Bead Soup!

It's finally here! My soup is finally finished...and neither a vacation, nor a last minute back injury, nor a rush trip to take the kidlet to the ER kept me from finishing. I didn't even let the rainy day prevent me from getting my photos done (although it was really freakin' cold out there and it was awfully hard to keep things from blowing over while taking pictures!)

But I was determined to be on time.

So, just as a memory refresh, here are the wonderful materials that my blog partner, Kat Barron Miller sent to me:





This stunning and unusual fused glass focal wire-wrapped to an etched brass background piece.





She also sent a matching brass toggle clasp, a mix of brass tubes and beads and some Swarovski crystals so I could get my sparkle on!

Although all the components and especially the pendant were absolutely gorgeous, I knew I was facing a few challenges right away. First off, the sheer size of the pendant made it obvious that my typical "go to" design (about a 20" necklace with a center pendant) was not going to work. Also, I felt that the size of the pendant would overwhelm the much smaller accent beads that were sent.

Thank goodness that Kat included that larger matching brass toggle so at least that would help balance out the pendant and continue the metal theme.

So, off I went to Michael's to see what I could find in the way of "large", "brass", "chain", and "purple" (to match the focal). I lucked out and found some great items including some large link brass mesh chain, large purple ceramic rounds and large dyed purple agate oval slices.

I was also able to pull some brass stardust cut-out beads, brass jump rings and mirror-finish aqua stone rounds from my stash. Oh, and I found some great squiggley brass metal rings in my stash as well and had a really cool idea about how to add some sparkle to them with the crystals from the Soup Mix!

Then it was time to head off to the design board. After futzing around with various arrangements for a while, I decided the oval agate slices weren't going to work. The shade of purple wasn't quite right and they were taking over the design.

I messed around with the layout a bit more, decided the necklace really needed to be a longer piece and that the fused glass focal needed to be strung in-line with one side rather than hanging as a pendant. This meant removing the lovely silver wire bail that Kat had created for it (which I hope she is not going to kill me for doing).

I also took some 26 gauge wire and wire-wrapped some of the smaller crystals onto the squiggly brass ring - it was a great way to add the sparkle I wanted and use the smaller beads without them getting overwhelmed by the size of the other components.

Then it was simply a matter of stringing and wire-wrapping all the sections together.





And ta da! I usually name my creations, but this one has me stumped so if anyone wants to volunteer name suggestions in the comments (be nice! LOL), I'll flip you a resin pendant if I pick your suggestion.





Here's another close-up of Kat's focal. She really put a lot of work into the elements of making this: fusing the glass, stamping and cutting the metal frame and wire-wrapping it all together. If you look closely, you can see that the glass has not only some sparkle in it, but also some hints of aqua along with the purples. I replicated those two elements throughout the design.





Here's a closeup of the center section including the large ceramic rounds I got at Michael's, the brass stardust cutout beads and some of the larger crystals from the Soup Mix.





Here's a closeup of the clasp that Kat provided in the mix. I love the touch of silver on it and it was great to have this extra metal element to play with. You can also see the component that I added the crystals to.





Here's a closeup of the mesh brass chain. I just thought it was so cool and unusual, I had to use it. I strung and crimped loops of some of the remaining smaller crystals to attach the main necklace section to the brass chain. Another way to include the sparkle and the smaller beads without them being dwarfed by the larger pieces.





Here's another view of what is technically the back although this necklace does not have to be worn symmetrically.





In fact, it works in different arrangements. Here's a view of how it can be worn asymmetrically - to let more of the large mesh chain links show.





Here's a final view of the overall piece.

After completing the main necklace, I had lots of the leftover smaller beads and components from the bead mix so I made up some additional pieces:





I just knew those curved tube beads were crying out to be earrings. I actually was going to add more tube/chain sections, but when I got to this point I was so pleased with the design that I decided to go the "less is more" route and stop.





My favorite kind of earrings: long, dramatic, sparkly, and swingy.





I still had some bits and pieces left so I came up with a bracelet, too.





I was dying to see the contrast between the lacy brass bead caps that came in the Soup Mix with these aqua jade beads.





The clasp is a Vintaj textured ring that I was actually saving to use in some earrings, but with the brass hook, I thought it would make a perfect clasp.

That's it for my soup. To help you continue on in your travels, here's the list of Bead Soup participants:


Hostess, Lori Anderson

1. Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3. Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4. Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5. Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6. Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7. Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8. Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9. Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10. Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery

11. Andra Weber and Christine Murrow

12. Ann Sherwood and Diane Welte

13. Barbara Bechtel and Kerry Bogert

14. Barbara Lewis and Cat Pruitt

15. Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)

16. Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)

17. Cassie Donlen and Deryn Mentock

18. Cathie Carroll and Janel Dudley

19. Cece Cormier and Morwyn Mullins

20. Charlene Jacka and Christina Hickman

21. Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski

22. Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)

23. Christine Damm and Deb Brooks

24. Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)

25. Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs

26. Cindy Cima Edwards and Eleanor Burian-Mohr

27. Cory Celaya and Rhea Freitieg

28. Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey

29. Cynthia Abner and Jennifer Boreck

30. Cynthia Tucker and Jean Peter

31. Debbie Goering and Heidi Post

32. Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)

33. Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)

34. Diane Cook and Lyn Foley

35. Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge

36. Donna Millard and Kiersten Giles

37. Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)

38. Elisabeth Auld and Eva Sherman

39. Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)

40. Ema Kilroy and Laurie Keefe-Cecere

41. Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)

42. Erin Grant and Jean Wells

43. Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday

44. Genea Crivello-Knable and Heather Powers

45. Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)

46. Heidi Kingman and Lori Greenberg

47. Helen Kemp and Lisa Wangeman

48. Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent

49. Jamie Hogsett and Jeannie Dukic

50. Jeanette Ryan and Jelveh Jaferian

51. Jennifer Cameron and Tania Spivey

52. Jennifer Justman and Kari Carrigan

53. Jennifer Tough and Lorelei Eurto

54. Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)

55. Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)

56. Julie Anne Leggett and Kelley Fogle

57. Karen Hess and Linda Landig

58. Karyn Bonfiglio and Kathleen Lange Klik

59. Kashmira Patel and Kat White

60. Kat Barron Miller and Kelly Morgan

61. Kathy Lindemer and Rose Binoya

62. Krafty Max and Sandra Miller

63. Kristen Latimer and Pam Ferrari

64. Kristie Roeder and Lea Avroch

65. Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)

66. Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)

67. Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver

68. Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna

69. Libby Leuchtman and Melanie Brooks

70. Linda Koch and Rosemarie Cowit

71. Lisa Chapman and Menka Gupta

72. Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons

73. Lori Anderson and Marcie Abney

74. Lori Bowring-Michaud and Mary Govaars

75. Lori Dorrington and Maria Rosa Sharrow

76. Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)

77. Lynn Bennett and Mandi Ainsworth

78. Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)

79. Mary Harding and Shannon LeVart

80. Mary Jane Dodd and Stacey Curry

81. Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander

82. Melissa Meman and Michelle Escano-Caballaro

83. Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)

84. Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer (Canada)

85. Nancy Boylan and Suzette Bentley

86. Natasha Lutes and Patti Vanderbloemen

87. Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne

88. Patty Miller and Sara Rhoades

89. Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson

90. Rebecca Sirevaag and Sharon Driscoll

91. Rochelle Brisson and Shannon Chomanczuk

92. Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde

93. Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick

94. Sandi Volpe and Sarah/Saturday Sequins

95. Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)

96. Skylar Brez and Theresa Buchle

97. Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)

98. Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

99. Stephanie LaRosa and Vonna Maslanka

100. Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum