing, and assorted cording. I was completely blown away by the color palette and was very thankful for Andrea’s generosity.  


So I set forth to try to come up with some creations to do justice to the gorgeous soup that Andrea sent. This is what I came up with in the midst of all my crazy, destroyed studio. Haha!!



I created a small, springtime, ensemble. 


I wanted to create something a little different, so I went with a multiple-strand bracelet.  I couldn’t resist the urge to use the crystals and pearls, and to add a focal point, I used the rose quartz, some of the beautiful lamp work beads and the components that Andrea created. I love how this turned out. 

The first pair of earrings I created are very simple, but these briolettes were irresistible!!  They just begged to be made into earrings!!  I can’t get past how gorgeous these are!!

Andrea sent some recycled sari silk with my soup, and I used it to wrap the pendant that she created for me.  I tried not to cover up her intricate wire wrapping on the white opal and rose quartz beads.  I was going to place this on a length of pale green cording, but I have not been able to locate my cording stash yet. I have never worked with silk before, so this was out of my comfort zone, but although this is very different, I really love it. 



These earrings were created from two of the clasps that Andrea sent to me. They looked very spring-like to me, so I decided to make a pair of earring using the crystal beads that she included. I know it’s unusual, but these where too pretty to use as clasps. 

This Bead Soup was so much fun!!  I really hope that everyone enjoys the Soup. 

Thank you, Andrea, for this amazing Bead Soup.  Thank you for sharing your incredible talent!  It has been a genuine pleasure working with you!!

Thank you, Lori Anderson, for all of the hard work, dedication and patience to host this event.  You are brilliant. 

Please see Lori’s blog for the full list of Bead Soup Swap and Create’s immeasurably talented participants : www.thesumofsmallthings.com

The Bead Soup site: www.BeadSoupCafe.com


Saturday, March 25, 2017

Bead Soup Blog Party - Bead Hoarders Addition!

Hey Everybody!!

I feel so excited to be part of this edition of the Bead Soup Blog Party.  This will be my third Party, and each one gets more fun as time passes.  I have had a few stumbling blocks for this hop, but I have persevered and come out the other side.

My partner was D'Arsie Manzella (D'Arsie Manzella).  She is a very talented jewelry artist, and I was so happy to be paired with her for this hop.  Unfortunately, life got in the way for her, and she was unable to get my soup out until last week.  I received it this past Tuesday (March 21), so I was a bit behind the curve to create a piece.


In the interim, I reached out to Arlene Dean (Arlene Dean) who offered to pair me with a new partner.  I did not want to do that, because I had already sent a soup to D'Arsie, so instead, she and I came up with an idea for me to get together two other soups from my own stash, I'd take a picture of them, and then Arlene would choose one for me to create a piece of jewelry from.  We did this in case D'Arsie was unable to get a soup out to me before the reveal date.

This is the stash soup that Arlene chose.
It consisted of some beautiful lampwork glass beads that I had gotten from Pine Ridge Treasures, some beautiful briolette crystals and some gorgeous teal colored stone beads.  They were all pieces that I have been holding back because I thought they were too pretty to use!

This is the piece I created from them.  I love making beaded chain, so I made this necklace after I created a simple pendant with one of the lampwork beads.  I added some pearls to bring out the white in the lampwork flowers.  I really love it.  It reminds me of the woods here around our house and the flowers that peek out from the undergrowth.  The crystals reminded me of the sun's rays as they filter through the trees.





On Tuesday, I received my soup from D'Arsie!  It consisted of a beautiful tree pendant that D'Arsie designed herself in her studio, Mamacita Beadworks!  A beautiful stone focal that she wire-wrapped herself was included.  There was also a beautiful butterfly focal created by Martha Eason at Menagerie Studio.  She said that she had held onto it for about 4 years!  D'Arsie also included some pretty beaded chain in wood and acrylic, some pretty pink wood beads, and some gorgeous stone cylinder beads.


As soon as I was able to sit down and begin to create, I knew that I wouldn't have time to make something with all of the beads, but I wanted badly to utilize the beautiful butterfly and the stone cylinder beads.  They looked so fun and coordinated so prettily, so I pulled out some of my own stash of copper, Swarovski crystals and Preciosa crystals and got to work!

This is my creation.  It's a fun little bracelet and earring set that feels like spring to me!  I hope that you all love it as much as I do. 




I had SO much fun this year with the Bead Soup Blog Party!   Thank you so much to Lori Anderson and to Arlene Dean for all of their help and patience.  A super special thank you to Arlene for being such a good sport, and a sincere thank you to D'Arsie for the beautiful soup she sent!!  I simply love it!!

Please visit everyone's blogs and thank you for visiting mine!

Yours Beadifully

Candida

(Everyone's blog links are below.  THANK YOU LORI!!)

Lori Anderson :: Hostess


Bead Soup Blog Party - Bead Hoarders Edition

(Coming soon!   Just got my beads from my partner on Tuesday, so I'm not quite finished with my pieces, but I'll have them up before NOON EST!  Thank you for your patience and PLEASE come back!!)

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Bead Peeps Swap and Hop!

I would like to apologize for the lateness of my post.

When I signed up for the Bead Peeps Swap and Hop, things were going great.   We'd made it through the holidays and were ready to get 2015 off to a great start.  Life had other plans, though.

Our little boy has been having recurrent strep throat infections since January, he's had seven so far, plus one throat infection that was deemed a viral infection, which kept him out of school for two weeks.  He has also had a secondary surgery, and is coming up for surgery again in June.  Needless to say, I haven't gotten to sit down in my studio in so long it has made me want to cry.

First of all, I want to thank Linda Anderson (http://fromthebeadboard.blogspot.com/) for her hard work and diligence in pairing us up with partners that she thought we would mesh well with.  I think she has done an outstanding job getting things together, and I have been honored to be part of this hop.

Linda paired me with a young lady from AUSTRALIA!  I will admit that I have been SO thrilled to speak to Erin and learn a bit about her.   She seems like a truly interesting and fun person, and I have immensely enjoyed our communications.  

After looking over her blog, I went to the bead store that I work at sometimes, and spoke to my wonderful friends, Rachel and Laura about this hop.  I told them that Erin, my partner, lived in Australia, and that I would really like to send her an over the top bead stash.  Rachel's husband, Glenn, is an amazing jewelry designer, and he creates beautiful components for jewelry, so I picked out a couple of his pieces to send, as well as a beautiful toggle and polymer clay beads by Ms. "Polymer" Patty who showcases at the shop as well.  

Here is a picture of the soup that I sent to Erin.


Saturday, May 10, 2014

The 8th Bead Soup Blog Party REVEAL Is Here!!!

First off, I would love to thank Lori Anderson for all of her hard work on the party, and for everything she's done for ALL of us.  She is simply amazing!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lori!!!

And now, on with the show!!

I was paired with the nicest beader!  Her name is Carol Wilson, and her blog is www.jetadorn.blogspot.com!   She is a very talented jewelry artist from the Sunshine State (Florida!).  I was so excited to see what she sent me, so when the package arrived, I tore into it before I even got back to the house from the mailbox!

Just a little reminder, here is what she sent me!


Just look at all the pretty purples, blues, pinks and black!   And in GOLD!!  I almost never use gold in my jewelry designs, so Carol really challenged me!  I was thrilled to see a metal in there that seemed to say "let's see what you can do with this!"  The pendant focal just stole my breath, and the hand-made clasp is so fun!  I have to admit that I had a serious case of envy for that clasp, because I couldn't make a clasp myself if my life depended on it!  HA HA HA!  

So, I've been mulling about with a couple of ideas of what to create with this bead soup.  Each one was studied on, and eventually discarded.  I mulled and thought, thought and mulled, studied and studied, I FINALLY came up with a design.  I wanted to do something that showcased each individual element of the soup that Carol sent me, and I think maybe, just maybe, I succeeded in that.




I created a hand-made chain for the focal using some gold wire.  The best part of all of this?  My mom was here visiting with me, so while I was creating, I got to spend some quality time with her.  She is a fellow jewelry artist, so there is some of her influence in this piece as well.  I wire wrapped the chain using the plethora of gorgeous beads from Carol's soup and added just a couple of others that I thought would bring out some of the stunning color in the focal.  The clasp just looked perfect with the chain as well.   Once I was done with all those wire wrapped components, I created a small coordinating bracelet and pair of earrings with hand-made earwires.  ( I CAN make earwires, just not clasps!)




I utilized the gorgeous glass, pearl and stone beads for each link in the chain. 


I think that the design sets off the gorgeous focal and the beautiful clasp well.


This photo simply does NOT do this pendant focal justice.  The colors are so vibrant and imaginative.  I could stare at it for hours!


Here is the fun earrings and bracelet that I created as well.  They are very simple, but I find sometimes that beauty can be found in the most simple of creations.


Here is another look at the entire ensemble.

Again, I want to thank my amazing partner, Carol Wilson, for such an amazing bead soup.  I hope that she has had as much fun with this as I have!!   I can't wait to see what she created with what I sent her!   

Here is the link to the participants list for the 8th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party!  Please go visit everyone's pages and see what gorgeous things we created this year!!  There were over 500 participants this year, so the list is here on the link below.  VISIT VISIT VISIT!  You won't regret it!! :)

http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2014/05/welcome-to-8th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

Thank you so much for your visit, and I hope that you enjoy the Party!!

God bless!! 

Candi