Well, here we are finally. It is reveal day for Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Party Blog Hop. I am so excited that this day has finally arrived.
My partner is Erin Grant. She has been making jewelry for about five years, but she also knits. You can see more of her work at her etsy shop. Just click here ETSY SHOP. Below is a picture of the soup she sent. She included a beautiful lampwork seahorse pendant, glass beads the color of the ocean with a beach glass finish, seed beads, a silver clasp, and some wonderful little sea shells.
I must admit that I was thrilled with this soup. I love working with these types of materials and while I understand that one of the purposes of this party is to push yourself beyond what you are comfortable with, it was easy for me to come up with all kinds of ideas for this soup. Oh well, maybe next time. But, I wasn't completely without a challenge -- I attempted some construction that was new and I modified the clasp toggle bar somewhat.
I love the look of "beaded" beads and attempted to get that look by using six strands of small leather cord in complimentary colors of pink, turquoise and sand. When I pulled them all together with knots, they sort of look like beaded beads.
Here is a close up of the beaded beads.
Another challenge that I faced was when the necklace was completed, the weight of it caused the toggle to pull easily out of the square side of the clasp. To solve that problem, I used more of my pink wire to wrap around the bars extending them to a length that would hold. Because it is 20 gauge wire, it is strong enough to hold.
I made dangles of the shell beads and put them on each side. The only thing I added from my own stash of supplies is the silver starfish charm and the leather cord, three purple pink mother of pearl rounds and pink wire. I made the seed bead links on pink artistic wire continuing with the "pink" color theme.
I also wanted to challenge myself to use all of the materials that Erin sent. I did that, in fact, I was a bit short on seed beads so I had to use about 8-10 from my own stash. I also had just a few of the beach glass beads left over, so I was able to make these "jellyfish" earrings to go with the necklace.
Erin, I loved what you sent and I hope you love what I made with it.
I have narry a bead left of Erin's soup.
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